**** DONE: 1/48 Tamiya Bf 109E4 Black 8 of 2/JG3 Ofw Bernhard Lampskemper Group Build

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. I'm back in happy land.

Pushing the insanity envelope once more, I was determined to get the Pollyscale Acrylic RLM 65 to work and adjusted the mix and pressure ever so slightly for tonight's session.This time the paint behaved itself for the final coat (after one last fill and sand) and I must say that I'm pretty happy with the outcome. The lesson is that this paint with my brush has a VERY small envelope in which pressure and thinning need to be just right for success. Even so, clogging still occurs frequently requiring constant dabbing of the needle with a piece of tissue.

The following shots show overall top and bottom with the finished RLM 65 sprayed on over gray primer:

As for the repaired areas, the wing strightened out nicely and the cracks have all but disappeared. Here's the top surface where the crack was. The area where the slat goes still needs to be cleaned up and painted with RLM 02. You can see filler where the crack was here.

And here's the bottom area where the crack was. A remnant of the filled crack can just still be seen where the aileron and flap meets.

Here's the area at the wing root where the wing broke off. The break line runs through the panel line and under the rad cover. Pretty much gone. I see a couple of dust spots that will be cleaned up and the wheel wells still need to be masked and painted 02.

Below is the painted and assembled prop. This will get some very slight touchups yet, a coat of Future and a dullcoat to clean it up nice and purdy.

So it's back on track. Thanks for all your comments and support.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Well done!

 

[Airframes]

Bl**dy good work mate! A blind man on a galloping horse would never know there been any damage, great repair and paint job.
(Don't ask where the expression came from, I picked it up from my Gran when I was a kid. And yes, I know, that was a bl**dy long time ago !!).

 

[Wayne Little]

Great work on the repairs Andy...done good man!

 

[rochie]

fantastic repair job Andy, well done mate

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Moving a little quicker now.

Pic 1 RLM 65 is masked and the 02 sprayed on. The tape on the rear fuselage has been pulled away from the surface to produce a soft edge.

Pic 2 The engine cowl with masking stripped, ready for gloss coat and the "Tatzelwurm" decal.

Pic 3 Landing gear all grimed up with brake lines added and wheels painted but not yet glued on. Tires will get some dirt treatment yet. A small yellow decal has been added to represent the painted mark used to check for slippage of the tire on the rim. Two of the spokes on each hub have silver placards painted on them for tire pressure data.

Thanks again for looking in. RLM 71 is to go on tomorrow night.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Did you say you had a crack there.......................brilliant repair Andy, one would never know it had happened.

 

[Airframes]

Nice work mate.

 

[Wayne Little]

8) Looking good man!

 

[T Bolt]

Excellent repair work Andy! Glad you could get the paint problem sorted out. I think I'll stay with my enamels though!

 

[rochie]

looks bloody great Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent repair work Andy! Glad you could get the paint problem sorted out. I think I'll stay with my enamels though!

I'm not knocking acrylics, don't get me wrong. Just that this particular stuff is tricky with my rig but when it does perform, it finishes up pretty nicely.

 

[Crimea_River]

Update:

Pic 1Masked over the RLM 02. I tried to leave a little gap in the mask to soften the edge. As it turned out, I was not satisfied with the effect as some of the spray got well under the mask. I ended up remasking some areas and repainting the RLM 02 with a hard edge. This is a lesson for future as I now agree with others elsewhere in the forum that for 1/48 scale, the hard edges are probably more realistic.

Pic 2 Underside with masking removed. I had a couple of spots on the cannon drum covers that pulled off with the mask. These were easily touched up with a fine brush.

Pics 2 and 3 Side and top shots respectively showing the RLM 71 splinters and the mottling of 02/71. For the mottling, I temporarily taped on the decals as I believe the mottles were field applied around the insignia. The RLM 71 is Pollyscale, lightened maybe 15% with white to tone down the contrast. A few touch ups are requiried where the back windcreen meets the fuselage. I had this glued on with white glue but it pulled off with the mask. It's now glued back on with Testors Clear Parts Cement which I went out and bought today. A small spot of yellow also needs to be touched up on the engine cowl just forward of the right MG.

Glosscoat and decals soon. Thanks for checking in.

 

[Airframes]

Looking great Andy. I've found that with the loose tape method of masking, you need to get in close, at medium pressure, and gently 'fine line' the edge, spraying square to the tape, using it more as a guide. It worked well on the Buchon, and compared very favourably with pics of the real movie aircraft, which were in a fairly authentic finish.

 

[T Bolt]

Very nice Andy! The mottles look great

 

[javlin]

Thats an interesting paint scheme there Andy and I like it alot.I will have to agree with Glenn MM enamels are Floquil for me.The acryilcs to me take to much effort to clean from my Badger no matter how much cleaner it seem I used the needle was stuck the next go round.Cheers

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

Kevin, cleaning my acrylics is not a probelm at all. I have a huge can of lacquer thinner and it dissolves dried acrylics easily. One or two sprays through the brush and it's degummed and clean.

I do like how enamels go on though but I hate the smell.

 

[ozhawk40]

Marvelous repair and paint CR - looks great! 8)

Cheers

Peter

 

[rochie]

looks fantastic Andy

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Great bit of painting Andy