**** DONE: GB-36 1/48 Bf110D - Axis Manufactured Aircraft of WWII

[Airframes]

Thanks Kirby.
Didn't get any more done yesterday. Stretched out to relax and read for a while, fell asleep, and didn't wake up until 23.00 hrs !!
Hoping to get the cockpits completed, and fuselage joined, this evening.
More soon ...........

 

[Airframes]

Final details and painting done on the interior, cockpit module installed, part of the nose assembled, and about to join the fuselage halves.

PIC 1. Switch panel and map case fitted to port sidewall, and area and details painted.
PIC 2. Side panel and stand-by 'bubble' compass fitted to starboard cockpit wall and painted.
PIC 3. Cockpit installed in port half.
PIC 4. The instructions for the assembly of the gun bay and nose sections, with the upper cover shown being for the 'E' variant.
As the cover will be fitted closed, none of the detail parts will be used, with the MG17s being fitted after painting the model, possibly using only the barrels, fitted from the outside, using the spare cover intended for the C/D model, provided as 'parts not for use' in the kit.
PIC 5. The gun bay/ nose parts being used. As with some other areas of this kit, a lot of clean-up and some filing had to be done in order to allow the parts to fit correctly, and I'm beginning to find this kit to be somewhat of a chore.
The nose, and top cover, will be fitted, with the top cover only push-fit into place for painting, should I decide to mount the complete MG17 parts, less the feed chutes etc.

The two parts for the cannon shell and link ejector port panels have already been fitted to the starboard fuselage half, another fiddly job, as the rebates to allow a flush fit are on the inside of each part, rather than being moulded in such a way that they could be inserted from outside, once the fuselage is joined. Fortunately, any slight gap or other defect will be covered by the 'Dachshund belly' tank in this instance.
Given I can get the fuselage joined OK, I hope to be back a little later with another up-date.
Thanks again for your interest.

 

[fubar57]

Looking good.

 

[Wurger]

Agreed.

 

[Crimea_River]

Doing OK there Terry.

 

[turbo]

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps.
Well, after around 4 hours frigging about, I finally got the fuselage joined, the rear decking fitted, and the nose on.
Yet again, this has been very labour intensive, with lots of filing, trimming and sanding to get parts to fit properly, and the nose turned out to be a real pain.
Before joining the fuselage, the two panels for the cannon ejector ports were fitted after yet more sanding and trimming and, once the fuselage was joined, as expected, they would not sit flush on both sides, causing a slight step in the fuselage joint just behind the rear gun panel.
This is not a problem in this instance, as the large belly tank will cover the entire area, but it's something I need to consider when I eventually build the second Eduard kit.
The fuselage went together well enough, and only some slight sanding and polishing off the joint was required, but the rear gun decking needed trimming to allow it to bed down properly, and the nose sections needed a lot of test-fitting, sanding and trimming, to get anywhere near a reasonable joint, and even then there are gaps.
All of these problem areas are due to the over-engineering of the kit parts - a much simpler arrangement would make the fit a lot easier and neater.

PIC 1. The lower nose cowling and weapons 'shelf' and bulkhead were assembled, omitting the internal detail parts, and then it was fitted to the fuselage, needing some persuasion, and quite a lot of inward pressure, to get it to fit reasonably. Test-fitting of the upper cover revealed that the small flange on the port side, and the top of the bulkhead (red arrows) were causing interference, so the flange was removed, and the bulkhead filed down.
PIC 2. Having decided to fit just the barrels of the MG17s, inserted from the outside after painting the model, the top nose section was fitted, again needing some fiddling, and leaving the gaps shown. The part is actually very slightly too short in length, and some filler and sanding will be required once the parts are fully set.
When I build the other Eduard kit, I think I might omit all of the internal parts, and just join the top and bottom nose halves, and then fit them to the fuselage.
PIC 3. The rear instrument panel and coaming were assembled and painted, another bl**dy tedious fiddly job, and fitted in place. One of the instruments needs re-touching.
PIC 4. The rear gun deck assembled and fitted, again after lots of test-fitting and sanding and trimming. The gun mount and gun will be fitted after painting the model, and the interior colour needs to be re-done, as I used the wrong brush when painting it.
PIC 5. How it looks so far, awaiting some filler in some joints and a bit of a clean-up here and there.

Next stage involves the main wings and engine nacelles, and I just know I'm going to invent a lot of new swear words !
Back some time later today - maybe, as I might say '**** it' and go for a pint instead !!

 

[fubar57]

Looks good aside from the fiddling about

 

[Crimea_River]

Hope you went for the pint. One tip I'll give you Terry - the flat butt joint along the wing/fuselage seam has little chance of producing a clean seam on the top and bottom unless you get a Dremel or something similar and hollow out the flat part somewhat to create a bit of a concave surface without touching the outer edges. Know what I mean?

 

[Wayne Little]

Looking good Terry.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks, Geo, Andy and Wayne.
I'm not at all happy with the fit of the nose sections. If the upper gun cover was omitted, to display the interior of the bay, then it would be acceptable, but the parts just do not match-up when closed up.

Thanks for the warning Andy - having looked at the wing root and fuselage locating point, I already had doubts about fit, and integrity of the joint. I understand what you describe, and will attend to it.

This has made me reconsider the other two Me 110 builds, using the other Eduard 'E' kit, and the older Fujimi 'C/D' kit, the latter having superb parts fit by the way, and it dates from the 1970'S !!
Instead of building the Fujimi as a 'boat tail' D of Erp.Grp 210, and the Eduard as as C-1 (upgraded) of ZG 26, I'm going to graft the alternative 'long' tail section from the Fujimi kit onto the Eduard 'short tail' fuselage sections. This will allow the Eduard ETC rack to cover the poor fit of the cannon ejector panels, and the Eduard nose sections will be attached without any of the internal parts, to avoid the fit problems and 'step' in the lower fuselag joint in thios area..
The Fujimi kit can then be built as the ZG26 example, utilising the kit's 'short' tail and armoured windscreen, fitted to the particular subject aircraft. But that's some time in the future, so for n ow, I need to get that bl**dy nose joint improved !

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

The nose joints have been filled with CA and sanded, and they're now probably as good as they're going to get. This should be acceptable enough once primed, and, considering the very dark camouflage colours that will be applied.
A thin bead of CA was also applied to the joints around the rear gun deck. This just needed a small amount of filling and sanding, as there was a panel line joint here on the real aircraft.

Preparation work has started on the main wings, although there's not much to show yet. Taking note of Andy's warning regarding the fit at the wing roots, the wings were taped together to check fit, and guess what ?
They didn't fit - at all !
The tabs on the wings were not even close to locating into the slots in the fuselage, so they have been filed down, checking constantly for fit. So far, I've got the starboard wing to fit, very tightly, and if the port wing tuns out the same, there's a very good chance they can be fitted and cemented without having to attack the flat mating surfaces with a motor tool - time will tell.

PICS 1 and 2 Show the work on the gun bay joints, which have yet to be polished in the photo, and some panel details re-scribed.
PIC 3. The test-fit of the starboard wing, which is just push-fitted here. Note, however, that the leading and trailing edges do not match the fuselage wing root dimensions !
PICS 4 and 5.. I thought I'd show that problem with the cannon ejector port panels on the underside. The fuselage joint has a 'step', due to the misalignment caused by the method of fitting the panels, with the scratches being caused by an attempt to prise the joint into place.
The rough sketch shows the method of fitting the two panels, which are rebated on the inside.
The panels have to be cemented into the rebate on one fuselage half, before joining the fuselage which, of course, is wide open to creating the misalignment shown. If the rebate had been reversed, as shown in the lower sketch, then the panels could have quite easily been inserted from below, avoiding the problem entirely, and I doubt if this would interfere with the fitting of other parts which are options in different versions of this kit. Such a simple planning consideration, and yet totally bolloxed !
PIC 6. Fortunately in this case, the ugly joint will be hidden by the large 'Dacklebauch' ventral tank, shown here aligned in the approximate position of where it fits.

With a bit of luck, I hope to have the main work completed on the wings, and the wings fitted to the fuselage, some time tomorrow. Then it will be time to tackle those tricky engine nacelles I've heard so much about.
Looking through the instructions, there is a total lack of guidance on how, and where, to fit all of the 'standard' small parts, such as antennae, mass balances etc, and of course, nothing at all on other parts 'Not for Use', such as drop tanks, so that area should be fun.
Fortunately, with a mass of reference photographs, scale drawings, and a little common sense, it shouldn't be a problem - he said, gritting his teeth and thinking of the trials to date !

Ho Hum - back some time tomorrow ..........................

 

[parsifal]

did a nice fix on that nose section terry. Very impressive. I learnt a lot watching that (and reading your notes) sir. will the scuffing around the joint be any issue when painted?


The wing root does not look like a good fit. I didn't read your plan of attack on that as yet, but I think it will need some careful work. .

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Michael.
The scuffing around the nose joint will be polished out, and should disappear when a thin primer coat is sprayed.
The wing shown is only push-fitted, to check fit after filing down the locating tab - it wouldn't slot into the fuselage aperture before being filed.
From what I've seen so far, it should mate up flush with the wing root when cement is applied, and the wing clamped or held in place until the cement 'grabs', but I'll do some further dry-fitting before committing to the cement.
If there's any doubt about achieving a good, tight, flush fit, then I'll follow Andy's advice, and grind away some of the face of the flat areas of the fuselage wing root, in order to allow the wing to 'key' to the fuselage securely. Any gaps remaining, which should be minor (I hope !) can be filled, probably with stretched sprue melted into place with liquid cement.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Terry. I agree about that lower panel - very odd detail. Another thing you might consider is to tackle the nacelles before you stick the wings on the fuselage. The work needed to get them on and potentially puttied and sanded may be easier without the rest of the aircraft in the area.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps.
That's exactly what I'm aiming to do with the nacelles Andy. If you hear curses drifting across from the east, then you know I'm having problems !

On a more positive note, I've been looking at the other Eduard 'E' kit, and comparing it to the Fujimi 'boat tail' parts, and I'm fairly sure that I can successfully graft the tail section onto the Eduard fuselage to make a 'D' version. Also, the ETC rack will cover the larger of the two underside panels, so this can be omitted, and the smaller panel to the front can be inserted and cemented with more accuracy because of this.

 

[Crimea_River]

I'm form western Canada. We are used to hearing curses from the east.

You need to be Canadian to understand that one.