**** DONE: GB-37 1/48 Bf109E-4B - Helicopters / Military a/c of BoB 1940

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Got back last Friday after having logged about 7100 clicks on the Bimmer but two days later I launched into my next project - REmodelling as opposed to modelling. Complete master bath overhaul is priority uno now. Busted up the old jet tub and shower. Replacing all the old pipes with new (PITA!) and then getting on with the new stuff. Should take up the rest of May and well into June.



That said, I will get back to this build sporadically and should be able to get it done by the end of the month since I've progressed a fair way. Once done though, I will not be getting much bench time until later in the summer as my bride and I will be leaving for a Baltic cruise in early July and not getting back until the end of the month. I will then spend a week with friends kayaking the Broken Group Islands on our Pacific coast in early to mid September so that will pretty much take care of our limited summer.

The only thing I've done on this build since getting back was to flatten the main gear tires which are not worth the bytes to show here. Hopefully I will post updates in the coming week or so. TTFN
 
Just a short update showing the flattened tires and the bomb installed. The bomb stabilizer arms appear to be gloss black in all the pics I've seen so that's what I made 'em. There's a very small gap between the bomb and the stabilizers and I'm mulling over whether or not to stick short lengths of stretched sprue in there to represent the screws. Probably will.



Thanks for taking a peek.
 
Got a few items ticked off the punch list this evening. First task was to create a bomb fuse panel and this I did using plastic card and stretched sprue. The unit was painted RLM 66, dry-brushed silver, then buttons were added with a fine black felt tip pen and lettering was scratched in using a pin. Apologies for the poor pics but the battery on my camera died so I reverted to the one on my phone.



Now, how to get this tiny part into the pit? The stick was in the way and I tried to break it off but found that it bent nicely out of the way anyway. I then rolled a blob of plasticine and squashed it against the cannon ejection chute and then squeezed the panel against it, making small adjustments before dabbing some CA on the joint. Below you can see the panel with the blob of plasticine behind it.



The plasticine was then removed with a scalpel, mostly, as some is still in behind the panel and not retrievable! It will probably dry and fall out some day. The stick bent back into place with no harm done.



Next on the list was to make a tiny flare pistol to stick on the back of the tube that protrudes from the quarter window. A small length of rod was cut on a slant and plastic card was stuck on the back to represent the grip.



Hard to see but the gun is now painted black and stuck onto the window, right above the white knob of the landing gear lever.



Next came the fiddley bits on the wing underside. The pitot tube is very fragile and broke when I removed it from the sprue using a microsaw but I managed to get it together again. This and the mass balances have yet to be painted.



In the midst of all this, one of the landing gear legs decided to part company with the wing so I had to glue this back on. The detail provided by Eduard at this location is rather spindly and doesn't provide a very strong joint.

That's it for tonight. Not much left to do now so I should be done within a week or so.
 
Good stuff there Andy.
From the pics, it looks like the walls of the wheel bays (not the channels for the legs) are painted RLM 02. Don't know if you want to try to add it at this stage, but they had zipped, leather or canvas access covers running around them.
 
It was all going so well......

Noticed yesterday that part of my forward canopy has now clouded, presumably from the CA I used to attach the flare pistol. This despite my having dipped the canopy in Future. This is the first instance I have experienced of clouding after treating the clear parts and will cause me to rethink this process. Now I will need to fix this.
 

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