**** DONE: GB-49 1/48 Bf109K-4 - Favourite A/C of WWII
- Thread starter Crimea_River
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fubar57
General
Sweet. Your moving into Wayne territory, very tidy
Great job Andy
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- #84
Crimea_River
Marshal
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- #86
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks Wayne. So, I'll be going ahead with White 16 of 9/JG53 and will make my own masks for the codes. There are several pics of this particular aircraft and all that I've seen have the wings missing unfortunately. Here are a couple I've linked from Falkeeins' site and Pinterest:
I'm going to go mostly with Claes Sundin's and JaPo's colour interpretations which pretty much nail down the fuselage colours as 81/ green 83 over the greenish 76. The nose cowl is 75/ green 83 and the spinner has a narrow spiral that I might have to mask. I'll try a decal that looks like it might work first but I'm not holding much hope for it. The gear struts look to be either dark natural metal or 66. The rudder is a bit of a guess but it's certainly dfferent than the fin.
The wings are open to interpretation and I'm not sure if I'll go with 81/83 or 75/83. I assume they would have left the factory with the same scheme as the fuselage but don't know for sure. I'd love to have a copy of JaPo's Bf109K-4 Camouflage and Markings book which might have the answer but I don't feel like paying 200 bucks for this out of print book. Comments welcome.
I'm going to go mostly with Claes Sundin's and JaPo's colour interpretations which pretty much nail down the fuselage colours as 81/ green 83 over the greenish 76. The nose cowl is 75/ green 83 and the spinner has a narrow spiral that I might have to mask. I'll try a decal that looks like it might work first but I'm not holding much hope for it. The gear struts look to be either dark natural metal or 66. The rudder is a bit of a guess but it's certainly dfferent than the fin.
The wings are open to interpretation and I'm not sure if I'll go with 81/83 or 75/83. I assume they would have left the factory with the same scheme as the fuselage but don't know for sure. I'd love to have a copy of JaPo's Bf109K-4 Camouflage and Markings book which might have the answer but I don't feel like paying 200 bucks for this out of print book. Comments welcome.
fubar57
General
PM sent....
- Thread starter
- #88
Crimea_River
Marshal
A couple of things to report. First of all, I'm making my own masks for the fuselage markings. I started by scaling Sundin's profile to 1/48 in Adobe Illustrator and then created outlines for the Gruppe bar, Balkenkreuz, and the 16.
The file was then sent to my Cricut cutter and I made some vinyl masks. First though, the areas where the masks will be applied have been painted white with a drop of tan:
I'll let this cure over night before applying the masks. Also today, I tried to tackle the odd shaped spiral on the spinner. This one (see pics above) is thinner than most and so I located spiral in my decal spares that I thought might work, since it was longer than others. However, it was still a bit wide at the bottom so I used a french curve to cut it thinner using my scalpel.
It was when I first tried applying the decal that I realized that the spiral is not only thinner but also backwards! So I flipped the decal over, thinking immediatley that this wasn't going to work well but I continued anyway. Turns out that the decal had the wrong shape too as it needs to turn tighter. To continue, I cut the tip section free and applied a dose of Solvaset to make it sit but, as you can see below, the result is unacceptable.
It's back to the drawing board for this one. I've sanded the spinner back down to bare plastic and will paint it white and then apply some bendy tape masks to try it that way. Back tomorrow with some more. Thanks for looking in and for your continued interest.
The file was then sent to my Cricut cutter and I made some vinyl masks. First though, the areas where the masks will be applied have been painted white with a drop of tan:
I'll let this cure over night before applying the masks. Also today, I tried to tackle the odd shaped spiral on the spinner. This one (see pics above) is thinner than most and so I located spiral in my decal spares that I thought might work, since it was longer than others. However, it was still a bit wide at the bottom so I used a french curve to cut it thinner using my scalpel.
It was when I first tried applying the decal that I realized that the spiral is not only thinner but also backwards! So I flipped the decal over, thinking immediatley that this wasn't going to work well but I continued anyway. Turns out that the decal had the wrong shape too as it needs to turn tighter. To continue, I cut the tip section free and applied a dose of Solvaset to make it sit but, as you can see below, the result is unacceptable.
It's back to the drawing board for this one. I've sanded the spinner back down to bare plastic and will paint it white and then apply some bendy tape masks to try it that way. Back tomorrow with some more. Thanks for looking in and for your continued interest.
fubar57
General
I have never figured out how to make spirals, good or bad so look for aircraft without them
N4521U
Colonel
My two cents....
If you are doing the cross, make sure All four corners are the same as the bottom right, and all legs are the same length as the horizontal of that one or the vertical ones will be short for the curve! If you get my drift.
If you are doing the cross, make sure All four corners are the same as the bottom right, and all legs are the same length as the horizontal of that one or the vertical ones will be short for the curve! If you get my drift.
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- #91
Crimea_River
Marshal
Yep thanks Bill. I actually didn't trace the cross but rather built it using one horizontal dimension. I wanted to get the 16 close to what was shown but adjusted the strokes to make them the same width as they weren't even on the profile.
Shame about that spiral !
- Thread starter
- #93
Crimea_River
Marshal
Fuselage masks cut and placed. The vinyl I'm using is not ideal as it's too stiff. Others recommend Oramask 810 but I can only find it on line and I didn't want to wait a month.
With the masks in place, I painted RLM 76 on the rudder, under the horizontal stab, and under the chin. I then put a couple of drops of XF-4 and several drops of white into the cup and sprayed the greenish version of 76.
I'm not holding much hope for the Balkenkreuz masks but I have decals for this as a back-up. We'll see how it goes. Next up will be the 75 on the nose, the 83 green, and then the 81 Braunviolet. I have not decided whether or not to mask the fuselage demarcation or try free-handing it with the airbrush.
With the masks in place, I painted RLM 76 on the rudder, under the horizontal stab, and under the chin. I then put a couple of drops of XF-4 and several drops of white into the cup and sprayed the greenish version of 76.
I'm not holding much hope for the Balkenkreuz masks but I have decals for this as a back-up. We'll see how it goes. Next up will be the 75 on the nose, the 83 green, and then the 81 Braunviolet. I have not decided whether or not to mask the fuselage demarcation or try free-handing it with the airbrush.
N4521U
Colonel
If you go to a small sign shop, some use a thin blue color rubbery mask material for spray painting.
You would have to put down a clear coat before putting the mask on.
Been there done that!
You would have to put down a clear coat before putting the mask on.
Been there done that!
Nice work Andy, hope the masks work out for you
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- #97
Crimea_River
Marshal
Nose and tail sprayed 75 then followed up with 83 free hand. The colours pop a bit too much at the moment and I'll likely go over them with a fine mist of a light brown. I need to make some masks for the hard edged blotches on the fin now.
fubar57
General
The 83 looks nice
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- #99
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks Geo. Still had some mixed from a previous project and so can't verify the mix. I probably wrote it down in my notes somewhere.
