Movie Double Bill.

Fine work as always Terry.

Looking good Terry

Thanks Wojtek, Andy and Andy !

As the fine mesh has arrived for the chin intake, and the paint on the BoB GB 'Emil' engine is taking a very long time to dry, I've done quite a bit more on the Buchon.
I was quite surprised that the fitting, and subsequent filling and sanding around the intake went without any major hitches - maybe I'm just paranoid after the Buccaneer !
Anyway, just a little more sanding and polishing to do, and she'll be ready for the first stage of painting.
PIC 1 Shows the fine mesh in place in the chin intake, and the plastic plug in the slot cut for the grille, awaiting shaping and sanding.
PIC 2. the intake in place, along with the central support, and the first stages of putty and sanding, to blend it all in.
PIC 3. The bulged lower cowling panel which gave the aircraft its' name. Sanding and putty work is still under way
here.
PIC 4. the Buchons were fitted with tail struts for the movie, and these are now in place on the model.
PIC 5. The windscreen has been fitted, along with the support / hand grips, and the gun sight and shoulder harness are in place. The two white strips in front of the wind screen are part of the de-icer system.
PIC 6. How the model looks so far. A little more sanding and polishing, and maybe some 'porridge' in the tiny gaps, and she'll be ready for paint.
Thanks again for your interest, and I'll try to get some more pics soon.

Wow!! Stunning work Terry! Can't wait to see this finished sir!

Thanks very much Aaron. Shouldn't be too long before it's finished, then it's time for her movie partner .....

Lookin good Terry!

Great work Terry!!

Like it Terry!

love it Dogsbody

Thanks guys.

Very nice Terry! Well done.

Thanks mate.

The first painting stage has been completed, with two coats of Humbrol 65 sprayed on, slightly lightened, and the first coat of red brush-painted on the spinner, with the prop blades brush painted in matt black. The blades will eventually be semi-matt, whilst the spinner will be almost gloss, if that makes sense?!
The shutter for the oil cooler outlet has also been engraved, and holes drilled for the engine overflow / breather pipes, and the dummy cannons.
I replaced the chin intake support with a thinner version, as I wasn't happy with the original piece I made, and thankfully, the prop was test fitted before going any further, showing up a minor problem. The kit prop shaft has been moulded to accept the original Bf109G prop and spinner, which has a larger spline hole, but it's too big for the Buchon prop and spinner !
No problem though, I'll just cut it off and glue in a suitable piece of plastic rod or wire.

Very nicely done.

Sweet!

Cool Terry!

looks great

Thanks guys. I hope to get the top colours painted today.

Been reading some interesting stuff on the Buchon, and thought I'd pass on a little of it.
As the Buchon airframe was basically a Bf109G-2, designed for the Daimler Benz engine, the vertical fin was offset to starboard, to help counteract the torque of the engine. As most of you will know, the '109 was tricky to handle on the ground and at low speed, and particularly during landing, where it had a tendency to 'skid' or drift sideways on approach, which often lead to ground loops or worse.
This situation became even more un-nerving when the Rolls Royce 'Merlin' engine was fitted. Apart from being a physically bigger, heavier engine, which affected the C of G, making the tail lighter, the engine rotated in the opposite direction to that of the DB605 series. This, combined with the offset fin, caused, and still does, some 'interesting' handling characteristics !
Anyway, back to the model.
PIC 1 Shows the masking applied, mainly to prevent over spray. The masking for the top / bottom colour demarcation is mainly there to obtain a straight line, as the aircraft in the movie didn't have the colours 'blended', although they did have a relatively soft edge.
PIC 2. To avoid a hard edge, the upper edge of the tape has been pulled back slightly, standing proud of the surface, and the paint was sprayed 'square' to this line, hopefully achieving a straight, but soft edge. We'll find out when the tape is removed !
The hole in the top of the fuselage has been drilled to accept the antenna mast, which was mounted further aft than on the Bf109G, and the small depression above and left of this is for the insulated antenna lead connection.
PIC 3. The first colour has been applied. Although looking rather grey in this pic, it does have more of a greenish tone when viewed in 'real life', and has been matched to the tones shown in photos of the Buchons taken during production of the movie. The colour is close to, but slightly lighter than RLM 02, to allow for scale effect. Remember that this is a 'movie star' aircraft, and not an actual WW2 subject. The movie Art Department did, however, get as close as possible to an authentic finish for the period, although they had to make some allowances in order for the aircraft to show clearly on the big screen, something which was more involved with the RAF aircraft portrayed, more of which later, when the Spitfire is posted.
So, next stage is to mark out and spray the RLM 71 freehand.
Thanks again for your interest, and I'll post another update soon.