Hasegawa 1/32 Messerschmitt Bf109 K-4

[tucohoward]

Hi, guys. With Kotare coming out with their K-4 I thought I should at least finish one of mine I already started a while ago. I love Hasegawa 1/32 109s. I've built at least a dozen, maybe fifteen, who knows. There's probably more AM stuff for the Hasegawa F-K than any other kit, doubt it's even close, and I use a lot of it. Typically I use AM for the cockpit, prop/spinner, exhaust, gear legs and wheels/tires, seatbelts, gun barrels, and supercharger intake. I also like to rivet it with a beading tool one rivet at a time. I also always modify the leading edge slats to be closed as I prefer the cleaner look. On the K-4 I get rid of the molded tailwheel doors, fill with sheet plastic. sand, and rescribe. Most K-4s disabled this feature. Haven't looked at schemes yet so I will have to spend some quality time with my JaPo K-4 books.

Cheers,
Jay

[stikpusher]

You're off to a great start here. Im sure this will turn out great!

[kyledehart5]

Excellent. I will watch this one too. Great start.

[handiabled]

I'm onboard with this one! Office looks great so far! I was gifted the Revell re-boxing of this bird so I will be taking notes

[thug626]

Book marked and all caught up.

[tucohoward]

Thanks, fellows! A little more done today but it is a big step. By that i mean getting the cockpit glued in place. Always some fiddling involved with a resin AM pit. This one is by MDC and is very nice and fits reasonably well but the Dremel was definitely involved. Just have to take your time and check it 18 times before grinding off resin. No going back haha. I use 5-minute epoxy for this installation. Very strong and gives you time fool around with the fit. Happy with the outcome. I also applied a wash to the belts with a Citadel wash I like a lot, pic below.

Cheers,
Jay

[lyle]

Is “boinggg” too much. Nice!

[kyledehart5]

Pit looks awesome!!

[TJ]

I really like how you the belts "just thrown" about

[buddho]

Gorgeous cockpit. The resin details really pop out and add to the model.

[406 Silverado]

The work that you're putting into this one is some top-notch stuff, Jay. I hear you on the 5-minute epoxy usage. When I'm dealing with AM pits or engine mounts, I've found that that stuff is hard to beat when it comes to securing everything into place. It never fails that even after 18 times of test fitting that nothing ever fits like it's supposed to. lol

[tucohoward]

Thanks, fellows! Spent some time on this one over the weekend and today. Wings on with a pretty fair amount of work to get the wing roots where I want them. Actually still fussing with the right one but we'll get there. Finished the gunsight and installed it in the down position. The sight is MDC resin with acetate lenses I cut and tinted. Front canopy installed which also took some work to get a decent fit. Added some pipes in the belly pan and cut out an ejection port for the 30mm cannon. Still haven't decided on a scheme but went ahead and sprayed the RLM76 as that will be on any of them.

Cheers,
Jay

[kyledehart5]

This some really outstanding work!! Everything is looking so good.

[andreww]

That is some really nice work on that gun sight. Love the seatbelts, too. Are they etch or superfabric?  Love the rivet work as well.

[tucohoward]

Mar 25, 2024 20:45:00 GMT -5 andreww said:

That is some really nice work on that gun sight. Love the seatbelts, too. Are they etch or superfabric?  Love the rivet work as well.

Thanks, guys! The seatbelts HGW fabric.

Jay

[handiabled]

Looks like this is coming together fairly drama free. You even have some color on it!

[tucohoward]

So I decided on a scheme. It's one I have thought about doing for a long time. I make my masks for the wing leading edges with a piece of 10mm Tamiya tape. Stick it to my bench, draw a squiggly line down the middle and then cut it. One half for each wing. Most reference pics show this as a hard edge. This particular camo also needs a hard edge along the fuselage. For this I use a strip of Oramask which you can see through making life easier. Apply the strip, draw the line you want, put the Oramask back onto the backing paper, important, and cut. I draw the camo on with a colored pencil. Just another thing that will make your life easier when doing freehand camo. I sprayed the RLM75 first and tried to stay in my lines. Not needed but it's good practice. Followed with the RLM83. Basic camo done but obviously much more to do.

Cheers,
Jay

[kyledehart5]

Man, Jay, that is some really exceptionally nice paint work there. Great job.

[handiabled]

Sensational looking splinter on this! I'm looking forward to the mottle

[andreww]

I am in love with the HGW belts.  A lot of work, but worth it at the end.  I just wish they made a wider subject range.  Very nice paint work going on there!

[tucohoward]

Thanks, guys! Once again I created a lot of extra work for myself when I totally pooched the left fuselage cross this morning. I was having trouble the mask fitting correctly and instead of trying a different mask I went forward and that was unwise. I ended up doing a lot of sanding, priming, reriveting, repainting, etc. Fortunately I always save the masks I make for the camo until I am totally done so I was able to reapply the camo no muss, no fuss. I even altered the mask a little as some of the line wasn't as wavy as I wanted. Upper wing crosses masked and painted but went with decals for the lower wing crosses. Good practice and nobody ever looks at the bottom anyway. 

Cheers,
Jay

[kyledehart5]

Wonderful progress despite the issues!! This continues to look outstanding!

[handiabled]

Great looking recovery on the paint Jay!

[lyle]

Looks great.

[cbaltrin]

Looks great so far!

[andreww]

That looks amazing! Who's Balkancruz masks do you use, or do you cut your own?  If I had a nickel for every time something like this happened.... great recovery!

[thug626]

Outstanding recovery!

[dupes]

Mmmmm...paint and markings look good already. Who's the Swedish dude in the background?

[buddho]

Love, love love how this is evolving....gorgeous!

[cbaltrin]

Looking real good. I love late war 109's. Well heck, I like any 109....