Airfix 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4

[Mike]

I've got to wait for paint for the Turkey so 'm keeping my hands busy with this build for now. 

I've already built and painted the cockpit some years ago so I decided to finish painting up the pilot so I can glue the fuselage halves together. 










These kits may come with some basic pilot figures but they paint up fine. A bit soft in the details, but nothing I'm going to complain about.

[jeaton01]

Pilot looks real nice!

[handiabled]

Bookmarked! Nice work on the pilot!

[Mike]

Thank you, guys. The more figures I paint the easier it gets, but it's still hit and miss with 1/48 figures. 1/72 are still a crap shoot for me.

I started my day with sanding the bottom of the fuselage and finding that its far too easy to sand away too much material to get the seam to vanish and that led me to using sprue glue to add material back to the fuselage where it meets the back edge of the lower wing assembly.



I very slowly leveled that back out checking every few seconds of sanding to make sure I didn't have any step between the parts and then a few spots of Bondo to level out the edges. These parts now fit flush with no seams. I shouldn't have any major problems with this area later.





After a pass of Mr. Surfacer I gave it one more light sanding to rid myself of any ghost seams and then sprayed it a second time to check my work. Looks good to me.



After that I began to clean up and align the nose parts, again with a lot of careful sanding and checking the fit going slowly. There's a bit more flash on this kit than I'd anticipated but with a sharp, fresh exacto blade I got it all cleaned up and primed. The nose vents were especially tricky to get just right. Now I don't know where I heard about this next trick but it works flawlessly. Instead of painting yellow over white or light grey (which I usually do) and going over it many, many layers until the paint builds up to crazy thicknesses. Well, someone suggested laying down a layer of Vallejo Flesh first.



Son of a gun it works great! I only had to spray it a few times lightly to get my color saturation. Bingo! No need to be hesitant to use yellow on an aircraft anymore. Nice!



I added the lower cowling radiator and you can see a bit of it from the front but it's barely in view from behind so painting it all black would've been okay. From the front it looks good though.



The nose MG's were painted a dark steel color and then I used a black ink wash over them for that black metallic look. Usually I paint them black and rub them with a graphite pencil for the same effect. Just thought I'd go this route this time. Barrels were hollowed out with the exacto.



So that's the progress I've made for today.

[kyledehart5]

Nice work on this one!! Always love those yellow noses too. Looking good.

[jkim]

Looks great! Just an FYI... the Bf109 had physical panel lines down the fuselage spine between the canopy and tail and also along the bottom between the rear edge of the wing and tail wheel. So you don't have be perfect when it comes to eradicating those joints!

[Mike]

You just had to mention those dorsal lines, didn't you, John. LOL

I was perfectly happy to let that detail slide under the radar, but if you noticed then others will as well. So now I've added them and I'm waiting for primer to dry. And for the record I'm glad you called that out. Thank you.

I'll have some pictures later as I've got some more sanding to do with the wings.

[jkim]

Sorry man! I didn't mean to cause an inconvenience but I'll take your word that you are glad to have made the adjustment. I get tips like that all the time on my builds. Sometimes I do them and sometimes I don't.

Your paint work is very nice. Yellow is a tricky color to spray and your cowling looks spot on!

[dodgy]

Great looking build Mike. I have this one in the stash so I'm coming along for the ride. Thanks for the tip on base for yellow paint, that's a beaut!

[Mike]

Oct 30, 2024 18:03:14 GMT -5 jkim said:

Sorry man! I didn't mean to cause an inconvenience but I'll take your word that you are glad to have made the adjustment. I get tips like that all the time on my builds. Sometimes I do them and sometimes I don't.

Your paint work is very nice. Yellow is a tricky color to spray and your cowling looks spot on!

LOL you've caused no inconvenience at all. I do know what you mean about advice though. Sometimes you take it and sometimes you don't. It all depends on how you want your model to finish. 

Oct 30, 2024 18:07:38 GMT -5 dodgy said:

Great looking build Mike. I have this one in the stash so I'm coming along for the ride. Thanks for the tip on base for yellow paint, that's a beaut!

I'm one of us who have nothing but trouble with the color yellow and it's, for me, a mild source of trepidation like using silver for a finish. I either nail it from the beginning and mess it up later or screw it up first and deal with it with some clever fix. I never seem to get a good result right out of the gate with either of those two colors. So I usually avoid them if at all possible.

The dorsal lines turned out okay despite having to hold my steel straight edge as solidly as possible. I was a touch off target on the bottom, but got it right on the top. Fortunately it's difficult to see.





I've used Tamiya Panel liner to make things easier to see. But not bad, right? I can live with the results. Thanks, John. 

[Mike]

I've glued the spare canopy parts together to use as mask. Pretty nice when a kit has such things. It's also made obvious that there will be a bit of a gap at the front windscreen so I've got a plan for that in mind. This time I want to make sure the canopy parts fit properly and won't have a paint build up around the frames or dust in the crevices.

[handiabled]

The scribing work looks right on Mike!

[Mike]

Thank you, Brent. They're a touch wonky, but I'm happy enough with them not to want to fill them and re-scribe lol.

While I'm waiting for glue to cure on the wings (MG fairings are not the best in this kit) I decided to focus on some of the smaller assemblies. I've decided to use the drop tank with my build and even though the detail is fine I took the opportunity to dress it up a bit. I added a bit of styrene to the top of the tank to make a connection point for the fuel lines which don't quite mate to the tank. Not sure if it's accurate, but it makes the two pieces fit better where the fuel lines actually have somewhere to go instead of hanging over the tank lol.

Next bit was noticing that there are some vent(?) holes in the tank fairing(?) that most would just fill in with black paint later but I went next level and drilled out the holes and then used my micro dremel to thin down the inside of the fairing so the holes didn't look like they are simply drilled out. It made quite a mess on the inside of the fairing but the results are totally worth it.







I love the way it looks on the model now. It appears as it should, with a bit of thinness that it should have. But I'll make you guys wait for that picture lol. Currently I'm making something out of the propeller and nose assembly. Had to do some carving and sculpting to get that sorted out because one, just ONE, of the blades didn't have the control collar and I had to fix that.

[dodgy]

Nice work mate. Incidentally,for a guide when scribing, I use DYMO labelling tape. Because it's made to stick to a surface it doesn't move and you don't have to hold it. Of course, because it's also flexible it's great for curves.

[Mike]

I still have to get some of that DYMO tape, Dodgy. Especially after having to hold my straight edge against that fuselage.

Exhausts drilled, shaped and dry fitted.







Was it worth it? Yep.

[Mike]

I'm still having issues with the MG fairings in the wings, but I'm making headway. I also got a new bottle of Vallejo yellow which I added a drop of red to and made it RLM04 so it doesn't look as washed out and it's more vibrant now. Progress is being made while I wait for my delivery of all the other new RLM colors I ordered.





The exhausts are just dry fitted at the moment so I don't get any paint in the attachment points.





One thing I like to do is give my prop hubs a wash with some watered down Tamiya Smoke. It has a nice greasy look to it without being too stark in appearance.

[dodgy]

Looking sweet fella. What was the issue with the gun fairings

[Mike]

Nov 1, 2024 20:30:38 GMT -5 dodgy said:

Looking sweet fella. What was the issue with the gun fairings

They just didn't fit very well. Guess I got some bad ones as I've heard that others have had no issue with them. Mine just didn't line up well and were uneven. I've been re-scribing them but I forgot just how awful that is when using Bondo because it doesn't like to be scribed lol. I should've stuck with the sprue glue. That can be scribed with little issue.

[Mike]

I ran into a problem with re-scribing the MG fairings in the wings because I used Bondo to level out the fairings to the rest of the wing edges and Bondo doesn't like to be scribed. It's too soft and gets ragged around the scribed edges. So I think I've found a solution.



I watered down Perfect Plastic Putty to almost a wash and ran that into the re-scribing so that they'd fill up a bit. So far it's looking promising.

[dodgy]

I've never used Bondo, I'm not sure if it's even available here, but the results of your 'fix it' plan are looking good.

[handiabled]

Great work on the exhaust! The RLM04 mixture you have looks great! I have always used Model Master Chrome Yellow. A problem on the wings leading edge is always a pain but I think you have it handled great.

[Mike]

Nov 2, 2024 1:58:01 GMT -5 dodgy said:

I've never used Bondo, I'm not sure if it's even available here, but the results of your 'fix it' plan are looking good.

It's an automotive body filler quite common here. It has very little shrinkage and you can use liquid cement with it to soften it into gaps and such. I prefer it to every hobby putty I've ever used and you can get a lot of it for cheaper than most hobby specific putties. Perfect Plastic Putty does everything bondo doesn't and it water soluble. Between the two I have just about every putty situation covered lol.

[Mike]

Nov 2, 2024 2:47:20 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Great work on the exhaust! The RLM04 mixture you have looks great! I have always used Model Master Chrome Yellow. A problem on the wings leading edge is always a pain but I think you have it handled great.

Thanks, Brent. It takes hours to carve those out but its worth it. My RLM04 is actually closer to Chrome Yellow. Actual RLM04 is a lighter, more classic yellow which isn't as vivid. Laying down this slightly darker yellow will look great if I do panel fading with RLM04 over it later. I'm thinking it could give me a heat staining appearance if I give it a try. I like the current color so much I don't know if I'll do the panel fading yet.


In other news, the watered down PPP worked exactly as I'd hoped. The wing cannon fairings don't have those deep over-scribed lines anymore and they look good.





The enlarged pictures are definitely showing the minor flaws of the trick, but to the naked eye they look perfect. Now I can move forward.

[adt70hk]

Coming on very nicely indeed.

It's looking really sharp. I nearly made the same mistake on the rest fuselage lines but got saved by someone just in time.

Keep up the good work.

Andrew

[406 Silverado]

Just saw this one and for some reason I thought I'd already commented on it but.....nope.....not till now. Progress is looking just GREAT on this thing and I still can't get over the fact that you hollowed the cowl machine guns out with.......an X-Acto knife??!! Those things look FABULOUS!!! I'll be tuning into this build as I've now got it bookmarked Mike.

[Mike]

Honestly I keep being mildly surprised by the details that are emerging from this kit. A little modification and this kit shines somewhat brightly. I really need to get my hands on an Eduard 109-E. Or maybe even an F or a G, so I can compare. For all of this kits seemingly soft edges the parts clean up nicely.

I've just spent the better part of the day cleaning up all of the flaps, landing legs, ailerons, and such. I feel like I made progress lol.

[406 Silverado]

Nov 2, 2024 20:43:31 GMT -5 Mike said:

Honestly I keep being mildly surprised by the details that are emerging from this kit. A little modification and this kit shines somewhat brightly. I really need to get my hands on an Eduard 109-E. Or maybe even an F or a G, so I can compare. For all of this kits seemingly soft edges the parts clean up nicely.

I've just spent the better part of the day cleaning up all of the flaps, landing legs, ailerons, and such. I feel like I made progress lol.

  I had this one in my stash for a while and regretted getting rid of it. 

It really is a beautiful kit. 

[Mike]

I've built more than a few 1/72 109's over the years but the only other 1/48 109 I have is the old Monogram kit to compare this one to. That's pretty much a hand's down winner for the Airfix kit.

And when I was saying that the details are really there with this kit and all it takes is a bit of cleaning up I really mean it. I did a little drilling and just a few minutes of careful carving and I managed to get a bit more detail out of the tail wheel.



These Newer Airfix kits just need a nudge to get them over the edge as far as budget kits go. No after market bits are really needed, but a cockpit replacement/upgrade could more than likely really put this model over the top.

Too bad you got rid of yours. I'm looking forward to picking up another one after this. I still have the P-51 in the stash too and I've been looking it over with a bit more attention now.

[handiabled]

I'm a big fan of the Dragon and Eduard Luftwaffe aircraft that I have built. You are bringing this one home in grand fashion. Looks as if your close to getting some more RLM colors on this.

[Mike]

I am looking forward to painting this one lol. The camo scheme is standard 70/71 overall splinter but with RLM02 mottled over the sides. This is another one of the early releases from the newer(ish) Airfix line and it has the alternate scheme from a 1939 E-1 included. I would like to build the tropical version next. Looks like some nice markings in that one too.

Edit: I've been watching hours of video builds on YouTube and this kit is about as ubiquitous as the Monovell P-40B kit with a lot of ameture builds. Kinda hard to take some of them seriously when they say things like "dekulz".