Airfix 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4

[Mike]

Nov 8, 2024 9:53:57 GMT -5 handiabled said:

No harm no foul Mike. Glad the decal didn't disintegrate on you.

I've never had a decal disintegrate when using Liquid cement. It's a frightening process, but when all else fails LC will more than do the job. I've never used Mr. Hobby S liquid cement before though. and these decals are much thinner than, say, Revell's. One quick swipe over a revell decal with Testors LC and you can't touch it again, but it's down for good after that. Liquid Cement is the literal Nuke option of decal solvents lol.

[jeaton01]

My favorite filler is Aves Epoxysculpt. It can be smoothed with a wet finger so there is often very little sanding and it is hard enough to get good scribe line using a JLC saw and a Tamiya scribing bit. For yellow I still use a flat white undercoat and the Gunze Mr Color RLM04. But if what you are doing works for you then keep on going. The 109 looks great, especially what you have done with the exhaust and tail wheel.

[Mike]

Nov 8, 2024 21:26:10 GMT -5 jeaton01 said:

My favorite filler is Aves Epoxysculpt. It can be smoothed with a wet finger so there is often very little sanding and it is hard enough to get good scribe line using a JLC saw and a Tamiya scribing bit. For yellow I still use a flat white undercoat and the Gunze Mr Color RLM04. But if what you are doing works for you then keep on going. The 109 looks great, especially what you have done with the exhaust and tail wheel.

I've heard of Aves Epoxysculpt. I'd like to get some of that because it sounds a lot like Milliput. Bondo is not something I usually use for what I used it for, but I did manage to pull it off in the end. But I hope I think of a better solution next time lol.

I didn't set out to do much more than just build this kit straight, but exhausts are important. I just don't think they look right if you don't hollow them out. The tail wheel was more of a "I wonder" situation. 

Thank you.

[jeaton01]

Aves is almost the same as milliput but I had issues with shelf life with it. I have been using the same two pint containers of Aves for at least ten years. They also make EpoxyClay which I have tried but the Sculpt is harder and maybe finer grained.

[Mike]

I'm starting to have shelf life issues with my Milliput. I've figured out that adding a few drops of water to each bag keeps them from drying out completely, but one of the "logs" has stil hardened itself a thin shell I have to scrape off before using it. This Aves stuff is sounding better by the minute.

I did spend a lot of time yesterday applying the decals. All of those stencils take up a lot of time when you're being patient and I didn't mess up any this time. I didn't use every stencil because they wouldn't be noticeable or possibly covered with other layers of paint, but I didn't stick to that as a rule as I went along.

I'll post a picture later after I make a little more progress.

[Mike]

Decals done. Pin wash with Tamiya Dark Grey panel liner done. I started with an oil wash of Burnt Umber on the nose and wing tips which turned out quite well.







I unmasked the glass and did a dry fit.



That looks so much better than my usual method. I'm at a point now where I'm going to let this rest and I'll come back to it later. I've got a few layers of medium working here and I need to let it all cure before I mess something up again. So for now it's all good.

Walk away... walk away... lol.

I'll add a dirt was after this and see where I go from there. I've spotted a few very minor spots I'll need to fix before a final reveal but nothing drastic at all.

[cbaltrin]

Looks good Mike

[Mike]

Thanks. It's looking pretty average to me right now.

[handiabled]

Great work Mike! Are you planning on weathering this on the heavy side or leave fresher looking?

[Mike]

Nov 10, 2024 2:17:32 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Great work Mike! Are you planning on weathering this on the heavy side or leave fresher looking?

I'm not going heavy with the weathering. If I'd wanted to go that route I would've started the paint differently.

[kyledehart5]

Wow Mike!! Great paint and decal work. This is looking really great!!

[406 Silverado]

Nov 9, 2024 19:39:57 GMT -5 Mike said:

Decals done. Pin wash with Tamiya Dark Grey panel liner done. I started with an oil wash of Burnt Umber on the nose and wing tips which turned out quite well.

I unmasked the glass and did a dry fit.



That looks so much better than my usual method. I'm at a point now where I'm going to let this rest and I'll come back to it later. I've got a few layers of medium working here and I need to let it all cure before I mess something up again. So for now it's all good.

Walk away... walk away... lol.

I'll add a dirt was after this and see where I go from there. I've spotted a few very minor spots I'll need to fix before a final reveal but nothing drastic at all.

 Mike that looks simply stunning just the way it is already and you're not even done with this puppy yet. You're pullin' off one heckuva build here man. 

[Mike]

Thanks guys. I don't think I'm seeing what you're seeing though.

Maybe this one will end up in the showcase then? Lol.

Just started a new job with a wicked commute so I've got everything on hold. Looks like I'll mostly be a weekend builder from now on. I'll update as soon as I can though.

[jkim]

Paint and decals look great, Mike. The extra effort to get the decals to settle into the panel lines is clearly visible to me. It's a wonderful finish and I agree with all the positive comments being made.

[Mike]

Thank you, John. The only issues with these decals was because of my own fussing about with them. They're much better than the Tamiya ones.

I still want to do a bit more with some oil effects because I think this just looks like the model they took pictures of for the box, like they used to. It's just not "me" yet. In the past I've done lots more to achieve a different, more weathered style and this one isn't it. I don't know if I like it or not.

I think my favorite so far is the Revell Spitfire I did a bit of scratch building and panel scribing on. I really like how the finished model turned out with that one.



One of these days I need to stop stalling on my Banshee conversion. Lots of scratch built greebles in that one, but the gunners area has stumped me because I haven't found any reference pictures that clearly show me what I need to build. The angles are always wrong and I get no sense of scale.












Just putting a kit together isn't typically my thing. So this one doesn't have the same vibe to me yet. I think I'll get over it though. I just have some other tricks to try that I haven't used in a while.

[Mike]

Threw a dirt wash on this bad boy earlier. I'll clean it up a bit later.

Once I'm happy with that I'll seal it and work some oils into it. Should be fun!

[Mike]

Working some Burnt Umber Oil into the panel lines gave me just enough color variation to bring out a bit of flavor in the basic paint scheme.





I didn't got overboard with the dirt wash on the bottom and I added some small leak streaks and stains.



Coming along nicely.

[handiabled]

Nice subtle changes made the fuselage detail really stand out!

[Mike]

Thanks Brent. Like usual it's easier to see with the old mk1 eyeball.

I am at the point where I'm about to wrap it up for the finish and I seem to have misplaced the wing MG barrels. I took a cursory look before I left for work this morning but couldn't locate them.

So they're either on the table under my mess or the carpet monster has them. I had them on the edge of my pallet before I last cleaned it so I hope I didn't wash them down the sink drain.

I can cobble up some replacements if I have to but I'll make a serious effort when I get home tonight to find them. I don't think they've gone far.

But I'm almost done with this build and I've got an old Revell pro modeller kit I'm dinking around with at the moment. That Turkey is still here in the que as well and I need to finish that up soon.

[kyledehart5]

Really looking excellent!! The weathering is bringing this together.

[Mike]

Thanks, Kyle. I'm a bit further on with it now, but I still haven't found those gun barrels. I know I didn't toss em down the sink but I put them somewhere "safe" and I haven't found that place yet lol.

Otherwise this build is about done.