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Digs progress will be shown here.

I shall build this:

Starting in a week or two though.

Paul

A week or two??

Remember we first have kick-off 1'th October.

-Jesper.

Ok... as it happened, I'm three weeks late starting. Business as usual really.

So here's the raw material:

By the time the boxing pictured above got into my clutches, it had long since lost the paint, glue and brush.

The carton listed the paints that should have been included though, so I fished these out of the stash of little paint pots that have accrued over the last few years, bar two colours that had to come from the 'grown-ups' stash of Humbrol tinlets.

An exact match for the tube glue shown on the box was easily to hand.

As sanding material, I'm going to allow myself a couple of dog-eared squares of Wet and Dry - these were always to hand when I was a kid from my next-door-neighbour's dad's workshop. In the same vein, I'm allowing myself a modeling knife. To go with the retro feel of days now 30 years gone, I've kept the rather blunt blade from the Post War AFV build, instead of changing for a new one!

The instructions lack any details for the overall paint scheme. I wonder if I'm missing a sheet? Does anyone else have the same set?

Anyway, the build has started:

Unlike the old days, I had a glass of wine to hand, and I'm letting the glue set before moving onto the next stage.

Cheers!

Paul

Any chance of a scan Arpie?

Paul

Hey Digs

Sorry I realsie what I posted isn't all that clear, teach me for posting at half 12

.

I have made some of the brand new starter sets (like the Typhoon for this build) and they all had the colour schemes on the back. Now I don't know if this is a new thing Airfix have done or not. However the two starter sets of the older square style box I have have the painting guide in the instructions like a normal kit. So I think you are missing the sheeet but can't be 100% unfortunatly I don't have the Bf109 sorry

.

OK, no worries and thanks for the info.

Paul

I'm finding this build rather frustrating - the deliberate handicap imposed by the rules can be interesting (can I fix it by another means?) but when you can't...

Anyway, here's the state of play:

Interior painted greenish and black (sounds sort of like chocolate) and the major assembly finished.

Tube glue, no clamps and no filler made getting rid of a step between somewhat ill-fitting fuselage halves difficult. I made sure it was right on top and sanded the bottom until boredom set in. I then rescribed the long gone panel lines, but the step is still there around the wing roots (and more on them later), just a bit less and rather more rounded. The nose end responded reasonably well to using a second application of tube glue as filler.

The topside fuselage was OK aft of the cockpit. The front section needed sticky glue filling and a lot of sanding.

And then there's the wing roots. Someone could break their ankle in the gap on the left hand side. I tried the tube glue trick again but failed - too tricky to apply with just the point of a modeling knife.

So I'm afraid I've cheated and used some PVA. Without that (or plasticard, or filler), I think I would have lost heart and binned it. I like the kit so far - much nicer than the snap-fit Me109 I built recently, but I'm not doing it justice here.

Paul

Off work the last couple of days with suspected swine flu (ironic and VERY irritating given that I've studied influenza virus for the last 25 years) but the Tamiflu is doing its job and so far it's been like a two day moderate hangover - not exactly at peak efficiency but perfectly able to spend some time in the workshop.

Paint - the old fashioned acrylic minipots. Actually, they're not too bad in some ways. Well thinned,2-3 coats and I'm very happy with the resulting finish of the Hu65. With a coat of Klear it would be great...

The splinter camo should be RLM02/71 I think. Or according to the painting instructions, 50:50 Hu31/78 and Hu30. I don't have the acrylic pot of Hu78 and although I got away with mixing acrylic and enamel for the cockpit interior, it wasn't a happy blend and it won't work for large exterior surfaces. So Hu31 alone it is and I won't get too upset over the mismatch.

Old skool sellotape, not Tamiya tape for the masking - you can see the residue to the left as proof

. The runs AND the lifting of patches of the base Hu65 convince me that Tamiya tape is worth the money...

You are doing great, Digs

Good luck with your flu, and get well soon.

-Jesper

Ayup Digs...

Did you mix tube glue with shavings off the sprue to make plastic 'Filler' ?

That's what I did when i was ten.

No, I didn't think of that Fea - daft, as I remember you saying it from a while ago. Oh well, a small cheat in the grand scheme of things - not like I've fiddled my expenses or anything...

Anyway, more steps in the painting process - I would have got as far as the mottling this evening if the Hu85 minipot hadn't have sprayed paint on the damn model when I shut the lid earlier.

And after adding the gelb and touching up (multiple times).

Still, the Hu85 fiasco at least shows I can thin it down and use it as an allowable weathering agent!

Paul

And here's the state of play at the end of the weekend:

Very nicely done Digs, looking forward to the next installment.

Ayup Digs...

That is EXCELLENT my friend !

As you say, if you use the black to 'Weather' you'll pull out detail from EVERYWHERE !

(and once you cry 'Finished', you can then 'Finish' it as a 'Restoration' too !

Very well done

Andy

You're making a good job of that Digs. The canopy seems like a good fit too. I put one of these together this year and I was dreading the canopy on your behalf after what I received.

Thanks guys. McT - the canopy is a horrible fit, it's just a flattering photo...

So, mixed progress. I finished gluing bits on, excepting the aerial mast, finished the detail painting (turns out mixing acrylic Hu85 coal black with what I thought was acrylic Hu61 flesh fizzes entertainingly then settles down to a useful metallic grey) and then made a start on the decals.

The fuselage balkencreuz (sp?) went on OK as the sides were quite smooth. Then I tried the wing uppers. Lots of rivets, perhaps not totally to scale... The decal sat there for a few minutes before curling up like a BR sandwich. Then it fell off. I wet it again, and tried to place it once more. It stuck fast to my finger, then broke when I tried to dab it off onto the wing. All the while showing no interest whatsoever in sticking to the the painted plastic.

So (forgive me) but I cheated and broke out the Klear. That's why my plane looks so glossy in the photo. You can see the curled up remnants of the decal to the right.

Oh, and the decals - horribly out of register too.

This one is becoming a beauty!