1/32 Hasegawa Bf109G-14 Hartmann

[jkim]

Looking great John!. The extra detail on the drop tank is amazing. Also I can't tell exactly where the tail join is great job there. My pick would be for the resin IP you can't get that 3D effect with the PE in this scale.

Suggestion- recently I came across some Sharpie oil based paint pens, which they make in various colors and different tip sizes down to ultra fine. One of those might be just what you need for tidying up those ammo counters.

And I agree with Clint on the 3-D relief of the resin panel being superior in look. That is always the drawback of PE Too bad you can’t easily combine both panels for an end results product.

Thanks guys! You know what Carlos... I'm tempted to butcher the PE Panel and do just what you said. But I don't want to ruin a perfectly good IP that might come into use in the future. The problem with the ammo counters is the molded details which is not the sharpest and hampers the painting. It would be easiest to scrape it off and replace with something more uniform, even a decal. I'll check my spares box for something.

Vincent K always has great insight on 109's and he chimed in with some corrections for my drop tank. I've filled in the forward most panel line, cut the pressure port tube from front and added a hex drain plug. Also added some dents to the tank. The hex plug is probably a little overscale but it was all I could find (hub from a Revell G-10 wheel).



The majority of today was spent fashioning seat harnesses. I've decided to use the buckle hardware from the MDC brass fret and cut the fabric harness material from foil material. Not sure where I got it... some random bottle of wine. Hard to see but I've added some stitching using a neat toothed tool on the corner of a RB Productions brass fret. Do I paint now and mount later or mount the belts on the seat and paint later?

[Duke Maddog]

All outstanding work John! As for the belts, I'd say paint them now and install later. Then again, I'm only a 1/72 scale aircraft builder who doesn't even add seat belts... unless they are provided in the kit.

Keep it coming John!

[BlackSheep214]

Paint now, install later, then weather your cockpit. Unless you have really steady hand to install then paint afterwards.

[speedgraflex]

Good morning! I am catching up on your progress here and on the ZM. Two wonderful projects. The Eduard PE is very nice, but very 2-dimensional. I consider your paint work of the resin version outstanding, the decals finer, and the use of clear transparency film ingenious and superior to the Eduard version. The overall effect feels more realistic and also personal. I would call your work the clear winner.

I am curious to see how you proceed with painting the belts. The belts are hands down the most beautiful and accurate scratchbuilt belts I have ever seen. I would continue to treat them as a sub assembly until the cockpit is at least base painted. Add later, with the goal to make the attachment points for the straps fit correctly; at all locations. I would paint in situ with gouache to remove the sheen from the metal and highlight the extraordinary detail with a fine pointed sable.

[BorgR3mc0]

Those seatbelts are outstanding!

[jkim]

Thanks guys! It's hard to tell what the belts actually look like without a coat of paint on them. One of the reasons why I've not done this before even though many of my resin cockpit sets (Eagle Editions, Aires and MDC) include separate buckles is that the EE and Aires hardware is noticeably larger than the MDC stuff. It looks overscale in my eyes. The MDC hardware is more inline with HGW and I think more scale appropriate. I'm leaning on painting separately but I'm worried that the paint will need to be touched up after installation from the bending.

A question I posed over at LSP. Looking at the top of the G-14 wings, I'm wondering if there is a panel line that isn't supposed to be there.


I have a Japanese Model Art publication that has scale drawings of various 109 marks. No G-14 but I'm assuming that the G-6 has similar if not identical wings to the G-14...


The K-4 drawing even has a call-out pointing to that panel line in question but I cannot read Japanese...


Looking back on my past builds, both the Hasegawa K-4 and Revell G-6 kit have this panel line so maybe it's ok?

[jkim]

While I am in a holding pattern on the riveting, I can report on a few other things. I dug through my Mega Pile of Aftermarket Stuff and found this little item...


Photoetch instrument panels are not my fave and self-adhesive photoetch is the absolute worst so I found it very easy to cut the ammo counter from this set and attach it to my resin panel. The Revi 16B gunsight has also been assembled and painted. It came with the MDC cockpit set.



I had to check to see if the windscreen would fit with the gunsight in place. So I put the IP into the fuselage for test.



The windscreen JUST clears the Revi. I think the reflective glass of the sight are touching the windscreen. So no protective armored glass.


The plastic exhaust deflectors were re-done in brass sheeting.






And finally... the circular wheel wells were adjusted to late Gustave standards with some slicing and dicing.

[Medicman71]

Awesome work!

[jkim]

Thanks Mike!

Doing some research on my own... I found a pic of a G-14 that has that extra panel line so I'm keeping it intact.


I've sketched out the rivet lines on the upper wings but will wait until tomorrow to actually add the rivets. Don't want to do it when it's late and I'm tired.


One thing I forgot to check was to see if the resin cockpit interferes with the wing spar and fuselage bottom. No interference whatsoever.

[Stuart]

Superb work John - that IP looks excellent