Airfix Bf109 F

This is an old Airfix Friedrich that I started and almost completed a few years ago. Not a bad kit, despite the raised panel lines and soft detail in some areas. I had originally painted it in a standard 74/75/76 scheme but having picked it up again this week when spraying the Academy Gustav I decided to re-spray it as JG 54 Barbarossa machine. The a/c in the pic is of course a G-2 but you get the idea !

Academy Bf 109 G-6 (3)

meanwhile I am still wrestling with my Academy G-6 - having trouble getting the exhaust staining looking right in this small scale - already wiped one attempt off - and the spinner spiral is a nightmare. I'm hoping this will be Heinrich Bartel's 'Red 13' 'Marga' - but so far I have been unable to find out if his a/c had white wingtips or a trop filter..

Academy Bf 109 G-6 (2)

More progress on the G-6. Less than 24 hrs in and I'm primed and ready for paint. This kit is great - all I've had to do is box in the wells

Stash sale purchases; Huma, Karo-As, Azur, AML

..just some of the nice kits I picked up recently at a 'stash' sale taking place in a well known Aviation Bookshop based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The Karo AS Fw 187 looks interesting (also got their Fw 58) along with a selection of Huma, Azur and AML kits. Recently saw the Azur Cams 37 go for £18 on Ebay - mine cost less than a fiver. Click on any of these pics for a close look!

Academy Bf 109 G-6 (1/72nd scale)

..already started this neat little kit from Academy. Cockpit is quite adequately detailed for this scale, but I've added some etch rudder pedals and belts. Still toying with the idea of adding the drop tank fuel line to the starboard cockpit wall. On the real machine this had a perspex cut-out window so that the pilot could check for the presence of air bubbles, indicating that he was running low and should prepare to switch over tanks.





judging by this shot, looks like I put the pedals on the wrong way round - not surprising in this scale as I can hardly see them !

Revell Super Cobra (3)

Just an oil wash left to do on the ordnance and a touch of 'silver' on the jammer behind the rotor, but this one is virtually finished. Again like all of my models, some turn out well and others not so well. This one is definitely in the latter category. Tricky little kit to put together - while I finished and painted all the sub-assemblies separately they didn't come together at the end as easily as I hoped they would. Decals performed okay, but then everything does when drowned in Klear. Some nasty marks on the inside of the canopy- no idea how they got there and my basic 'foil' belts look a little too basic inside that huge canopy. Blades have "droop", plastic can easily be 'bent' between the fingers to achieve this effect.

Revell Super Cobra (2)

..some progress on the Cobra

Revell Super Cobra

Another neat looking kit that I've recently started.

 

Cockpit sprayed using my favourite 'black' - Halfords Volvo Grey

 

Used the decal supplied for the instrument panel, simply cut out of the backing paper and glued into the panel after scraping off the engraved detail. Seat padding and belts from textured Champagne bottle foil. Some modellers use T-bag paper or so I've learnt.

  Canopy masked up and interior framing painted in black ('anthracite')

 

"Balls Out!" - 509th FS (405th FG) P-47 D flown by Lt Milton W. Thompson

Revell 72nd P-47 D as P-47D-30-RA S.No 44-33813 G9*L ‘Balls Out‘of the 509th Fighter Squadron of the 405th Fighter Group flown by Lt Milton W. Thompson. Not the best P-47 kit but an easy straight forward build.

Finished in natural metal with an olive drab anti glare panel. The aircraft has the leading edge of the nose cowl finished in red along with the fin fillet, windscreen and canopy frame. The aircraft has a large charging bull painted on the nose with the words “Balls Out” painted above it.



A rare view of the actual machine taken in Kitzingen, Germany, May 1945

Huma Me 209 V1/V4 in 1:72nd (2009 build)

Continuing my on-going series of ‘Luftwaffe’ types that can be easily finished without an airbrush, this my Huma Me 209....piston-engine speed record holder until the late '60s when it was overtaken by a modified Bearcat. The 209 was apparently an evil little aircraft which featured an incredibly small wing (and horrendously high loading) and a ‘novel’ cooling system dispensing with radiators to reduce drag - hot coolant was evaporated via holes in the wing so that the machine left a trail of steam behind it. Engine life was pretty short as the 200 gallons of coolant "evaporated" in 30 mins...

Like all Huma kits this is reasonably moulded if a little tricky to assemble. The cockpit was bare so I've put a bit of 109 etch in, not that any of it can be seen. Fit is not brilliant overall, but you do get two sets of wings and two cowls in the kit (for the V1 and the 'military version ', the V4). Finished appropriately enough in BMW blue.with a Halfords rattle can for a super glossy smooth finish.