Two and a half days into this one and just closed up the fuselage halves and waiting for them to set. Fuselage halves fit surprisingly well considering all the bits inside.

Best OOB cockpit in 1/48 scale that i've seen so far. And i've left a few bits off because i'm lazy...i didn't use those little etched magazine handles. Like most people, i decided it was best to glue the side walls to the fuselage rather than making a complete tub assy.





The RLM02 on the pre painted etched parts has a slightly grainy finish that i've noticed with other peoples builds as well, not sure if it's intentional or not? No one else has ever mentioned it before and it's not noticeable from a normal viewing distance anyway.



Whilst the fuselage has fitted together without any need for filler, the same will not be the case for the nacelle to wing joins. The undersides isn't too bad, but after playing around a bit i've just resigned myself to the need for some filling and sanding around the top nacelle to wing joins.



My original choice of colour scheme was going to be the German Iraqi marked machine of Martin Drewes, the future night fighter ace. But doing a bit of research found that it was really a Bf110 D-3 and not an E at all. From what i can find 12 "C-4" and 2 "D-3" 110's were used in Iraq. The D-3 was a convoy escort version and had a tail extension for a dingy and had external fuel tanks instead of SC50 bomb racks outboard of the engines. A photo of Drewes aircraft show that both the tanks and tail extension were fitted, and shows Eduards colour profile to bit a bit innacurate as well! I still plan to do this aircraft some time, maybe using the coming Bf110 D kit instead and scratch build the tail extension.

So my new cunning plan is to do the white washed "Wespen" aircraft.

Andrew

Very nice. Very nice indeed!

It progresses! Into the 5th day of this one now i think. This is definately not a kit where you can let your skills take a few weeks off- it's not a Tamiya kit! To be honest i find Tamiya kits a bit boring anyway some times.

I've managed to get the airframe fully assembled, just needing some re-scribing in a few places before primer. All other subassemblies like the bombs etc, being already built.

There has been 2 main fit problems for me with this build so far. One was definately partly my own doing, the other is a problem that seems to be built into the kit.

The first problem was the nose sections. I decided to build with the gun cover closed up. Well next time i know to leave out the nose bulkead. My advice would be to only put in what you need to hold the guns. The bulkhead and gun tray tend to spread the nose pieces slightly, resulting in a messy joint that need quite a bit of work to rectify. Next time i'm sure i can do that part better with the benefit of hindsight.

The join between the engine nacelles and the top wing is a different matter. I don't really see how i could change much to get the fit better. The gap is not a problem, gaps are easy to fill. It's the step that needs a bit of work. I've noticed the same thing with other peoples builds of the same kit.



But it's nothing difficult to solve, just slightly tedious. The bottom is much better. Needing just a little bit of filler along the bottom wing to fuselage join. The fuselage halves fit well, so well that you lose the panel line that Bf110's really had, so that will need scribing in.

Ailerons and outer bomb racks fit well, the larger central SC500 rack needed a bit of fairing into the fuselage- but not too much as i doubt these removable racks would fit all that perfectly anyway.



This is a great kit. The excellent detail overall is worth the extra bit of work compared to simpler kits.

Andrew

Hi Andrew

...it's not quite so clear cut as that ....According to which reference you happen to consult there were C, D and E variants in Iraq - indeed Martin Drewes may have flown into Iraq in a 'D' but he used more than one a/c . The initial 110 complement of Sonderkommando Junck appears to have comprised 12 Messerschmitt Bf 110 D-3 (or Bf 110 C) from 4./ZG 76 plus an additional Kette of 2 Bf 110C-4 machines from ZG 26. However there are pictures of Me 110 Es of 4./ZG 76 in Athens, May 1941 photographed prior to deploying to Iraq to support the Gailani Government & Iraqi army uprising against the British. The E variant introduced the rectangular air intake between the nose MGs & was equipped with new ventilated brake discs. In their May 2003 issue Flugzeug Air Classics published a photo of a 4./ZG 76 Me 110 E-1 WNr. 4035 (below) captured by the British on May 25, 1941 in Iraq. (According to Mankau & Petrick's superlative Bf 110 study W.Nr. 4035 was among an E-1 batch from 4013 to 4116).
....just to add that I've got a rare copy of Drewes self-published memoir - only 500 printed - entitled 'Kleine Geschichte von einem bunten Wege' - he describes his victory over a Gloster Gladiator and some of his seventeen ground-attack sorties flown in Iraq. He doesn't really write much about his aircraft. However he does describe how on one occasion he was forced down in the desert after being hit by ground fire. Abandoning his machine pilot and gunner set out to walk back to Baghdad - they were eventually rescued ..Drewes was then flown back to Athens to fly in a replacement aircraft...

That's quite interesting about the "E-1"'s being in Iraq. Now that you mention it, the photos of WNr. 4035 after capture (for some reason the pic you posted isn't showing up for me, but i have 2 pics of it anyway- so i think i know the one) did appear to be an "E". But the confusion for me was the fact that i thought the "D-3" had the same rectangular air intake as the later "E". I'm not sure why i thought that, i must have read it somewhere.

But if W.Nr. 4035 was definately an E-1 (and i now believe it is) then i may go back to my original plan of doing the Iraq scheme afterall. The obvious question now is would the yellow engine cowlings that Eduard show have been overpainted like the pic of the D-3 below? Presumably RLM02 i'd guess. I still have to wonder have Eduard mixed up this D-3 with WNr.4035?

..try hitting the 'refresh' button to see the pic.....works for me..

Thanks for the warnings on that build. This kit is moving up on my build list, so I am interested in how it goes together.

..yeah thanks....

two more pics of it half-way down this page..

http://www.oldcmp.net/fgl_1.html

going through my stuff I've found more pics and a letter from a vet wh owas there - Mr Cliff Heath was stationed in Habbaniya, Iraq during 1941-42 with the ARS responsible for getting this particular machine (might have been Drewes') back into the air.... in a letter in 1998 he wrote .."..London were particularly interested in it as it only had five flying hours out of the factory.."

Thanks, Neil. The pic shows up fine today and it's one i haven't seen before. The 2 pics i had seen were the two in the link above. So i'm now wondering what colour scheme would an early Bf110 E have come from the factory in May '41...Eduards colour profiles for W.Nr. 4035 say RLM 74/75/76. But i would have thought it would have been too early for that. Though i know some units experimented with colours similar to the later scheme, an aircraft from the factory in the first half of '41 would have been more likely still RLM 02/71/65? Then German codes over sprayed and Iraqi markings added...

I personally think that self adhesive pre cut canopy masks are one of the great inventions of our time...right up there with the automatic dishwasher anyway. The Eduard ones fit perfectly and saved a few hours probably.



Tamiya white primer is now on the airframe. Only a little bit of work around the left wing to nacelle joint- a few little pin holes in the filler to patch up. I usually use grey primer, but if the aircraft has yellow or white ID bands or trim then i usually spray white primer as a base instead. I used the unused closed aft portion of the canopy to mask the fuselage, with the front section of the cockpit and wheel wells filled with a strange soft "jelly type" childrens putty that i found in the $1 shop. It sort of flows nicely into such things as wheel wells and protects them. The times i've used it so far it has been easy enough to pull out again after painting.



I think Eduard have the shape of the Bf110 perfectly captured.

Andrew

Hi Andrew!

I'm not a big user/fan of pre-colored photoetched instrument panels but I noticed that too. It seems Eduard have changed the way they apply the colors to the PE part. Now they are probably using and inkjet technique (small dots) instead of the previous method which gave much better results in my opinion!

On the whole, I'm not such a big fan of Eduard anymore. Their kits are still great but something has changed with this manufacturer commercially speaking. Eduard started as a very innovative short run kit producer. Then they acquired state of the art technology to do fantastic computer generated models but still kept the spirit of the old days. For me it was the "golden age" of Eduard. Now it seems they want to make money first...

Back to topic, I think you are doing a great job so far! The interior looks very good and the fact that you have the kit ready for painting after only one week is impressive...

Jean-Luc

..a couple of profiles have appeared elsewhere; the Schiffer Vasco/Estanislau Bf 110 volume for one (I haven't seen them)
...located at the bottom of my pile the September/October 1991 issue of German mag Jet &Prop which features part II of an article on the Sonderkomando in Iraq - & more pics of WNr 4035 as it was being retrieved and over-painted...(colour pic of a Ju 90 in Iraq in the same article shows that machine in greys...)

otherwise there's some info & a profile on the Luftwaffe Experten Message board but a number of pics are missing from the thread..
(you'll need to register to access )

http://www.luftwaffe-experten.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=1916&st=0

some comments from the profile artist of the Schiffer Bf 110 profiles book

"... These machines at Iraq kept me awake for days concerning the colors. W.Nr. 4035 belongs to a Bf110E-1 batch from 5.41 to 8.41. If we think that Sonderkommando Junk arrived there on 05.41, it is correct to assume that they were brand new machines, if they all belonged to the same batch.

If you think that RLM74/75/76 were introduced officially much late the year, the probably colors in Iraq are 02/71/65. However, as you know, some affirm that the new camouflage colors were being tested earlier than that. So, if you think that camouflage colors were introduced that early, you might go for 74/75/76. If you think they were only near November, the answer is 02/71/65. I don't believe they were in sand colors, especially due to the rush of the repainting job.

P.S. When I made the profiles for the book I mentioned, another issue raised among people in Brazil who had interviewed Martin Drewes: I made the engine cowlings in yellow, but some plastic modellers made them in grey, with the agreement of Drewes himself. I wrote some letters to Drewes, but he never answered this specific question.

Regards,

Fernando Estanislau.."

I think the cowls are yellow myself (or possibly a light 02)....and this is the grey scheme..possibly with some sand over-painting prior to deploying to North Africa ( this photo was taken in Athens) - any thoughts..??

Thanks again Neil. That lst photo is the one that has finally made up my mind as to what to do. It is a very helpful pic, though not necessarily for WK Nr.4035 or one of the other early "E"'s. As it appears that the aircraft in the pics are D's or maybe C's. I'd say D's though. My reasoning maybe incorrect, but everything i've read so far says that the E had strengthened wings to mount the bomb racks outboard of the engines and had the option of the large outboard external fuel tanks removed (the smaller ones could still be mounted inbd of the bomb racks).

Any my stab at the pic is follows, I think the darkest como colour is more likely RLM 71, so i think they are 02/71/65. The cowlings in the background aircraft definately are darker than the white nose, so i'd agree with you on yellow. So far most people assume the German markings are oversprayed in RLM02 and the engine cowlings definately look to be lighter. And the part where the crosses were overspayed on the wing top has virtually no visible difference to the surrounding area, and that's why i say RLM 02/71/65 overall. But i'm no expert at deciphering such things.

Back to the model kit, my decision now is this: to complete the E as a whitewashed machine from the eastern front. I'm abandoning W.Nr.4035, BUT when Eduard release their "D' kit later this year (which i've heard will have the parts for the extended fuselage) i will use the Iraqi markings to do one of the Sonderkommando Junk machines as seen in the last pic. I have to do one eventually now, simply for the unique markings...

Andrew

The main camo colours are on. I only did the top colours very rough, freehand, using just my usual Paasche H and not my Badger 100 which i normally use for freehanding. It's not important as it's mostly getting oversprayed with the white distemper scheme.

I went with RLM 74/75/76 like Eduard suggest for the base colours. Of course it's possible that it could have been a RLM 02/71/65 aircraft before getting it's white overspray. But this one doesn't concern me too much, i'm just going to assume it was a relatively newly delivered aircraft beofre the winter set in, therefore RLM 74/75/76.

This will be my first ever attempt at a white washed scheme, so the next part could turn out ugly...





Andrew

And the results are in for my first attempt at a fairly worn white wash scheme. I basically thinned the paint a lot, used a fine spray pattern and built up the effect. Today i got three excellent books full of pics, including about 30 of Wespen aircraft, plus white washed, even some showing mechanics painting the Wespen itself. I tried to copy how a few white aircraft seemed to wear...basically the pics show the engine cowles almost completely stripped, same for the nose (which wasn't actually painted over to maintain the Wasp) and heavy wear around the leading edges and wing roots.

After spraying it looked ok, but maybe a bit neat..so i got some very fine worn sand paper and scoured the leading edges, wing roots and a few other area to show some paint stripping away more forcibly rather than just gradually wearing over time. I'm pretty happy for a first try at this sort of thing anyway. So it's onto the decals tomorrow i hope, then final weathering and assembly.

My new reference books also have a few pics of Bf110 G2/R3 bomber destroyers...i can see that Revell kit being moved right up the build pile soon to go along with this one for comparison...




Andrew

Hi Andrew!

Looks very good so far! Maybe a little more scratchings on the wing root's walkways?

An interesting technique for worn out winter washes is to randomly apply maskol in various areas after the first coat of white and then spray a second coat of white. The result are nice patches which break the uniformity of the white color. I used this method for my LaGG-3.

By the way, what are the books you mentionned if I may ask?

Jean-Luc

Thanks for the tips Jean-Luc, though using liquid masking has rarely worked well for me when i've tried it before...maybe i'll give it another shot though. Anyway i still plan more wearing of the finish after decalling, possibly paint chipping in selected areas using the base colours.

The 3 books i got yesterday were: Volume Two of "Zerstoerer" in the Luftwaffe Colours series. Kagero's Bf110 Monograph Vol.2 and Osprey's Bf110 Zerstoerer Aces of WW2. Between the 3 i've counted 42 pics of Wespen aircraft of various types, none of them duplicates either. And the Kagero book, of course, came with some Techmod Wespen and code letters. I almost decided to use the Techmod Wasps as i prefer their printing and they're in one piece. But the kit decals match the Gunze RLM4 that i used perfectly. In fact it seems that Eduard decals and pre-painted etch are usually based upon Gunze colours- not surprising as it's what they always call out in the instructions.

Andrew

Your build is progressing very nicely. I think the white came out really well. I do agree on the walkway needing a bit more scuffing though.

And it's done. It really can be built in 14 days, well to my own standards anyway. What is seen is what comes in the box except for nylon monofilament for the antenna wires...which made me think of Gothas for some reason...

I've put some close ups of the wings in to show the wearing i did to the white distemper. The overall shots look quite clean (largely because of the bright sunlight the pics were taken in), but close up you can see it's really quite worn and stained.

I almost white washed the canopy parts, but now that i have pics i realise that it was rarely done. Most white Bf110's i've seen in pics show original camo on the canopy frames with a pretty sharp line inbetween. It seems that German groungrews didn't like masking canopy frames any more than we do! It was obviously far easier and faster to just cover the entire canopy instead.

Some thoughts on the kit now that i've built it:

Firstly it's very well detailed from the box. However i now don't think it's the very greatest of kits like i at first thought. It does have some relatively bad fit problems and Eduards engineering is still far from the standard set by Tamiya for example. This is their main area to improve. I just think that some areas could have been done a bit smarter.

But it's definately the best 1/48 scale Bf110 without a doubt. Comparing it directly to Revells Bf110G-2 is interesting, and the Revell kit is not rendered irrelevent by the coming of these Eduard kits (when they get around to the G's that is). In some respects the Revell kit seems even superior...the cockpit sidewalls for example look much better and more 3D in effect, closer to resin parts. And the way Revell did the nacelle to wing joins looks to be a lot better...but only building it will tell...something i plan to do quite soon in fact. All i'm saying is don't throw away the Revell G kits if you have them thinking they are now a total loss.

Decals are exceptional, Eduard really have these right in all their newer kits. And the clear parts are unmatched in any kit i've seen so far, and the masks worked and fitted easily- saving many hours of work.

The brass fret has a nice instrument panel, though with that strange RLM02 patchiness i mentioned earlier. The remainder of the brass bits, well i could take them or leave them really. I still think oridinary plastic is adequate for most things.

I'll be building more of these Eduard 110's for sure- definately a D, but i think i'll just use my Revell kit for the G- it's good enough for me.













Andrew

Andrew

Looks absolutely bloody fantastic! I can't believe you have produced such a great looking result in 14 days...It takes me months!! I have followed this build with great interest - I have the kit in my stash, and had been thinking about the Iraqi option, but perhaps not now after your excellent research. The night fighter scheme that flew top cover for the Channel dash looks interesting though...I also have the Revell G-2, with some nice Owl decals to go with it...I might now have to drag one or the other out and have a go after you have set such a great example...

cheers Brad

Hi Andrew!

Fantastic looking model! ... and built in 14 days... Wow!

The weathering turned out fine and, with the exhaust stainings, just look right to me. How did you apply the decals? Did you spray a coat of gloss to the model before using them. The finish is perfect, they look painted on!

Thanks also for the comments about the kit's qualities and the comparison with Revell's G, very usefull!

Now what about getting all the text and images together and doing a nice build feature out of this Build Log.

Jean-Luc

OK, i'll give it a shot..though i'm away for a week from tomorrow so won't be able to put anything together for a few days yet.

As for the decals, i gloss coated using the usual Tamiya TS13 laquer based clear. One the reasons i can build pretty quick as the spray laquer dries rock hard in no time- ready for decals. I'm looking forward to trying out Tamiyas new spray flat clear laquer when i get some here. The other great thing about clear laquer is that they are impervious to all other model paints except other laquers (such as Alclad). You just need care not to apply to heavy or it melts the acrylics underneath...

And as for the decals themselves they are great with hardly any film around them at all, i simply used micro-sol and set solutions that was all. And my usual Gunze flat clear to finish.

Andrew

Thanks Brad, glad you like it. Don't let me put you off doing the Iraqi option, it could have been just like Eduard portray it. And photos after capture definately show that the ground crew had time to at least apply a sharksmouth. But i'm not sure what the other camo colours looked like. Plus, even though it was an E model, i'm sure it probably had the extended fuselage as well- early E-1's generally did it seems. That is why i'm going to wait for the long tail D later this year and use that for an Iraqi option.

Andrew