Hello everyone. Not only am I new to the forum but also new (at the grand age of 45) to the hobby! What's got me back is building a couple of 1/72 model kits with my son. Our next attempt is the Airfix Me BF109. All looks great but there's a lack of detail in the cockpit area. Pilot looks good but the seat is a bit basic and that's it - no panel or controls. So thought it would be nice to add some detail. Now bearing in mind I'm new to this, does anyone know where I could get such detail for a 1/72 model?

Hi Richard,
Welcome to Aeroscale etc etc.
Have a look at the following they may be of use (you may need to cut & paste the address)
http://www.vectorsite.net/avbf109.html
http://www.geocities.jp/yoyuso/bf109f/bf109fe.html
http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/index1024.htm
http://www.primeportal.net/home.htm


There is also a good cockpit site you'll have to google it (can't find where I saved it).

The Guys and Gals are of great help if you get stuck
couple of things:
Enjoy the experience of modelling the only person you have to please is yourself
the carpet monster will only relase a part when yo no longer need it
and ENJOY

Hope that helps


Chris

PS at 44 I don't consider myself old or grand but just remember you can be traded in for 2X 22 year olds

Hi Richard, Russell here. Just my opinion, but I wouldn't worry too much about cockpit detail in 72 scale. That is the scale I build exclusively, even when there is some detail and I put it in, you can't see it!! It's too small to see anything. Really. Just a thought.

Enjoy this hobby, I'm 43 and have been building off and on my whole life but only seriously for about 12 years. It is never too late to start. Glad to have you on the forum. Russell

P.S. I highly recommend Tamiya's 1/72 scale line of warbirds! I have built several and they go together great and the decals are good as well too. Hasegawa has some very nice offerings in 72 scale as well.

Stretched sprue, plastic card, wire, blobs of white glue are all you need. And a photo of the cockpit

This Artiplast 1/50 MC72 has zero cockpit, so I had to make one. This is not great by any means, but just an idea of stuff you can do to busy up a cockpit with dipping into the beer fund.



Don't keep calm and carry on, Get excited and make something

Hi Richard
A big welcome to Aeroscale. Great to hear that you have just started to make kits with your son.

I would recommend having a look at this link as it has some fantastic tips on building models in plastic:

https://aeroscale.kitmaker.net//features/1308

As for detailing the cockpit. The instruments in this scale will be really small so you need to decide if you will be able to see them once the canopy is glued on. If you decide that you will be able to see the instrument panel and other details in the cockpit, you can scratch build [make it yourself] instrument panels using plastic card. Card can be bought at your local hobby shop or from any online model store. Once you have carved the instrument panel to fit the two halves of the fuselage, you can use a small twist drill to represent the dials. You can either drill through the card. When finished drilling all the holes, glue another piece of card behind it so you dont see through the holes. If you are careful and the card is thick enough, you can partially drill into the card leaving a small indentation to represent the dials.
Hope this helps. If you have any other questions please ask. We are all here to help. Enjoy your build.
tim

Wow guys - thank you so much for all your help and encouragement. Some really sensible stuff there. I think I'm going to go with using some plastic card - I'll let you all know how I get on