Many thanks. What I do anyone can do and most would do it much better.



Joe

Well folks you will pardon me if this is a bit enthusiastic of an update.

PROGRESS..............................

Warning I do believe there are things missing. However in this scale most will never know and most of it will never fit into the space.


First up. Detailing the engine. I added some bits and bobs, some lines and hoses. All in all it is about 90% complete I think. First a shot of a trick that I picked up somewhere but had never tried. A styrene rod overlength. Add ordinary electrical tape. Slice the tape into thin lines. Attach the tape to one end of the styrene and then roll the rod so the tape attaches to the rod.



It works. Good god it works.

The engine detailed out.






Now to the exciting part. Dryfit into place. IT FITS.







Now folks I had to step away for a bit. This has made me very happy. It all lines up and all the additions I have made seem to fit.

Now for the clean up part. There are a few small pieces to get into place yet and a couple of things to trim to get into place. I need to add the remaining bulkheads and the fuel cell as well as the booster tank. I do need to mock up the pipe that sticks out the rear of the pit. What I have there just will not work. I can with great happiness say that the interior of the aircraft is about 80% finished.



All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

Ok serious time.

I need blunt honesty and help from those with the expertise on these birds.

Here is the engine/pit combo. I am also going to show how it looks in the fuse. The IP shroud is not glued into place yet. (it is still floating a bit in the pictures) The combo is not glued into the fuse as I still need to weather and stain some. The guns sit just a bit off as they are glued to the IP shroud but are still "floating" with it.










So...am I missing anything? Obvious mistakes that can be corrected?

Honestly I have studied all the pictures I can find, all the drawings I can lay my hands on, everything I can. Other than some small wires and hoses that I cannot find where they originate or end, I think I have done about all I can.

Please, all comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged and requested.



Joe

Hi Joe!

Great work as always, it's a pleasure to follow! Don't want nitpick in any way, but I have some points, which leaves me with some questions... Maybe you have better sources, but following mine I'd state, that some points should be done another way. And I know, that you have the ability to!

1. Exhausts are missing the prominent weld-line in the middle and on the exhaust ends.
2. engine holder should have (like most of the non visible interiour) a corrosion guard in form of RLM 02. I know, that in the last days there was sometimes a short of colour, but the higher corroding parts (steel in that case) got it still. And all the pictures I've seen have some paint (kagero/MMP etc.). I don't want to come along with museum-birds, as we all know, that they quite often got it wrong.
3. Color of the oxygen-bottles. There the Luftwaffe (as we Germans tend to be ) was quite strict. Oxygen ALWAYS blue, gas yellow and so on, also until to the end of war. You know, what that would be in your case. Only exception would be, if the bottles would be for the MW-50 system, but that tank was located more forward and I think it was only one solid protruding in the back of the cockpit.

Don't get me wrong, your build is great, as it is and I would be glad to be able of the half you show here. But anyway, you have asked... It's only to make a great build more fantastic!

Cheers, Stefan!

Stefan many thanks.

Re the exhausts: My bad. I sanded those weld lines off. I was thinking seam lines and instinct took over. Not sure I can fix it as they are glued in place now. I need to look.

Re the engine mounts: That is good to know and I think I have a way to fix that.

Re the oxygen bottles: This may be a tricky fix but I may be able to get it done. What shade of blue. I had not see anything that showed them.

You have done me a great service and I thank you. I am my own worst critic and the tone of my earlier post reflects that a bit. It reads harshly.


Joe

Joe,
Nicely detailed engine and engine bay. It's certainly busy enough.

As for those missing/removed weld lines. you can try the same procedure I used on the 300 gal drop tanks that I sanded off while cleaning up the glue seams. Just cut some Tamiya tape strips long enough to run the length of each weld. Place one on each side. I used Vallejo putty roughly applied to the area between the tape, then pulled the tape off creating new welds. Just paint and you've got them back.
Joel

Joel that may work. The one thing is I am pretty clumsy, pretty sure I would knock one off. May have to see how much is actually seen once it is in the fuse.


Joe

Hi Joe!

First the easy thing, the blue. It's a dark blue called RLM 24, It's the same, which is to be used for the "Sauerstoffdusche" aka oxygen plumbing on the right side of the cockpit in front of the mapcase. Don't know, what Trumpeter is calling for that, but I have a small list for you:

RLM 24 dunkelblau, color-charts:
FS595b 25053, FS595a:25053, RAL:5000, RevelloG: 56, Humbrol: 25 I think, you will have an equivalent in your stash, as it is a common dark blue.

As for the weld-lines, thought about it, as I saw that. I've once tried (with a good result) a technique of the "tank-heads", which they use for weld-lines. Put a stretched sprue of the diameter, which is a little thinner as the weld line you need in liquid cement (not to long, as it would disappear otherwise-don't ask, why I know...), then take it in position and reproduce the welding by pressing the back of a scalpel blade at an angle over the hole thing one by one. That gives the same texture, like a real welding has and makes the line a little wider. Sounds more complicated, as it really is.

And for the case, that you rework the engine-mount, the mounting plate for the MG-131 should get the same color. Only the ammunition bin was black or RLM 66. I'm not exactly sure for the color of the back fuselage, as in my opinion it should be RLM 02 (as the inner structure of the wings and wheel well), too. I know that it was the case at least until the 109f (like the yellow zinc-chromate in american birds), but they may have changed it to the end of the war.

Hope, that it helps and my apologies for coming along with it that late. Next time I will reply earlier, thats granted.

Stefan

Stefan,

Many thanks. The paint work should be easy enough. Not sure about the weld lines. Really appreciate the info though. I do have one other 1/24 German bird to do (Stuka). The info will be a great help.


Joe

Well folks here I am, much calmer, much more relaxed, very grateful. I am here to proclaim that other than two lines (one for the fuel cell and one for the booster) I am calling the interior done.

It is not perfect by any means. I am missing the detail on the exhaust pipes (not going to try it. I will just mess it up). The guns are off in color. There are other things but I am comfortable with it.









All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Update.  Just a small one.

Interior is finished and the fuse is closed.  There were some gaps, not sure if it was kit or builder issues.  

Where I stand.









Pardon the pics.  I am back to working on taking pictures again.  


Next up will be sanding some stubborn areas to clean it up and then actual color.  I did paint around the cut out area just to make sure I did not bleed over.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Joe,
The overall cut-a-way really looks quite good. Just enough detail where ever one looks to fool ones eye.

Joel

Joel many thanks. Still have so much I can screw up on. With paint next it could go bad in a hurry.




Joe

Joe,
Don't make me laugh

My brother tells me all the time that I can bomb a model doing the final Dullcoat. Come to think of it. Once I did manage to do just that.
Joel

Joe, your build is stunningly awesome. I am very impressed with the super detailing that you have done on the engine. First class work all around!

Ernest

Looks great! Keep going, I'm really looking forward to the final result. Will quite sure be stunning again!

Joel that is so very true. I have had work that I thought was decent ended by the final coat of matt or gloss.

Ernest, Stefan many thanks you are both very kind.



Joe

A duel purpose update.

Trying out a bigger home made photo booth and paint is on.

Three hours worth of paint work is now accomplished. I tried the same thing that I had been working on the last few projects. I would appreciate the feedback on this.

Sorry for the blurry picture of the wing. I was trying for a closeup and the camera would not cooperate.









Happy with the way the paint looks but unhappy that my white backdrop looks gray. Going to have to work on that again. Maybe add more light.

Comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Hi Joe, your build continues to impress! I like the paint job, the edges are nicely feathered and your overall blending looks very good.

White backgrounds can fool the camera into underexposing resulting in a grayish hue or color. You could increase the exposure compensation on the camera to get the background to show up white, but you then run the risk of overexposing the model.

I tend to use light of medium blues for the background in my photo booth to get around this.

Ernest

Hi,

the paintwork is great, as always! Only the demarcation-line of the different paints on the wing is, according to MMP a little bit questionable. But who can tell actually, that this is wrong! Late war Luftwaffe is a minefield...

If you have the production number of the plane I could check, if your colors are right, as they differentiated from factory to factory.

As it looks to me, and I guess you worked as suggested from Trumpeter, the colors and how they are applied are orientated on the bird from the Air Force museum at Dayton. Just a guess...

Stefan

Joe,
Finally, the painting stage!! Great progress.

I can't comment on whether the wing camo should be hard lined or not, as I've never built nor looked at any reference material other then finished models. I've seen both hard and soft camo patterns for late war aircraft. Same would go for the various colors. There are several members here with a vast expertise that can let you know one way or the other.

As for your background issue, everything is based off a #18 Neutral Gray card. So your camera sensor tries to set the White Balance based on the perceived reading off that card. Without using the card, it bases it's exposure and WB on predetermined settings.

While I use a Ad Hoc photo set up, I now use a white background, which is going to be changed to a blue, I keep a diffused light on it to help control the WB issues and to reduce the close up shadow effect. Right now I'm using 3 a light source, but 4 would be ideal. At the rate I'm going, the pictures at the end of my builds, will take as much time as actually building the model.

Joel

Ernest many thanks. The white background is actually for a different reason. Not wanting to share if I fall on my face with it.

Stefan many thanks for the offer. I have little but the information from the kit. Honestly the paint as it is works for me. It is not nor has it been the priority to really dig into the history of this specific aircraft other than to determine if it had the booster system in it. I will work some on toning down the preshade but honestly that is as far as I want to take it. There are so many others that do such fantastic work on these aircraft I do not want to disrespect their works by looking like I want to be an expert, this was and is about the challenge of my friend and the challenge of trying to see if I could build a decent cut away of such a historic aircraft.

Joel I believe my issues stem from 1) Too little light, thus the major shadow, 2) Too little exposure, thus the gray, and 3) A makeshift light booth that I had not worked with at all until I took the pictures I posted. All three led to the issues I show in the pictures.


Again thank you for such kind words and helpful comments. I really do appreciate them.


Joe

Still working on the phototaking but decals are now on.

Beware, these decals were very difficult to work with. They did not want to come off the backing and tore and shattered at times. Kind of surprised that I did not destroy any of them. They did not settle down until after many applications of Micro Sol.

Next up will be another coat of future and then some weathering.








All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Hi Joe, isn't it maddening when a set of decals turns out to be substandard? It looks like you managed to get the most out of them though as they look just fine to me. Are you planning on leaving the starboard wing off, or well you put it on?

Ernest

The starboard wing will be added at the last. I just do not want to mess with it while I try to fit all the smaller stuff.




Joe