Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-14 (Zoukei-Mura 1:32)

[kevin]

Those look great, we'll done. I hear ya about the eyes, me too. Besides that, how hard were they to put together? A real pain in the a$$, or not to bad?

 

[Edbert]

Those look great, we'll done. I hear ya about the eyes, me too. Besides that, how hard were they to put together? A real pain in the a$$, or not to bad?

Not terrible. I think 1/32 is why it wasn't a nightmare, took a few breaks and wore the magnifiers. Used super-pointy (tech term) tweezers and an old airbrush needle to thread them through buckles.

 

[TimM63]

Super-pointy (technical term) tweezers and magnifiers are a must have.

 

[Edbert]

I made progress!

Engine is about 90% done, cockpit about 60%.



I need to do more work on the engine before taking pictures. Overall I am happy with the cockpit, I mixed some yellow with my gold as recommended here (looks like I added some gold to my yellow but nevermind that), but when I was trying to decide how to add spice with colored warheads on those 30mm Mk.108 rounds...I realized I was about to cover them up.




You might notice above that the RLM66 is a bit thin on the two dashboards, I'll try to shoot them another dose tonight so they can cure over the next 24h.

Here's more detail of the unfinished bits, the entire top section is dry-fitted, but that is a testimony to the fit of this kit.




While the instructions are clear, arguably the best I've ever seen, it is easy to make mistakes. Note the two different parts for the only two aircraft in the box. The G-14 and the "White one" or U4 variant.



Speaking of instructions, I intend to work tomorrow on the instrument panel, and only that.

 

[Edbert]

Dashboard or instrument panel time.

I was really leaning towards the decals behind the clear plastic method, seems logical that it would look more like the real thing. But in reality, I decided on the other approach after applying just a few decals.

Problems with using the clear part versus the opaque:

• This one I blame on the manufacturer, but the decals had the adhesive on the wrong side
• As a result getting them aligned perfectly was nearly impossible, at least extremely fiddly
• The thickness of the thin clear plastic makes the gauge faces dark and too recessed

This is what I mean about the printing being on the wrong side, the high-resolution printed side is up as in normal decals. But these are required to go behind the clear, so they would NOT stick, I spent 20 minutes working on one pod of 4 dials, using micro-set and micro-sol as adhesive. I set it down carefully to dry and it looks like it slipped a bit. It could also be caused by the deep recess, but depending on the angle of viewing they look like they are skewed to one side or the other. The thick (according to scale, it is really thin) plastic also made the gauges look darker. It will be hard to see inside the cockpit and underneath the hood anyway.



I think the visibility of the gauges when applied on top of an opaque/painted surface are just so much better, that alone decides it for me.



This is after applying a blob of gloss to each face, still need to chrome some screws that will probably not be visible. Along with a reminder how small this is to begin with, 1/32 sounds large, but theBf109 was a small aircraft.

 

[mark2]

A nice result there, looks good.