Airfix Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7/Trop - Part I (finished build)

Well, it's been rather quiet here for a while, as real life has once again made an unwelcome imprint on my leasure time. Nevertheless, somehow I managed to crank out yet another kit during October. This time around it was another simple kit from Airfix, their 1/72 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7/Trop.

It is a delightful little build, quite easy to put together, but still very satisfactory detail-wise. There really isn't very much to tell about the build process itself - you simply put it together, paint it and you're done. One minor quible could be that the armoured plate for the pilot is very difficult to glue in place without blemishing the clear cockpit cover, but that's really pushing it. I'll leave it to 'rivet counters' to find all the faults with this model, personally I just love it.

The fact that Airfix provides decals for two paint options - one for a Luftwaffe plane deployed in Africa, the other for Royal Bulgarian Airforce (kudos for the unusual subject selection!) only makes things better. Full set of stencils is also included and everything is made by Cartographer, ensuring that the decals are top quality. For around 110SEK, things don't get better than this!

The build process with this one is so drama-free that there really isn't much point in writing anything about build process. Couple of words need however be written about the paint job. Once build, the kit was primed with PlastiKote Grey Primer. I found it in Slöjddetaljer shop (Sweden) and can recommend it for those who can find it - a very nice alternative to Vallejo Grey primer I usually use in my projects, at about half the price per can. Basic paint job was done with Lifecolor acrylics. Usual 'German' suspects were used - UA503 Hellblau for lower surfaces, UA505 Sandgelb II for upper surfaces and UA502 Dunkelgrün for mottle camo spots. Yes, I'm aware that RLM80 should have been more correct choice, mea culpa. :)

After usual post-processing with varnishes to protect the decals, I played a bit with couple of common weathering techniques, with varied success. First I applied an overall coat of dark brown Flory Models, mainly to enhance the panel lines. I'm still on the fence regarding this product, but in this case things worked out rather nicely. Once most of it was swiped away, the panel lines were very nicely lined out. Next I decided to experiment a little with oils - small dots of white, faded grey and brown were dotted irregulary all over the kit and thereafter 'worked into' the paint job with flat brush slightly damped with turpentine. Some folks can do very nice, subtle tone shifts with this technique. In this case my success was rather limited. Finally, I applied Humbrol smoke pigment around exhausts and gun barrels. With final coat of matte varnish applied, this step was mostly 'washed away' - I doubth I'll ever master pigments!

Anyway... the final result can be seen below. As already mentioned, I'm quite happy with this little kit especially since it's first time I applied freehand mottle camo with the airbrush.

Airfix Mitsubishi KI-46-II Dinah - Part II

Without further ado - here's the finished kit, in Air Defence of Japan livery (which by the way is a mistake to choose, as the extra armament of machines assigned to defense of home islands are not provided by Airfix).

Not much to tell about the final stages of construction or the paint job, except perhaps that I've chosen Tamiya XF-57 Buff acrylic paint for the overall beige color of the airframe. The choice wasn't based on any reference, but an assumption that Tamiya should have good insight into what colors were used by Japanese during WWII and XF-57 seems to come closest to the beige color specified by Airfix. Also, airbrushing with Tamiya acrylics is a blissful experience - you just paint and don't have to deal with all the hassle one always seems to have to wrestle with when using Humbrol and Lifecolor paints.

So here it is, hope you like it.

Airfix Mitsubishi KI-46-II Dinah - Part I

If you're one of the few people in the world who visit this blog on regular basis, then you'd perhaps have noticed that for a brief time I've posted couple of posts about a Revell Boston build and that those posts were thereafter removed. The reason for this was quite simple - I botched the job and had to bin the kit. After that timewise rather costly fiasco, I wanted to build something basic and you can't go more basic than Mitsubishi KI-46-II from Airfix.

Airfix made this kit in early 60-ies and it shows. It really does. The kit is extremly simple, in some respects 'crude' comes to mind. Furthermore, time wasn't kind to the mould and there is a lot of small blemishes that look like small dust particle, but are actually tiny bits of plastic. Those need to be filed down or scrapped off. Wheels and propellers are very bad if one is to apply modern standards. Undercarriage legs are horrid, with lower shock absorbers being actually represented by filled in triangular pieces of plastic. Worst of all, one of the propeller blades in my kit was thinner than the rest and bent inward. I tried to warm up plastic under hot tap water and straighten it up, but with limited success. Panel lines are, of course,of raised variety.

Overall, it's a rather dismal kit and initally I considered keeping the transfers and binning the rest. Something stopped me though and I'm glad I didn't throw it away. Once I started to work on it, it started to grow on me. Yes, it is extremly simple and 'old style' and yes, many of the parts lack the finesse of more recent kits. But the main body - fuselage and wings - fit very well together and the subject itself is such a gracefull little machine that you can't help but start liking working on the kit.

Below are the pictures of sprues and completed airframe. At this stage I usually prime the kit and I didn't deviate from this routine with this kit. Strangest thing happened to me though - my trustworthy canned acrylic Vallejo grey primer produced this time around a rather horrid orange peel structure, clearly visible in last two pictures. I've been using this primer for years and never had an issue. Now this! I tried to sand the worst of it down, but with raised panel lines all over the place, there really wasn't much I could do to improve the situation.

If anyone can explain to me why a 'tried', vigorously shaken can of Vallejo acrylic primer, used on a sunny September morning, all of the sudden can 'get it into its head' to create an orange peel surface, I would really like to hear the explanation.

Airfix Spitfire F Mk.22 - Part II

It seems that I've managed to delete some pictures prematurely, so this time around it's a fast forward directly to the finished kit. However, there really isn't all that much more to tell about the building/painting process. Once I discovered that the Alclad2 experiment wouldn't work out, it was (as mentioned in previous post) time to move to Plan B, which consisted of a spray can with Testor's buffable aluminum metalizer. The choice was logical, as both Alclad2 and Testor are lacquers and I didn't expect for them to react negatively to each other. Two coats of Testor laquer seemed sufficient and I left it at that, although in retrospect a third pass would have been advisable.

Once the model was painted, I fitted all the small parts and the kit was ready for decals and 'post-processing'. Just for the fun of it, I bored out exhaust pipes with 0.3mm drill - whether it improved the kit is doubtable, but it was a bit of a challenge and I'm glad I tried it.

Decals were applied after 48 hours of drying time - as I was not previously familiar with Testor's lacquers, I preferred to be safe than sorry. Decals (of excellent quality as in all recent Airfix releases) were applied straight on the painted surface. As always, I used Microsol and Microset to soften the decals; I'm glad to report that they did not cause visible reaction with the lacquer. As a final step, I outlined the panel lines with a mix of burned orche and black oil paint heavily diluted with white spirits. The cleanup that followed did cause some discoloration on aluminum surfaces, but that was to be expected and can be regarded as part of the weathering process.

As for the weathering... well, I admit that I am a bit of a chicken when it comes to excessive weathering and metallic finish, so I was very sparse. I tried applying some black pigment in an attempt to depict sooth around the exhaust pipes, but I didn't like it and washed most of it away. I put some burned orche pigmet pigment on the wing roots and liked it a bit more. However, with harsh artificial lighting used during yesterday's ad hoc photo shoot, the effect of the pigments is barely noticable.

Overall, a very enjoyable kit and another Airfix offering I could recommend to the beginning modellers. The fact is that I liked it so much that I picked up another kit, which I intend to do with the other 'out of the box' color scheme.

Airfix Spitfire F Mk.22 - Part I

After prolonged odyssey with Revel's Junkers 88, I was in the mood for something simple and hopefully quick to build. And so, I picked up Airfix's Spitfire F Mk.22 from my stash - not only was it a kit I was already familiar with after building Spitfire I, but also, it's bare-metal finish offered minimal paint-job effort.
The kit itself is an excellent, simple build that pretty much falls together all on it's own. Also, it's panel line engravings are delicate and not as deep as those of its Spitfire I sibling. The only minor issue during the build of airframe consisted of slight inaccuracy in fit between fuselage and the wing roots, but it was easily fixable with little putty and a low grade sanding stick.

Once the airframe was put together and was ready for some paint, I was faced with the only serious issue in this project, if it can be called as such. Since I had set my heart set on metallic finish, a decision had to be taken - Alclad2 or not Alclad2. After all the problems I've experienced with this system on first occasion I used it, I had my doubts. However, I did spent a bit of money on several products from that company and it would be a bit silly not to give it another shot. So, after long deliberations with myself, I convinced myself to give Alclad2 another chance. This time around I would really ensure that the kit would be blemish-free.

The first unpleasant surprise presented itself once I poured the Alclad black filler-primer into the airbrush cup. When I first opened it for last year's Thunderbolt build, there was no problems with its viscosity, it could easily be sprayed directly from the bottle. Not so some nine months after the bottle was opened for the first time - primer's consistency was now almost syrupy and wouldn't be pushed through an airbrush in a million years. Only after thinning it with cellulose thinner was I able to work with it. Even then, the surface, after drying, was extremely porous and  needed some serious sanding and polishing. As for the airbrush cleanup that followed, let me limit myself to saying that it made me immensely grateful for existence of acrylic paints.

After very laborious polishing process, I discovered that in a couple of places (raised edges and details) I managed to rub off the primer. Not willing to put my Badger through another contact of third degree with enamel paints and cellulose thinner, I instead drybrushed the primer over those exposed sections and polished them yet again after that brush-applied coat has dried. I then prayed a little prayer that the distinctly different finish of dry-brushed bits and pieces wouldn't show once metalizer was sprayed over them.

Some 24 hours after all the fuss with the primer, it was time for the main event. Following Alclad2's instructional video on Youtube, at first I sprayed only a light, barely visible on the model, dusting of metalizer. It was a good thing that I did, because as soon as that was done, it was obvious that I could have saved my prayers - these dry-brushed areas stuck out like sore thumb.

It was time for plan B.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part V

At the time of last post not much remained left to do with the Stuka. With paint job done, the entire model was sprayed with gloss varnish in preparation for decals. The decals themselves are of excellent quality and I had no problems with them. However, I was a little disappointed with Airfix not supplying any decals for airbrakes (at least that's what I think they are), which overlap the crosses on lower wing surfaces. This omission had to be remedied with white and black paint and some fiddly paintbrush work - a step that I would have gladly skipped.

Once decals were in place, another coat of gloss coat was airbrushed over entire model with dual purpose of securing/protecting the decals and as preparation for weathering phase. After giving the varnish 24 hours to cure properly, I "went to town" with all new weathering products from AK Interactive that I've gotten at C4 Open. Under assumption that Stukas would be worked hard from field airfields, I wanted its lower surfaces to be rather dirty and abused. AK Interactive's enamel weathering fluids seemed perfect for that - Grime streaks, Fresh mud, Dark mud were all applied randomly and then wiped out with turpentine, leaving smudges in various dark grey and brown shades. Next I gave the pigments a shot - black and dark brown was applied to upper surfaces and then wiped away with a soft brush. I won't claim achieving the most realistic visual effects, but the Stuka now did look like it's been worked hard. Couple of light coats of Testor's Dullcoate sealed my efforts and gave the model a nice, almost flat finish.

After that, the only the cockpit canopy required my attention. This part is absolutely the weakest part of the kit - not only is it thick and lacking detail (circular framing around rear gunner's machine gun is completely missing), it is also blemished by two ejector pin marks on the inside of the canopy. Since we're talking about clear plastic, not much can be done about these. I didn't bother with masking and painted the framing with 000-brush, carefully 'erasing' any mistakes with a toothpick as i went along. A time-consuming process, especially with very thin Lifecolor paints, but the end result is adequate. With paint job in place, the canopy was glued in place, an antenna made of stretched sprue was mounted in place and I was done.

Considering the age of this model, it was a surprisingly smooth and enjojable build. This is third of 'old' Airfix kits that I gave a shot (lumpy Hurricane and very frustrating and aborted Handley Hampden being the other two) and in my humble opinion the only one worth the effort. True, the kit is simple and maybe somewhat crude, but it does make a very pleasing kit when finished.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part IV

In last update for Airfix Stuka project, I reached to masking of the upper surfaces of the model. Since this is supposed to be a Ju-87 from 1940, we are talking about the notorious German splinter cammo in two green tones, which in my opinion was created with one specific purpose - to drive modelers insane. If my theory is correct, then by all means, congratulations to Germany - goal acomplished! Something around three hours were required to apply the mask and the result left a lot to be desired. Luckily, the cammo scheme has hard edges, so any paint bleeding beneath the masking tape was easily fixed with a conventional brush.

Once the cammo was in place, I've decided to put on all the 'extras' - fuel tanks, wheels ,propeller and the rest of the small details that stick out and tend to easily break off during the building/painting phase. There were fitting problems with a couple of these components. Worst of all was the gap between the wings and undercarriage, which required plenty of putty to cover. Propeller assembly had similar issues and I'd recommend careful dry-fitting and suitable corrections of these components (filing and sanding) before starting with the paint job.

Still, even with those minor hiccups, the final building/painting/corrections  step was accomplished without any mahor problems and all of the sudden, there she was - a proper Stuka, minus the cockpit.

Masking applied, ready for final spray of Swarzgrün.

My first attempt at paint job of propeller cover.
Need more practice.

Masks removed and mistakes corrected with a brush.

The belly of the beast, fully equipped.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part III

Well, work on the Stuka continues slowly but surely and by now it's actually possible to see that it'st a Junkers 87. After all, that "broken" wing profile is pretty much instantly identifiable.

As can be seen in the pictures below, by now I'm done with most of the assembly process.I didn't encounter any major issues, with the exception of the slight misalignment between the fuselage halves, which was relatively easily fixed with a file and some putty. I was a bit overeager in this step, which resulted in substantial gap between fuselage and engine cover, but since it was 'self-inflicted' damage, I can't really complain about it. A bit of care and dry-fitting is advised, but any mistakes can be fixed with some putty. Couple of rivets and panel lines were filed off during the cleanup, but I guess that this is unavoidable with these older models with raised details.

Overall, the assembly went without major hiccups. Indeed, I was a bit surprised over how quickly I reached the stage where I could prime the model in preparation for the paint job.

Model primed and ready for paint

Lower surfaces preshaded and painted with RLM65 Helblau from Lifecolor.
The model was then masked in preparation of the paint job of upper surfaces.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part II

As usual, the Stuka project starts with the cockpit. There really isn't much to write about this step, as the cockpit of this kit would make a Spartan proud -  with the exception of a steering stick and a single, rather badly fitting decal for the instrument panel of the pilot, it completely lacks any details whatsoever. Thus, there is nothing to do but to paint the interior with RLM02 (I used Lifecolor UA504), add a bit of weathering according to personal taste (I limited myself to applying a quick GW Devlan Mud wash on all surfaces) and you're done.

After a short deliveration with myself, I decided also to use the crew figures. Hampden showed me that there is a bit of risk involved with this decision when it comes to these ancient Airfix kits, but I don't think that those figures will cause me any problems in this project.

I dedicated a bit more attention to the crew figures this time around.

All cockpits components before assembly of the fuselage.

Cockpit decal is apparently a late addition to the kit -
its fit with the instrument panel plate leaves a lot to be desired.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part I

With the rather anti-climactic and abrupt finale of the Hampden project, it is perhaps a bit foolish of me to pick up Airfix's Stuka as the 'get back in the saddle'-build. After all, it's actually more than a decade older than the Hampden and will therefore be equally frustrating to build and yes, it has a boatload of rivets... and yes, it also has raised panel lines.

I do however have to say that judged on parts alone straight out of the box, for a kit made in 1957 it doesn't look half-bad. The parts look crisp and there is no excessive flash indicative of old and worn moulds. Decals seem to be of equally high quality as those in other Airfix kits I worked with since my return to the hobby. The only thing that worries me is the shape of the propeller, which seems excessively thick and short.