2x Bf 109 F-4 (1/48)

[Steven000]

Hi guys,

I recently started working on 2 Bf 109 F-4 models in 1/48 scale,
I got them cheap and wanted to do an airplane for a change (last one I made was about 20 years ago!)

The models are from ICM, cheap but a handful as the parts do need a lot of cleaning up!
Although I have 2 different boxes, the sprues are the same (with the exception of figures)

I will do a tropical scheme and something more camo.


One very nice feature of the kit is it comes with a nice engine,
a lot of cables are missing however, so I decided to add some more by melting sprues...


more cables added


Grey primer


Here I added some color (vallejo), I'm happy I added the extra cables


There is no dashboard-decal, so I had to paint it myself!
I started by painting the instruments black and then used a fine brush and white paint to simulate the gauges...


I only use one engine, the tropical plane will have closed engine panels, the other one will be opened up...
The spare engine will be used on a future diorama.
The fuselage doesn't have much details inside but it's hardly visible anyway.


This evening I glued the cockpits into the fuselage, needs to dry now...



So that's all for now!
thanks for reading and kind regards
Steven

[boatman]

HI Steven very nice work as I like the attempt to paint on the intruments panel well done an the stretched sprues for the engine wiring is a very good idea as it looks very realistic :thumb2: :thumb2: :thumb2:
chris

[Wouter]

aha, finally! Nice start Steven ^^

Cheers

[JR]

Very neat indeed Steven, those " sprue " pipes certainly add to the detail.
As for painting those dials !:thumb2::thumb2::thumb2::thumb2::thumb2:

[Guest]

Neat work, those cables and things make the engine look a lot better than it would without, I’m sure.

[AlanG]

Very nice Steven. Extremely interested in how these kits build up as i have looked at these ICM and the Zvezda kits in the past as was thinking of doing a Russian front dio with them.

[scottie3158]

Steven,
Your off to a great start with some very nice added details.

[Dave Ward]

Steven,
very nice start, that engine plumbing looks really good - some of these ICM early models have great details, but fit is a little patchy.................
A few years ago, I made their Lagg-3, no engine, pretty good, but a real user of filler!
Not a very successful attempt at winter camo. In comparison, I also made the 1/48 ICM I-16, which was just released. Great detail, great fit, ICM have really stepped up their game over the last few years.
The later Zvezda 1/48 models are very good, the La-5FN is superb - loads of detail -

If you look around, you can find these at reasonable prices, as well!!
Dave

[Steven000]

Thanks for the input guys :thumb2:
I don't have much time to work on the models so just a small update:

In general the kits need a lot of cleaning-up to do and dry-fitting all parts is recommended as there are some fitting issues.
In the wing for example I had to scrape some material to make the fuselage fit into the wing...


In the Trop-version I don't use the engine, so I had to glue the panels to build-up the nose.


I made some machine-guns with melted sprue (MG's come with the engine)


The Trop-version has a sand-filter mounted, that part was not detailed and shows the filter in closed position,
I like the look of the filter in the open position, it looks a bit bolder sort of speak.
1 = Original part, closed filter, no detail
2 = I cut of the round head
3 = I cut the head in 2 pieces
4 = I filled-up the cylinder hole
5 = I scraped some lines on the cylinder, this should be some sort of grill
6 = more grill scraping


Then the filter was mounted, now in open position.
(I made a hole in the cylinder as well, so it has a real opening but not visible on the picture)


this is what I have at the moment, Trop-version on the left


Flaps down, I opened-up the radiator-flaps a little bit on the trop-version and full on the other...


And that's all again, kind regards
Steven

[JR]

Hi Steven.
Extremely neat work and I like how you did the " group " photos.:thumb2::thumb2::thumb2:

[Wouter]

wow, nice update. Never crossed my mind that the front of the dust filter could open...something new learned here. And kudos to you dealing with kits like these, you lift them up to a another level. Too scary stuff for me, think I'll stick to Tamiya and Eduard when it comes to planes :smiling2:.

Cheers

[Steven000]

Thanks guys,
@Wouter: I must admit the cheaper kits tend to come with quite a bit of frustration from time to time yes :smiling5: , but with a bit of extra work they should look ok in the end.

In general I get more pleasure out of painting then modeling, so I'm glad most of the modeling is over...

Next is the canopy and primer, it's a different workflow then armour so I'm still figuring out how to handle things ; D...

[Steven000]

Hi guys,
Today I started on the canopies, here's a sprue shot :



:dizzy: I just spend ONE HOUR masking this first part with Tamiya 6mm tape ...
Many respect for all the aircraft modelers here! Absolute horror masking canopies


Well guess I'll better continue masking then ... oop:
Cheers,
Steven

[AlanG]

:dizzy: I just spend ONE HOUR masking this first part with Tamiya 6mm tape ...
Many respect for all the aircraft modelers here! Absolute horror masking canopies

A pain isn't it? I used to do it this way until i descovered Eduard/Montex canopy masks. So much easier lol

[Steven000]

@Alan: Yes those pre-made masks look interesting, I might be using something like that on future projects.
But for this project they seem to be more expensive then the kit itself :thinking::smiling5:...

At the moment I'm done with the masking tape oop: :thumb2:
I glued the clear parts with wood-glue, as I don't yet have anything else that won't attack the clear plastic.
The one on the left will have an open canopy.


Kind regards,
Steven