Scale aviation modeller international

as the instructions suggest.

Step 5 is the addition of seat

adjustment mounts and a detail

piece to the back wall. I could not

understand where the adjustment

mounts went and the detail parts

just did not bend for me, so neither

piece is in my cockpit (but I defy

you to see that they are missing).

The instructions now jump

you to the landing gear. They

wanted me to add a PE zipper in

the wheel well, but I’m sorry to say

that I couldn’t do it. I substituted

a masking tape replacement,

which stuck and was more

lexible than the original brass.

While I was working on the

wheel well I should have paid

better attention to the mounting

place for the landing gear, but I

did not, so more on that later. The

landing gear legs built up nicely

but I left the wheels of until later.

I painted both parts Mr. Paint RLM

02 and used a Molotov Chrome

pen to paint the oleo portion.

Back inside the cockpit there

were more “where does that go?”

moments. Thankfully I had Lynn

Ritger’s Dataile Bf. 109 Part One

(sadly out of print, though Part

Two covering the G-K models

has been re-issued), which has

invaluable shots of the cockpit

that show how it should look.

Once that was worked out

the cockpit was pre-shaded

with some Tamiya NATO Black

and then Mr. Paint RLM 02 was

sprayed overall. The detail parts

were picked out with various

acrylic paints and weathered

with a wash of burnt umber artist

oils, which were thinned with

Turpenoid (White Spirit). This was

followed up with some scratches

added with a silver pencil.

The cockpit and the tailwheel

mount were added to the fuselage

halves before they were assembled.

There are no locating pins, but

that didn’t really matter as the

it of the halves is lawless.

At this point, the instructions

would have you build up the engine

mounts and other internal parts

• but why? My model would have
  the cowlings attached so I didn’t
  add anything other than the top of

the engine. And even then, I should

have left it of. More about that later.

Next came the tail light control

surfaces and this was the irst time

that I had an issue with the kit.

The parts breakdown is unique, in

that the seam is not on a natural

panel line and is on the bottom

of the horizontal stabilizer. This

needs to be illed and re-scribed.

The other issue is with the aft

portion where the elevators go;

where they joined the shape was

convex-shaped, not concaved. This

means that the elevator doesn’t

sit properly. If I had been smart,

I would have noticed this and

rounded out the inside surface prior

to putting the halves together, but

I was not, so I ended up having to

do it with a very ine needle ile

after it dried. It took some work,

but I inally achieved a concave

section, but then I had to bevel the

elevator leading edge to it into it.

This was easy to do, but it

also revealed another issue that

I had to deal with; the elevators

did not it lush with the end of

the horizontal tail. I ended up

putting some .010 plastic strip

in place on the horizontal tail

and sanding it to shape. It was

a pain but easy enough to do.

I elected to delect the elevators

slightly for some visual interest,

but as I had not delected the

stick in the cockpit I did not lower

them a whole lot. Finally, all the

pieces were joined and primed

with Tamiya grey spray primer.

The wings were now brought

together with no problem.

However, this join is also not on

a real panel line at the wingtip,

so it required illing, along with

the clear piece for the navigation

lights (K5) to blend everything in.

At this stage I added the control

surfaces, and again I lowered the

laps slightly to add some visual

interest. The ailerons and laps

it well, but one thing that is not

clear on the instructions is the

addition of PE Part 12 to the laps.

They should align with the tab on

the wing and the wing panel line.

The slats were added now as

well. As these are activated by

airlow when on the ground these

were slightly drooped forward.

The forward engine cowling was

built of the model. I rationalized

that the forward cowling part,

which is a single piece, was going

to set the shape, and in my case I

needed Part G9 (with the cooling

vents). I used Tamiya Cement

to align the larger doors to it

and the rear portion of the rear

doors were aligned at the same

time. I applied Tamiya Liquid

Cement and let the assembly

sit overnight. The completed

assembly was then lat-sanded

slightly on the bottom to square it

of before the exhaust pieces were

added to the fuselage portion.

Test itting showed that

the front of the engine would

now interfere with the it of the

cowling. Out came the sanding

stick, and after sanding down

the front of the engine slightly

the cowling it perfectly. So I

attached it to the fuselage and

all I needed was a touch of Mr.

Surfacer to ill any small gaps.

The lower oil cooler was built

up by adding Parts D5 and D6 to

“THE UNIQUE LOOK OF THESE EARLY

JUMO-ENGINED AIRCRAFT WILL

ADD TO ANY 109 COLLECTION”

8 • DECEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL