Dave’s Bf 110C, Eduard 1/72nd

[dave]

The obligatory box and spruce shots to start.
[ATTACH]392555[/ATTACH][ATTACH]392556[/ATTACH][ATTACH]392557[/ATTACH][ATTACH]392558[/ATTACH][ATTACH]392559[/ATTACH]

[dave]

Managed to make a proper start on this now. Some cockpit sub assemblies made and painted with MRP acrylic lacquer RLM 02. No undercoat as the paint covers well and these areas will not see wear once finished.
Next step is some painting of non RLM02 bits adding the painted PE and some weathering.[ATTACH]393375[/ATTACH]

[scottie3158]

Dave,
I will tag along if you don't mind.

[dave]

It is National Day here in Belgium, so have managed a lot of time at the bench today.
finished off the cockpit area, adding the printed PE, followed by RLM66 (Vallejo) to kill the raw edges. The ammunition cases were painted with MC216 Dark Iron (Gunze-Sangyo Mr Hobby) once dried this was buffed to give a little shine on the edges. Next step was a wash with Games Workshop Nuln Oil, basically a dark grey/black wash and finally a little dry brushing on the edges with RLM02 with a little light grey mixed in.
As you may gather I am a little eclectic in my use of paints. I tend to use what I like for different tasks. Mainly MRP acrylic lacquers or Mr Hobby when airbrushing and Vallejo acrylics for brush painting, but I have some Humbrol enamels, Tamiya acrylics, AK interactive, Games workshop and artists Oils in the collection.
closed up the fuselage halves remembering to add the cockpit first. A little adjustment to get the panel lines aligned and a quick run down the seam with Tamiya extra thin cement.

For those interested the cork is not evidence of drinking at the bench, but a homemade CA applicator. A needle with the top of the eye cut off to leave two prongs stuck in a cork.

[dave]

On holiday at the moment and my planned Coast to Coast walk in the UK was cancelled, so i am walking alternate days here in Belgium, so did not manage to get anything done yesterday on the bench.

Today i started on the wings, glued the two upper surfaces to the lower surface and checked the fit to the fuselage as you can see it is pretty good. then cleaned up all the bits for the engine nacelles and sprayed the insides with RLM02. Waiting for that to dry and i will make a start on the nose cone later this evening.

[colin m]

Ah, so this is what mine should look like. I think I had better make a bit of an effort.

[dave]

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Wings and engine nacelles attached, the wings are an excellent fit, but a little filling will be required at the back of the nacelles top and bottom. Nothing major and I plan to use Mr surfacer 500.

[dave]

More time at the bench today, the filling and sanding has been done and is looking a lot better. I had a little rescribing to do where i had obliterated panel lines. Looking at the pictures i need to do a little more work with the fine sandpaper this afternoon. I also made a start on masking the canopy, all the mask are in place, just need a little rubbing in to ensure a good seal and touch up in a couple of places.

[dave]

Forgot to say at the beginning which of the 5 options i am building. I decided to go with M8 AC, this Stab II./ZG76 aircraft was shot down on the 4th September 1940 and crashed in the garden of Little Butts Farm, Wadhurst, the crew Oblt. Hermann Weber, adjutant and pilot and Uffz. Max Michel, Bordfunker survived the crash.

Saved myself from the mottling that Colin has to do, but gave myself the fun of the sharks teeth decal.

[dave]

Been a little more progress on the build. The canopy has been glued into place using AK Interactive Wolverine PVA glue, this seems to work a lot better than the Humbrol ClearFix i had been using. The bond seems a lot stronger and certainly held the clear sprue in place while i sanded down to form a navigation light on my Arma Hobby Hurricane, the original part having been sacrificed to the hardwood floor monster.
Assembled the canopy from back to front as the back has a clear stop against the fuselage, so the positioning would be correct. Actually fitted together very smoothly. Only hitch was the armoured windscreen at the front which i glued on before assembly and I had it to high, thanks to the lack of strength in the Clearfix i had used for this one piece i could separate the parts and re-cement flush with the fuselage.

Also cleaned up parts for the undercarriage, note the brass replacement part, the original forming this aircraft's sacrifice to the "hardwood floor monster".

[dave]

Yesterday I got the undercoat on, I am still using the Vallejo polyurethane primer, I know a lot of people have had problems and don’t like it but it works for me.
Then this morning some quick and dirty black to give a little variation in the top coat. Finally the underside was sprayed RLM65 Hellblau (MRP). You can just about see the effect of the black underneath in places in the photo.
also got the props sprayed in RLM70 schwarzgrun (MRP) and the tyres in AK’s Rubber Tyre.

[yak face]

Looking really nice Dave ,cheers tony

[tr1ckey66]

Looking good Dave.
good choice with the scheme. I've got that particular A/C lined up in 1/32.
The Eduard kit looks up to their usual high standards.

Cheers
P

[dave]

Had a bit less time at the bench than usual, made a quick trip over to the UK at the weekend to see my son whilst i still could. Still I managed to get the RLM71 on the top surfaces, and then masked it up for the splinter camouflage and sprayed the RLM70. Was really happy with the result when i remove the masking tape, during spraying because the colours are close it was quite difficult to judge how well it had covered. The paints used were both MRP, i appear luckier than Colin in that respect I have a supplier in Belgium with stock.
Next steps will be to assemble and paint the undercarriage and add/paint some of the more delicate bits before a coat of gloss varnish.

[dave]

More progress today, the undercarriage is assembled and painted and the propellers have had the green tip to the boss painted and attached to the aircraft. Frustratingly just after i finished gluing the undercarriage together including the brass replacement i looked down to the floor and spotted the piece I lost. I did try to build the undercarriage outside the aircraft to make painting easier but it proved such a faff in the end I built and painted it in-situ.