1/24 Trumpeter Bf109 G-14 "Black 10" (Picture Heavy)

[mustang1989]

Thought I would post this little jewel here. I built this as part of a Bf109 GB last year. It was my first attempt at a model in 6 years and the one 6 years prior to this I didn't have half of the skills that I used in building this thing. There are some things throughout the model here and there I know could be better and have been working on those in the last two builds but I'm fairly proud of my first time creation using weathering effects and more proper painting techniques. I have built this as a Bf109G-14 and have it displayed as it was in May of 1945 with JG5. The pilot was Helmut Nuemann and with this machine he managed to achieve 62 aerial victories. The addition of the 20mm wing mounted cannon is incorrect for this particular aircraft but I couldn't help myself but to build one of these "up-gunned" beauties! So without further delay I'll turn to the presentation:

I built the engine first by painting and assembling all of the plastic kit parts. I used the Verlinden update set #2062 which has some engine updates and a few parts of the firewall and ammo boxes. It also has a bunch of stuff for the cockpit but we'll get to that later. The engine coolant pipe was a piece of copper wire that came in the update set. I used electrical wire heat shrink that I acquired from Radio Shack cut to the proper length to simulate the rubber hose sections and heated up to shrink and actually "look" like sections of rubber hose. The hose clamps were a combo of left over PE sprue and .015" solder that was flattened and formed in the shape of clamps. The supercharger inlet screen was taken from a Chevrolet 4.3 litre V-6 distributor that I removed as part of a GM service Recall at my dealership. (You just never know when youre gonna need stuff like that!! I weathered everything later when I started learning more about that.
On to the cockpit:

I then started on the cockpit floor. I painted it a coat of silver and then after that dried shot a coat of RLM 66. After that dried I chipped away the 66 from the high areas to allow the "aluminum" floor/skin to shine through. Then I started installing the aftermarket seat belts that I acquired (cant remember the brand but I bought em through Squadron). The rest of the goodies came from the Verlinden update. You know the stuff like rudder pedals, control stick, drive chains for the control pullies on the L/H side of the seat, cannon all that stuff! More completed shots of this coming up.

Almost forgot that top view of the engine with the guns and coolant crossover pipe /hoses installed.

So anyways back to the cockpit:

I built the R/H wall first concentrating my attention on the oxygen apparatus and all that stuff. The hose came from the update set as did the guages on the wall. I used instrument panel decals from another kit in the guage holes with a drop of clear on top of them. The knob is from an aftermarket nitrous oxide bottle I had from a 1/24 scale car upgrade set. The chain/ sprocket arrangement in the foreground was a little off center but it doesn't show when viewed from the other side. Also have the shoulder harness seat belts installed here.

Skipping to fuselage assembly

I really hated to have to "button this thing up" because I couldn't get over the amount of detail that was in this thing. This was quickly turning out to be a favorite build of mine even though I was still learning all of the tricks of the trade at this point( and still am really).

Next: The fuselage assembly and wing installation.

Here it is all buttoned up with the wings installed. No primer, no paint.....nothing. Had the gaps filled and all the panels buttoned down. As a first time for doing it this way I glued a spare canopy on and sealed it off. No paint inside you know......

Here she is primed and ready to go........using Tamiya "rattle can" primer.

I had mixed feelings about the mottle effect. Looking back I rightfully should have faded the edges a little bit but this was my first time ever applying such a crazy camo pattern. I used an Eduard 1/48 scale mottle mask from a 109 masking kit. I would apply anywhere from 1 to 5 or 6 mottle patterns at a time. Hell my then 8 year old son even applied one!(and no I can't remember which one was his!!lol). Even without the fading I was decently pround of what I did. The scheme is just friggin wicked!.

And that's where this picture build stops for now. To be continued in Part 2 coming up.

[Edward Gore]

Beautiful, following this build

[mustang1989]

Thanks Ed ! I've got Part 2 posted right behind this thread!

[cobraman]

Looking great !

[Agent G]

Oh I like this.

G

[george 53]

THANK YOU!!! I have quite a few Trumpeter aircraft kits! They are BEAUTIFUL kits! Your 109 is lookin GREAT!!!

[mustang1989]

Thank you Ray , Wayne and George!

The only downer of the Trumpeter kits is that there are over engineered. I don't know about the smaller scales but the 1/24 parts count is WAY too high. On crazy stuff too like the landing gear. I think each leg was 8-10 parts!!!!

Edited October 22, 2013 by mustang1989