Peterpools

Pete Right with Martin - looking fantastic

Kev Awesome B-25 - just love the entire concept and built. Yup, got to watch out for those sneaky Kotare Spitfires - seem the' auto build syndrome' is happening all over the model building kingdom.

Chris WOW!, the Big Cat is coming together and looking simply stellar - sure bet you can see the finish line quickly approaching.

Gaz Looking Brilliant and absolutely stellar. Back off just a bit and the eagles look just fine - it's the closeup/macro style images that cause the issue, as we see beyond the details we are capable of seeing everyday life. I've been a long for the entire amazing journey and an incredible build.

Thanks Gaz. very much appreciated.

John Nice subject for your next build. Will be following all the way.

John Agreed but why not just make the top and bottom panels one large part each and cut them if needed?

Thanks Rob Fingers crossed - working on both wings and of course, loads of internal parts. I understand ZM philosophy of all the lower wing panels but in my opinion, they should have molded the underside panel as a single piece instead of four pieces and if the builder wanted to remove a panel to show off the interior, just cut the wing panel. For those not selecting to show off the interior of the wing, the single panel surely would have been a cleaner fit with not butt joints to play with.

Thanks John Slow but steady progress. Working on the wings and fingers crossed all the panels will fit as tight as yours. Just seems to be creating parts for the sake of parts.

Thanks Kev, very much appreciated. Not quite over the hump yet but getting there. Both Gaz and John's build show the kit is quite buildable - just way too much work adding all the never to be seen parts and details. The overly busy and at times hard to decipher instructions don't help either.

John I doubt it, just want to be in the ballpark.

NOSE TO TAIL The rear fuselage interior - Pretty much a total waste of time adding all the detail parts and a quick pass of RLM 02. Only reasons for adding the soon to be nearly invisible details: The internal ribs would add rigidity to the aft portion of the fuselage, help align and support the fuselage halves while being glued to together – a stronger glue joint will result. Leaving the access panel open will allow a bit of a peek inside and thusly the reason for taking some time in painting, but very little detail painting. I even found what I believe is an interior pushrod that goes from the rudder to the tailwheel, allowing the tailwheel to be steerable instead of cables from the rudder to the tailwheel. Why even include such part that will never ever be seen? Once the fuselage halves were glued up and dried, the main gear was attached. Followed the instructions, hope they are on correctly. Planning on painting and finishing them later on. At this point, I re-scribed the panel lines rolling over the top spine of the fuselage as well as re-scribing the central spine seamline back in. Once the gear had dried, it was time to attach the DB 605 engine. With all the handing, I did manage to break off one piece of plumbing on the top of the engine, which is now the bottom and also started to gingerly wear through a bit of the plumbing paint, which needes to be touched up. Why in the world did ZM choose to add the 30mm cannon as just a detail part and just pass it through the firewall? Why not have made it a structural part for attaching the engine to the firewall for extra added strength over the long run, as almost nothing can be seen of it once it passes through the firewall. Up next: tackling the empennage - a few issues that need to be corrected.

John OMG, absolutely brilliant build - simply amazing work. A build so well done. I'm creeping along compared to you but at least I've reached the stage where the engine and gear is now on. Just hoping I get somewhere close to being in the ballpark as with your 109. 🏆

Carl Nice progress on the front office and ejection seats - nothing better then a well done front office as it always is the central point of interest on large aircraft.

Rob Delicate, so very fine work and skills are needed for the never ending but incredible looking PE. The results speak for themselves and are so well worth the effort in time and patience. Awesome work for sure. I followed Steve's build of the Revell Corvette on his channel: The Model Shed and yes, you are going to love building the kit. Steve always adds the full Pontos set and the transformation is amazing.

John Absolutely stellar - decal work and commo look fantastic. I finally closed up the fuselage on my build and am getting ready to add the engine and post an update. If I come half as close to yours, I'll be a happy camper for sure. 🏆

Hubert, thanks you for confirming my research to this point. I'm going to thin out the plate and leave a small gap between it and the fuselage. Also need to spend a lot of time cleaning up the empennage as there are seams, gaps and steps that for the most part shouldn't be there. After reaching this point in the construction, I completely agree with Rob that the 109 suffers from a lot of the same issues previous ZM kits do: over engineered, way too many never to be seen parts after assembly and the instructions need to be cleaned up where the assembly drawings are a lot easier to understand and follow. I even found what I believe is an interior control rod that goes from the rudder to the tailwheel, allowing the tailwheel to be steerable instead of cables from the rudder to the tailwheel. Why even include such part that will never ever be seen?

Hi Gaz I've been struggling just getting the kit together after fitting and painting the rear interior and details at least RLM 02 for some effect which has caused all sorts of fit issues - the thickness of the paint has affected the precise fit. I also was a bit overzealous in gluing the cockpit to into the fuselage half and now need to fine tune one of the upper bear bracket holes for a better fit. ZM should have gone the route of how Tamiya secures their Merlin's to the firewall and not solely rely on the engine bearers. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to correct the vertical and horizontal stabilizers fit and look as ZM did a poor job. I've been downloading and studying a lot of photos and have come to the conclusion (hope I'm right) the plate in between the fuselage and the horizontal stabilizer should be attached to the horizontal stabilizer and pivot with it as part of the trim system and it is way too thick. Still looking at photos and trying to understand then entire empennage of the 109, as photos just look different then the kit.

Martin Pretty clever way of heating the cockpit at altitude.

Hi Gaz I've gone back, bookmarked your build and refer to it more and more as I find ZM's instructions to be lacking and unclear with certain details, that have led me down the wrong path.

Scott Terrific work on detailing the Revell gear with Tamiya parts - looks mighty good.

John Looking good and right with Carl - fantastic progress.

Thanks Gaz, very much appreciated. Looking at both photographs, I can see how you handled the edge seam and where ZM missed the boat on the actually to be seen details. I'm with you and wish ZM would have devoted a lot more time and effort into the correctly replicating the visible details and left almost all the hidden details out - a waste of time and money. I'm almost ready to button up the fuselage, added all the fuselage details, which I painted then RLM 02 only for what little could be seen through the open access panel. I decided to add all the fuselage ribs as they are what align both halves otherwise it becomes one huge unsupported butt join, top and bottom.

Thanks Paul, very much appreciated.

John Yup, only way to bring in what you need. SB use to carry them but they only have a few colors and that's it.