Late War 109G-6

[John Irwin]

Made a bit of progress - PE harness is installed. As mentioned, I'm not a big fan of PE harness in general.  This one was ok but I felt it (and most of the others out there) are too wide.  I carefully trimmed a bit from the side of each piece, also reduced the size of the lap belt padding.  To give the PE a bit of flexibility, I annealed each piece prior to painting.  I then pre-bent each component prior to carefully supergluing it in place. Took a few tries but things worked out ok.  I'll be going back with a light wash once things have set up a bit.  I also glued on the right sidewall.  It doesn't fit flush with aft bulkhead, I may have to do a bit of sanding on the outside surface.   I'll have to dryfit it to inside the fuselage to check the fit.  I also have to tweak the placement of the shoulder harnesses a bit, that too will be done once the glue sets up a bit.  Sorry for the crappy pics, I use natural lighting for my close-ups and there wasn't much of that today.

[Steve Scanlon]

Hi John,

This is looking great.

[John Irwin]

Cockpit "module" is complete (minus the gunsight and some small bits that will be added later).  Had to remove and re-glue the right sidewall because it didn't fit flush.  Also had some problems getting the IP to fit.  Just by eyeballing the cockpit, I think I have some sanding ahead of me.

Some pics:







 



Regards,

John

[John Irwin]

Thanks for the compliments guys...

Finally had some time to devote to this project.   The fuselage is together:  


The Aries cockpit did require some trimming but things seemed to go ok.  The big test will be whether the 3 cowling sections (the top one being an aftermarket resin product) will all fit nicely.  As you can see, the Revell kit is a bit odd with regard to it's design.  I imagine that this was done to allow multiple versions to be built from a single base component but it does add to the complexity of the build.

Due to this decision, you are required to filling unneeded panels / access doors.   In my case, that meant I had to eliminate the compressed air service door on the starboard aft fuselage (this was used to access the pneumatic charging system for aircraft equipped with the 30mm Mk-108 cannon)


Also deleted was the MW-50 (methanol and water overboost mixture) filler port on the upper right side of the fuselage and the upper oil filler port on the left side of the nose.  The G-6 and most G-14's used a smaller oil tank.  Later versions had a larger 50 liter oil tank that required the elevated filler port.


The picture above also shows one of the areas of the kit Revell skimped on.  Revell molded the various engine cooling air scoops as solid pieces.  Thankfully, the Alleycat correction set (more on this later) provides resin scoops that are hollow.  I'll be cutting off the kit intakes and adding these in a bit.

The Revell kit also has the fuel filler port and side cockpit ventilation doors molded in the wrong position (and in the wrong size in the case of the ventilation panels).  Thankfully, the Alleycat set also provides scribing guides to make the correction process much easier.  Simply fill and sand the kit panels and re-scribe new ones.   Easy-peaszy!

The fuel filler panel:


Cockpit ventilation port:


Starboard ventilation port (still a work in progress):


The Alleycat set provides dozens of very useful parts. Next up will be the installation of their corrected radiator and most importantly the resin "buele" (those large fairings over the MG breeches) that replace the much undersized kit parts.

Thanks for looking,

John

[Steve Scanlon]

The problem with great builds like this  I start getting tempted to build something with wingy things on it!! love the detail and finishing.

[John Irwin]

Quick update, I've been working on the side cowling panels.  As noted above, Revell provided solid cooling air scoops on the cowling.  I drilled openings in the cowling and then affixed the very nice Alleycat parts over the holes.  Definitely easier than trying to drill out semi-circular openings on the plastic part.   I also affixed the Alleycat supercharger (turbocharger?) air intake.  The Revell part is missing the prominent weld along it's side and the front of it is much too thin and lacks the very visible screws.   While I was at it, I also drilled a hole for the engine starter crank on the starboard cowling panel.  Revell actually has this but for some reason it's flashed over.   Here are a couple of pics.  Keep in mind that I still have a good amount of filling / sanding to do on the main parts.





Thanks for looking,

John

[Mikester]

Looking good, John.  I had a problem with my windscreen being too narrow and I had to build it up with putty.  I'm not aware that anyone else had this issue though so maybe it was an anomaly.  The whole front cowling section is a tad fiddly though IMO.

[John Irwin]

Looking good, John.  I had a problem with my windscreen being too narrow and I had to build it up with putty.  I'm not aware that anyone else had this issue though so maybe it was an anomaly.  The whole front cowling section is a tad fiddly though IMO.

 

In test fitting the windscreen, it appears that I am going to have the same issue that you encountered.   My situation is made worse by the Aries cockpit which apparently is just a bit too wide for the kit fuselage.  I've had to sand down the resin sides and then I found out that the resin instrument panel was also a bit too wide and was forcing the sides further apart.  I had to remove the IP (a pain in the a**), file down the sides and then re-glue.  It also sat too low in the cockpit so that had to be corrected as well. 

 

Although I like the Revell kit (despite the flaws highlighted in the review you posted), I am getting a bit aggravated with the overall design.  The thee piece cowling is turing out to be a source of significant work.

[Mikester]

Yup, although it's a nice kit, from a purely "ease of build" and engineering standpoint I still prefer the Hasegawa G-6.

[Paulster]

I Googled "Aires" and it came up with, ​"Czechoslovakian for "Does not fit". 

[wemattson]

John,

 

It's looking real good! I noticed that your location indicates Southeastern Massachusetts; you and I must be in the same neck of the woods.

 

Cheers,

Wayne

[John Irwin]

Man do I hear ya, John! I can't remember another kit where I've had such mixed feelings. In some places, the Revell G-6 is inspired. The clear fuel line for the cockpit? Love it! The way they engineer for the short and tall tails? Worked out rather well. The wing spars work well, the design of the flaps is far superior to the Hasegawa, and the wheels are among the best injection wheels I've ever seen.

 

But then...there are choices that completely hobble it from being a truly great kit. The three-piece cowl, which seems kind of silly considering their new G-10 goes for two full fuselage halves instead. The three-piece gear struts, which are terrible. The giant discs on the control surfaces. The spinner. The AWFUL decals. The decision to drop parts onto the sprues in random order, and then get numbers wrong on the instructions! 

 

When I get around to my G-10 (which I've heard better things about) I'll definitely eye one of those Aires pits...it looks fantastic!

 

Agreed that the Erla G-10 looks nice, I might end up giving that one a shot next.  

 

I'm curious as to what Revells rational was for the 3 piece cowling.  I'm not a 109 expert, would that decision have allowed them to use the base kit for the F with minimal changes?  I'm guessing it would give them the ability to do this for the G-2 and G-4 versions.  

 

With regard to those discs on the control surfaces, I can't fathom what Revell was thinking when they came up with those.   No easy way to remove them without impacting other details.  Thankfully I've got the wonderful Alleycat set which (in addition to many other fixes) provides replacement control surfaces with the discs removed.

[John Irwin]

Cowling and MG bulges are on.  The Alleycat upper cowl required a bit of trimming (of some of the framework on the Revell kit) but nothing excessive.  I went with the Alleycat upper cowl because the Revell piece has the MG troughs too close together.  The Alleycat replacement is finely cast and has the correct spacing.

The MG bulges that Revell provides are too small, still don't understand how Revell managed to miss this detail.  Thankfully the Alleycat corrections set comes to the rescue (again).  It took some filing to remove the excess resin from the bulges but again, nothing out of the ordinary.  As I progress through the build, I'm coming to the conclusion that the Revell kit leaves much to be desired.  The joints of the three-piece cowling occur where there are no panel lines on the real thing.  This requires additional putty / sanding work (and the rescribing of some nearby panel lines that will be impacted by the sanding process.  The crappy engineering coupled with the inaccurate MG troughs and botched buele are leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

Anyway, here are some pics of my progress.  The basic components are in place, just note that I have a lot of putty / sanding / rescribing work still to be done.  Prior to assembly, I also drilled the engine starter port on the starboard cowling and the muzzles of the 13mm machine guns.  It's been noted that the Revell parts are a bit inaccurate but I elected to use them vrs purchasing aftermarket replacements.







Note that Yellow 5 has an additional fairing under the starboard MG bulge.  This was originally seen on the G-5 high altitude variant and covered the compressor for the pressurization system.  For whatever reason, more than a few later version G-6's also had this fairing, although the pressurization gear was not fitted.  Alleycat thoughtfully provides a choice of the regular fairing or the G-5 style.   Note that I still have a good amount of work to do on this fairing to thin down the edge.  

That's it for tonight, thanks for looking.

[BevanBrooks]

Looks like a mountain of work John! I'm sure that the hard work will pay off. Cheers Bevan

[mhorina]

Hello John,

 I have a question for you. Since the Aires cockpit floor has no locating rails for the wing spar, the Revell cockpit floor has them to glue the wing spar to, do the slots in the fuselage give adequate gluing area to secure the wing brace ? Are there marks on the brace to center the wing spar correctly?  Any info in this regard will be very helpful to me. Thank you for any input in this matter.

    Mike Horina

[John Irwin]

I'm back...

After a month of work to get get everything marginally ok (putty, sand, prime...  find defects, putty, sand, prime, repeat again), I've got my Gustav with her base paint coat.  

I've found that very few WW2 German model paints look right without a bit a tweaking.  I'm using a Testor's enamel for RLM76 (lightened a bit), RLM74 (ditto) and Testor's acrylic for RLM74 (added a small bit of green and some white).  The late war violet brown RLM81 is from White Ensign. Straight out of the tin, it is very dark.  I used it on the rudder which from the pictures of the real thing, looks to have been overpainted with full strength 81 later in the life of the aircraft.  The color pic I have shows the rest of the aircraft to have a much lighter, browner shade of 81.  I added a bit of white and approx 30% Testor's tan to the White Ensign paint for the fuselage and wings.   For the latewar green (RLM82) I again used White Ensign paint, with just a touch of white to represent a bit of fading.  Real happy with WE paint, very easy to airbrush.

For the mythical yellow-green "RLM84" I used Testor's RLM76 white blue, with approx 25% yellow and a few drops of white.  For all I know, that was how the German's made this stuff. There are no records that discuss the manufacture of this paint so it may very well have been a field modification, using stocks of existing paint.   I sprayed a slightly darker version on the underside of the fuselage and sides, then added a bit more white to the mix and shot some random blotches on the fuselage sides.  The few color pictures of late war, unrestored German aircraft show major variations in paint colors and extremely poor application.  On some aircraft, there are visible runs of paint and it looks like a few areas were applied with a brush.  I'm not planning on going that far but I don't feel the need to produce an immaculate paint job on this particular aircraft.

Based on the few pics available of this particular G-6, it appears that this aircraft had a replacement starboard wing, painted in the mid-war greys.  The port wing is late war brown / dark green, with natural metal undersides.   This aircraft was also somewhat unique in having the cowling finished in overall RLM76 with just some lightly applied brown/green mottle.  

At this point, I've got the base paintwork completed.  Now comes the hard part - adding the mottling.  Wish me luck.

Here are a few pics of my progress.  Sorry for the crappy lighting, keep in mind that aside from the mottling, I still have a lot of touch-up work and weathering.  



Note that the rudder is just dryfitted in place.  Have to clean up the RLM76 overspray.


Added shell ejection chutes from scrap PE.  As far as I can tell, Yellow 5 didn't have the fittings for an external fuel tank.


I'll be cleaning up the scallops on the leading edge, still need to add these to the port wing as well.




\

It appears that the tail was originally overall RLM81(slightly faded). At a later time, light blue 76 was applied around the swastika.  This is pretty common on late war 109's

[John Irwin]

Lots of detail painting ahead of me.   I started with the mottling of the engine cowling.  Pictures of Yellow 5 don't show the cowling from every angle but they are detailed enough to give you the basic layout.   Latewar brown violet and olive green mottles over blue 76.

Will still probably go back a second time and tighten these up a bit.









Also, I forgot to mention this previously but another nice feature in the Alleycat correction kit are revised control surfaces.  The real thing has fabric disks sewn onto the control surfaces (I read somewhere they were drains for any condensation that might get inside).  For some crazy reason, Revell opted to replicated these as if they were made of armor plate!  Way too thick and if you sand them down, you will lose other details.

Alleycat to the rescue:

The kit part is separate, the Alleycat part is already attached to the horizontal stab.   Big difference!

[Mikester]

Very interesting scheme, looking good!

[colt6]

John! that will be a wonderful last ditch 109 and I love those late german camo's. Nearly everything is allowed. Will follow with high interest. Thanks

 

Arno

[John Irwin]

Making progress with the painting.  Added the mottles on the fuselage sides.  Yellow 5 was a pretty unique late-war -109, in addition to the mismatched cowling and wings, it also had what appears in the photos to be a painted over number 3 on the starboard fuselage side.  Also had what appears to be a fresh patch of RLM84 in the same area (perhaps touch-up of some combat damage).  I did my best to replicate these features. I also very lightly oversprayed the fuselage sides with brown RLM81 to darken the base paint and replicate the appearance of the original.  See the color pic of Yellow 5 on page 1 of this thread.  Lastly I added the faded black ID band to the rear fuselage.  This was used by JG53 but it's not certain that Yellow 5 was assigned to that unit at the end of the war when it was captured by the US Army.

Still have a great deal of touch-ups to do, also need to add the prominent exhaust soot.  I think I'll lighten the mottling on the cowling a bit as well.

Stayed tuned, thanks for all the great feedback.

[BevanBrooks]

 

Good to see some progress John. It is indeed a very interesting scheme and I am looking forward to more updates. Really like the over painted "3"and associated mottling.

 

Cheers Bevan.

[colt6]

Fall more and more in love with your work!! Despite looking odd, this is not an easy camo! Congrats!!

 

Arno

[John Irwin]

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback!

 

I've added a bit of weathering to Yellow 5, much more to do but the rest will be completed after the decals are in place.  For those folks building late war German aircraft, keep in mind that weathering should be held to a minimum.   Most aircraft were grounded due to fuel shortages, some never flew at all and spent their lives hidden in forests.  The ones that could fly typically only lasted a few missions before being shot down.  At best, maybe some exhaust soot and a few paint chips from foot traffic on wings.   Certainly no heavily faded paint.

However, Yellow 5 is an exception.  She's a veteran, a mid-war G-6 model that managed to last until the end.  As such, she will have a bit heavier weathering.  I already subtly lightened some of the upper camo colors, again nothing extreme.  German paint was typically of high quality (except at the very end) and was pretty resistant to fading.  Next up I used a dull silver to replicate foot traffic along the wing roots.  Heavier on the left because that was the side that provide access to the cockpit but still some scuffing on the right wing route as well.  I needed to do this first so I could then add the exhaust staining. I used a mix of flat black with ~ 20% dark brown and a bit of white.  I don't use straight black, to me it doesn't look realistic.   While I was at it, I added the scalloping to the starboard wing leading edge. I used a different pattern than the port wing, a bit more random.  Still have touchup work to do on both leading edges.

Anyway, some pics.









Also started some weathering on the undersurface.  Much more work to do in this area.

[John Irwin]

Next up, the fuselage crosses.  I've always had issues with the hollow German crosses, in that the decal film over the center portion inevitably has some silvering or the raised edges are visible.  So I decided to try painting them.  

I used the kit decal as a mask, carefully cutting out the white cross.  Not the best media, vinyl masks or tape would be better in that they would hold tighter to the fuselage surface.  As it was, even after being taped in place, I had to spray each corner while holding down part of the decal sheet with my finger.   I think it came out ok, a bit of cleanup required but no biggie.  Still need to fill in the center with brownviolet.  Not sure if I'll use this approach for upper wing crosses. Those are much thinner, not sure how well they would come out.  

John

[colt6]

As you said, with a little clean out, it will look great! Not sure how nice they are done on the original.