Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" as flown by Erich "Bubi" Hartmann "FINAL REVEAL!!"

[UKguyInUSA]

Hello Guys,

This will be my second entry into the "1/32 Big Bird Buddy Build" and will go alongside my first entry the Revell 1/32 Arado AR196A-3 Seaplane in a diorama that I have planned.

Erich "Bubi" Hartmann was the Ace of Aces with the highest number of air victories that totaled 352, which earned him the "Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds".

Introduction to the kit:

The Box Art:








The Box Contents:





Inside the box are 4 clear bags of grey sprues, 12 in total and 1 clear bag containing 2 clear sprues. There's a 16 page black and white assembly/instruction/painting and decaling booklet and a sheet of cartograf decals.


The Sprues:














Sprues A and B:











Sprue C:










Sprues D, G and H:

















Sprue K:








Sprue M:











Sprue N:












Clear Sprues O and P:















The 16 page black and white Instruction/Assembly/Painting and Decalling Booklet:























And finally, the decals:





Initial Observations:


The molded parts are very crisp and clean with zero flash apart from a couple of little areas. the parts have nice fine recessed panel lines and some rivet details. The clear molded parts are very clear and not thick with zero aberrations.

The decals are excellent looking with zero carrier film beyond the decal edges.

The black and white instruction booklet appears to be clear and concise, but the two paint and decal options would be better in color. There are three blank pages at the end of the booklet. The color call outs are in Revell colors only.

I will make a final report when the build is complete indicating any issues that I come across. In the meantime, thanks for taking a look and I hope you enjoy following along with my build, which I started already, but haven't had the time until now to start this post thread on ISM due to family from Florida staying with us for the last 10 days.

Anyway, if you'd like to see my "in-Box-Review" video for this kit, here is the link:


[youtube]PNScSYj4E6c[/youtube]


My Build Update #1 report will follow shortly!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" Build Update #1.

Hello Chaps,

The following is my "Build Update #1" for this Revell 1/32 kit that was new tooling in 2014. So far, everything has gone together great and there are some nice details within the cockpit.

The Build Begins!

First step was to wash all the sprues in warm soapy water to remove any injection molding release and cleaning agents that might have contaminated the surface of the molded parts;





After letting the parts air dry, I then began to assemble the cockpit along with other sub-assembly components:








Next, I drilled out the ends of the forward machine guns then assembled them into the upper engine cowling:








I then airbrushed a black base coat onto parts whilst still on their sprues, then when that was dry, I airbrushed RLM 66 black/grey onto the internal cockpit parts:








I then airbrushed RLM 02 onto various parts:











I then airbrushed Tamiya XF-16 Aluminum onto wheel wells and wheel well walls, along with the propeller blades:











I then added highlights onto the Aluminum paint using Tamiya X-11 Silver:





Next, I started on the detailing and assembly of the cockpit:














Followed by airbrushing the propeller blades with RLM 70 Schwarzgrun, then assembling the propeller:














I then gave all painted parts a gloss clear coat prior to adding a dirt wash:











When the gloss clear coat was dry, I then mixed a dirt wash using black oil paint mixed with mineral spirits to a watery consistency:














I then worked on the assembly of the cockpit tub:

















After assembling the cockpit tub, I fitted the wing spar/brace beneath the cockpit tub:











This was followed by fitting the exhaust stacks into their locations:





The last thing that I did was to add a dirt wash to the radiator air intake assembly:





And then, I laid everything that I had completed onto my work-bench to see the progress so far:




















Well, that's it for this update, the next step will be to start assembling the aircraft.

In the meantime, if you would like to watch my YouTube "Build Update #1" video, here is the link:


[youtube]V6FlSDkaUvM[/youtube]


Until the next update, thanks in advance for watching and commenting, much appreciated!

Happy modeling and have fun doing it!

Cheers
Martin

[patrickroos]

Looking great Martin, love Your postings with their explanatory pictures and Your great vids.
I understand the extra effort in this and greatly appreciate it!
I can also imagine it must be very helpful for many, especially beginner modellers.

Paintwork and weathering looks very nice, great work on the cockpit!
(Was that XF-54 You used as RLM66? Looks nice)

Great work, keep it coming!

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" Build Update #2.

Well, once the cockpit was painted and buttoned up, this thing literally flew together and everything went together great. But, I did come across some errors in Revell's assembly instructions; incorrect numbering on a few parts, no note to inform you that 4 holes have to be drilled into a panel that fits onto the bottom of the fuselage into which the drop tank carrier rack locates into. Also, there are a few variations of rudder, a couple variations of vertical stabilizer and a couple of variations of panels that go underneath the fuselage, but, there are no references indicating which ones to use depending on which version you choose to build, paint and decal. This is explained more in my "Build Update #2" video to which the link can be found at the end of this update.


Time for assembly work!

I started off by gluing the cockpit tub into the starboard side fuselage half. I then glued the portside fuselage onto that and taped it until the glue had set...











Next, I fitted the upper engine cowling into place followed by the air filter on the side of the fuselage and then the underside oil cooler air intake housing....











I then fitted the upper wing inner sections onto the fuselage sides, starting with the portside, then the starboard side....











Next, I fitted the underside wing sections into place, starting with starboard side and finishing with the portside....














Following the underside wing sections, I fitted a couple of access panel to the underside of the fuselage. There are two versions of these, but Revell doesn't indicate which versions to use depending on which version of the planes you're going to build...








Next, I fitted the two upper wing end sections into place and taped them until the glue had set...








I then moved onto gluing the vertical stabilizer in place, then fitting the two rudder halves around the hinges of the vertical stabilizer, which allows the rudder to be movable...











After the vertical stabilizer and rudder, it was onto the horizontal stabilizers and elevators, and again, the elevators are moveable...











She was beginning to look like a plane now...





I then moved onto the main wings and fitted the flaps ailerons and elevators, again, the outer two on each wing can be posed and the inner flaps are moveable...











I then moved onto the leading edge slats and glued them in the open position as this plane will be modelled with the wheels down and canopy open and not in flight...








Next, I fitted the drop tank carrier plate to the underside of the fuselage, but came across a problem. The panel that it locates into should have 4 holes drilled into it for locating the carrier plate pegs into, but, there are no instructions in the assembly guide informing you to drill holes. This is assembly instruction #35 in the booklet. I therefore, used the other version of panel as a drilling template to do this, then when the 4 holes were drilled, I could glue the carrier plate in place....











After the carrier plate was fitted, I moved onto fitting the rear wheel well cover plate...








I then glued the air intake slats into position, they are painted black in this image...





it was now time to start masking things ready for cleaning and priming the plane. I started by temporarily locating the undercarriage doors into place using putty...





Masking the canopy, front windscreen and bullet proof shield...








Followed by masking the cockpit tub, the exhaust stacks, the air intakes and filter intake. When that was done, I cleaned the plane down using IsoPropy Alcohol...





I had now reached the end of my build stage and was ready to move onto the next stage, priming, pre-shading and painting which will be seen in my next build update report #3...








Thanks for following this build and for leaving any comments, much appreciated.

If you'd like to see my YouTube "Build Update #2" video, here is the link for that:


[youtube]BrAI3x3R14U[/youtube]


Until my next update, have a great weekend and happy modelling!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Looking great Martin, love Your postings with their explanatory pictures and Your great vids.
I understand the extra effort in this and greatly appreciate it!
I can also imagine it must be very helpful for many, especially beginner modellers.

Paintwork and weathering looks very nice, great work on the cockpit!
(Was that XF-54 You used as RLM66? Looks nice)

Great work, keep it coming!

Thanks Patrick, much appreciated mate! I don't mind the extra effort, I have a lot of free time on my hands being retired, so, I choose model making, writing reports and creating videos as my way of filling the day. Apart, from activities with the wife and grand-children!

The cockpit was painted with XF-54 Dark Sea Grey, I couldn't get RLM 66, so I looked at a color reference chart and chose the next closest thing.

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" Build Update #3.

So guys, after building up the plane and cleaning her down with Isopropyly Alcohol, it was time to move into the painting stage. I masked the wheel wells, air intakes and air filter intake with damp tissue and masked the cockpit and exhaust stacks with Tamiya tape. I also temporarily located the undercarriage doors/covers to act as masks, but also to get them painted at the same time the underside of the plane was airbrushed. As always, the plane was primed first using Model Masters Grey Primer and when that was dry, I mixed XF-1 Flat Black with XF-54 Dark Sea Grey and pre-shaded all the panel lines and rivet detail areas;




















While that was all drying, I then airbrushed Tamiya XF-54 onto the masked canopies. I used this as a substitute for RLM 66 which I couldn't get hold of. When it was dry, I airbrushed clear coat over the canopies and some other parts to seal the paint in and then removed the masking tape from the canopies to check the result:














I then moved onto airbrushing the underside of the plane, along with the drop tank, using RLM 76 Lichtblau. I toned it down around 10-15% with white and when that was done I added more white and airbrushed some highlights onto random areas. I let that all dry for an hour, then laid everything that was completed so far onto my table to check how things were looking:














I now had to mask the upper side ready for airbrushing the two camouflage colors, and therefore I used my usual method to do this. Using the painting guide, I measure the plan view distance from wing tip to wing tip and then take that same measurement on the model. Using those two dimensions, I divide the largest number by the smallest number to provide a scale factor. I repeat this process with the side elevation views measuring the length of the plane and getting another scale factor. Using my photo-copier, I set the zoom ratio to the scale factor calculated for the distance across the wings and place the plan view face down in the copier. I then took a couple of copies, one of the starboard side wing and one of the portside wing, then laid the plane on top to check if the scale had come out correctly. I repeated this for the side views. Everything looked good and so I now had my own paper masks ready to move forward with painting:














I wanted to airbrush the light color first, the Grau-Violet RLM 75, and so I carefully cut the dark areas of the paper masks out then taped them in place on the plane. I then airbrushed RLM 75 Grau-Violet onto the exposed surfaces. I tone the paint down by 10-15% with white and when completed, I added more white so that I could airbrush some highlights on top in random areas. I allowed the paint to dry for a while, then carefully removed the paper masks and then checked the paint work on my table:














Next, I moved onto airbrushing the DunkelGrun RLM-82 to complete the two camouflage colors. Using the paper masks again, I cut out the lighter areas and used them to mask over the previously airbrushed Grau-Violet. I then used RLM-82 Dunkelgrun toned down about 10-15% with white and airbrushed that over the exposed surfaces. Again, I added more white and randomly airbrushed some highlights. When that paint was dry, I carefully removed the masks and checked over the paint work:














It was now time to add the mottling to the fuselage sides. Three colors were used, the two upper camouflage colors; RLM 75 and RLM 82, along with RLM 02 Light Olive. This was my first time airbrushing mottling onto a plane, so I was a little anxious about screwing up what I had already done. It requires a lot of control with the airbrush to maintain a gentle flow of paint so that you don't squirt a puddle onto the surface:










After that was completed, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not? I then painted all the trim tabs red, along with a 3mm wide black band that goes around the front end of the fuselage behind the propeller spinner. I then took all the masking off the plane, temporarily located the canopies which were such a good fit, they sat in place, laid everything out on my table and took some photos:




















Well, that's it for this update, my next one will be the "Final Reveal" as all I have left to do is clear-coating, decaling, light chipping, weathering, filtering, final assembly and matt/flat clear-coat.

In the meantime, if you'd like to see my YouTube "Build Update #3" video for this update, here is the link to that:


[youtube]6c6coKE9XI0[/youtube]


Thanks in advance for looking at this thread, watching the video and commenting, much appreciated!

See you at the "Final Reveal"!

Cheers
Martin

[patrickroos]

Love the paint work!
Cant wait to se her with wash and decals on...
As they say in Your old country, Splendid work! Or as in the new, awesome dude!

[heel]

Wow. This is great stuff going on here. Beautiful work Martin.

[UKguyInUSA]

Love the paint work!
Cant wait to se her with wash and decals on...
As they say in Your old country, Splendid work! Or as in the new, awesome dude!

Thanks Patrick, greatly appreciated mate!

Have a great weekend!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Wow. This is great stuff going on here. Beautiful work Martin.

Thanks mate, greatly appreciated!

Have a great weekend!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" as flown by Erich "Bubi" Hartmann "Build Update #4"

So, one of my favorite times of the build had arrived- decaling and weathering!

I started off by airbrushing a gloss clear coat over the plane, drop tank, wheels, propeller and flaps and allowed that to dry overnight. The following morning, I prepared my bench for decaling:











I started by applying the upper wing decals first, followed by the underside decals, the fuselage nose decal, the spinner, the fuselage sides and lastly, the drop tank:

















The decals completed except for the wheel decals:





I was informed by a fellow modeler that the wheels should be black and that Revell had screwed up with their call-out for aluminum, and so I corrected them with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black:








The decals were then sealed in with a gloss clear coat which was allowed to dry overnight, prior to starting the weathering stage:





I began my weathering by applying some subtle "chipping" using Tamiya XF-16 Aluminum:

















After the "chipping" was applied, I moved onto applying a filter. I mixed a small amount of black and white oil paints, thinned down with odorless mineral spirits to a watery consistency. This produced a light grey color that I brushed all over the plane and the unassembled parts:











I allowed that to dry for around 30 minutes, then using Q-Tips/Cotton Buds, I gently removed the excess leaving a thin film over the surfaces. I removed the filter in the direction of air-flow:





I let the filter dry for a few more hours whilst taking lunch, catching up with modelers videos, builds, comments etc and watching the latest news on CNN....it's a hard life...and then, I mixed a dark wash with black oil paint and mineral spirits and brushed it all over panel lines, rivets and raised features to highlight them. Again, I allowed this to dry for around 30 minutes and then rubbed the excess off gently in the direction of air-flow with Q-Tips/Cotton Buds:














Again, I let this dry for a few hours before moving onto my next weathering stage- applying a reddish/brown wash for fuel and oil stains and water/dirt streaks. I used Humbrol 113 thinned down about 90% with Tamiya thinners:



































I allowed that to dry for a few hours then sealed the weathering in with the final finishing matte/flat clear coat:





It was now time for the "Final Assembly"! I started off by fitting the flaps:





Next was the wheel assemblies:








Using Model Masters acrylic washes and some pencil/graphite dust created by scraping the end of a 6B pencil with my scalpel blade, I applied the exhaust stains onto either side of the fuselage:








I then fitted the gun-sight in place followed by the front wind-shield:








Next, I fitted the wing-tip light lenses, but before gluing them into their locations, I painted the rear side surfaces with red for the port-side and blue for the starboard side:








I now moved onto fitting the wheels onto their axles, but before I did that, I needed to apply the decals onto them and then seal them with a flat clear coat. They were glued onto the axles using super-glue as were the axles into their locations. The location of the axles into the wheel bays isn't a very good design and the fits are sloppy, and therefore, using super-glue and holding the axle in the required position until the glue sets is recommended. It only took 20-30 secs for the glue to set solid and provide a rigid structure:











Next, I fitted the 4 hard points onto the drop tank for locating into the underside of the fuselage and then glued the drop tank into place:








I then moved onto to fitting the rear wheel, the rudder actuator/cylinder and the aileron counter-balance weights:














Next, I glued the portside underwing aerial, the circular antenna onto the upper fuselage and then the pitot tube:











I then worked on the canopy, by fitting the internal handle and then the aerial mast on top of the back edge:








Using a piece of sprue I stretched it out using a candle flame, then cut a 11mm length to use as the fuel tank overflow pipe. I then cut a section to use as the canopy support strut for when the canopy is in the open position:











Lastly, I carved a small piece of sprue to create a antenna cable fixing point on front of the vertical stabilizer:





I then painted these parts that were fabricated from sprue, then finished the plane off by adding the antenna cables using EZ-Line.

To see the build complete, you'll have to wait for the "Final Reveal" upload, but in the meantime, if you'd like to see my YouTube "Build Update#4" video, here is the link:


[youtube]99i1tthwE8g[/youtube]


Thanks to everyone that has followed this thread and left comments, it is greatly appreciated!


Have a great weekend and happy modeling!

Cheers
Martin

[kruno59]

fantastic mate - love it

[UKguyInUSA]

fantastic mate - love it

Thanks Kruno, greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" "Final Reveal"

There are two options available with this model and I chose to do the version as flown by Ace of Aces Luftwaffe Pilot Erich "Bubi" Hartmann who was credited with the highest number of aerial victories ever recorded- 352!

This is another great newly tooled 1/32 scale kit from Revell of Germany (GmbH); very nice crisp clean moldings with great details including recessed panel lines, rivets, a great cockpit, undercarriage, movable flaps, elevators, ailerons and rudder! The decals are cartograf and go down very nicely indeed.

My only issues with this kit are:

1) For this size kit, I was expecting it to come with a detailed Daimler Benz DB605 engine, but it doesn't. That would have been another nice addition to this kit to be able to have the engine cowlings hinged open to show off the engine, which then allows further options for after-market maintenance men, or "black-men" as they were known due to wearing all black overalls, to be posed working on the engine.

2) The main undercarriage have a sloppy fit between the axle lugs and their locations within the wheel-wells. This could be improved with simple modification in the mold tooling to increase the geometry of the lugs so they are a nice slide fit/tighter fit within their location points. I had to super-glue mine in position one at a time and hold their position until the fast acting super-glue had set solid. Super-glue is highly recommended for ensuring that the main undercarriage is fixed solidly.

3) The assembly instructions have some incorrectly numbered parts ie the part numbers in the instructions do not match the part numbers on the sprues.

4) The kit has some alternative parts, such as three versions of rudder and two styles of vertical stabilizer, but, they're are no references indicating which one of the optional versions to use with the two different options of aircraft that can be modeled. So, again, this forces you to do research to find out from available images which versions look correct for the particular plane you build.

5) The painting instructions have color call-outs that are mixed around on the orthographic views; which could confuse a younger modeler that doesn't bother to research and check where the grey/green and grey violet camo colors go. ie, you could easily end up having the green camo airbrushed/painted where it should be grauviolet and vice-versa.

6) The two upper camo color call outs are for RLM 74 Graugrun and RLM 83 Lichtgrun over RLM 76 Lichtblau, In my opinion and following research, the RLM 83 Lichtgrau is incorrect and should be replaced with RLM 75 Grauviolet, which is what I did.

7) As with the part numbering and color call out references, some decals are incorrectly referenced, too.


My conclusion is this kits instruction/assembly booklet missed the quality control checks during manufacture/production and hence the issues pointed out above.

But, that said, I still believe it to be a great value for money kit that is engineered very well with some great details. I paid $22.50 for this kit and it is available on line from Hobbylinc.com and Scalehobbyist.com for $23.95, that's about 16.00 quid for our British friends.

Anyway, with that out of the way, let's move onto the "Final Reveal" photos, and forgive me, there are alot of them?!! I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed this build!
































































































































Well, there she is! My conclusion to this build is that this is a great value for money kit that is well engineered, goes together great and offers some great details and options. I paid $22.50 for this kit, and it is available from Hobbylinc.com and Scalehobbyist.com for $23.95; that's about 16.00 quid for our British friends.

If you've been thinking about buying/building this kit, you won't be disappointed, I really enjoyed building her.

I'd give this kit 4.5 stars out of 5 or 9 out of 10, based on my points mentioned above.

Thanks to everyone that has followed this build both on here and on my YouTube channel, and, for leaving encouraging comments, greatly appreciated!

In the meantime, if you'd like to watch my "YouTube "Final Reveal" video for this build, then here is the link to that:


[youtube]_q-AcPsBLTU[/youtube]


Until the next build, happy modeling and have fun!

Cheers,
Martin

[chief5437]

Another great build mate! Impressive stuff, looks fantastic. Well done

[patrickroos]

Well done Martin, that's a great looking Gustav!

As usual Great build thread, great vids, truly enjoyed both, Thanks!

Again, congrats on a very fine Gustav!

[SteveW]

Great job Martin. Enjoyed the build thread and the final result is a cracker. Well done

[eightfooticeman]

Outstanding work Martin I really like what you did with your build.

[CJSomerset]

Great build thread that ends up with a great looking kit.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Superb Martin
Well documented build, great detail work and the final result speaks for itself





I like these planes....plummeting on fire and trailing smoke

[Stokesy44]

Brilliant work, loved seeing this come together.

[Homerlovesbeer]

A wonderful work of art.

Thanks Martin

[Nev]

Gawd she looks wonderful

[Danta2er]

A beautiful build!! Congrats

[UKguyInUSA]

Another great build mate! Impressive stuff, looks fantastic. Well done

Hey Chief,

Sorry for the late response; I'm just seeing all the comments to this thread now...I hadn't been checking my posts and instead just getting lost in building models!

Thanks for your kind comment mate, much appreciated!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Well done Martin, that's a great looking Gustav!

As usual Great build thread, great vids, truly enjoyed both, Thanks!

Again, congrats on a very fine Gustav!

Thanks Patrick, much appreciated and glad you like it

Sorry for my late response, I just haven't been on here checking my posts until now and have been busy building two other models since this one!

Hope you're well?

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Great job Martin. Enjoyed the build thread and the final result is a cracker. Well done

Thanks Steve, greatly appreciated, glad you enjoyed following

Sorry for my late response, I haven't been on here checking posts for a while!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Outstanding work Martin I really like what you did with your build.

Thanks Jermaine, greatly appreciated mate!

Sorry for my late response, I just haven't been coming on here and checking my posts until now!

Hope you're doing well mate?!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Great build thread that ends up with a great looking kit.

Thanks CJ, greatly appreciated mate and sorry for my very late response, I just haven't been coming on her checking until now.

Hope you're doing well?

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Superb Martin
Well documented build, great detail work and the final result speaks for itself





I like these planes....plummeting on fire and trailing smoke

Thanks mate, much appreciated, and, sorry for my response being one month late exactly; I just haven't been coming on here to check my posts!

Hope you're well...

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Brilliant work, loved seeing this come together.

Thanks Stokesy, greatly appreciated, glad you liked it!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

A wonderful work of art.

Thanks Martin

And thank you for following along and commenting, much appreciated mate!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Gawd she looks wonderful

Thanks Nev, greatly appreciated mate!

Cheers
Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

A beautiful build!! Congrats

Thanks Dan, greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Martin