1/48 Bf-109E-4 NJG 1
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:27 am
Here is what I have been working on recently, and what should have been a simple little project has turned out to be a PITA
Between July and August 1941, 10 Staffel NJG 1 used a pair of Bf-109E4's equipped with PeilG direction finders as night fighters. The direction finder was mounted in a clear bubble on the lower fuselage aft of the wing trailing edge. No victories were scored by either aircraft.
I started out with the Hasegawa special boxing of this night fighter. It came with a bunch of half used CMK detail parts, of course the half that was left was of no use to me on this
. The Hasegawa kit really needs a cockpit upgrade, which wasn't in the modeling budget, as well the Hasegawa decals were, well, Hasegawa. So I got Owl Decals set for this aircraft, and in hind sight, should have just gotten their whole conversion set as well, but that is water under the bridge now.
Anyway, I grabbed a Tamyia BF-109E-4/7 kit I had, that had a Eduard cockpit set included as part of a trade. I figured I would use the direction finder bubble from the Hasegawa kit, along with the Owl Decals to finish it off. So, off we go, the Tamyia kit is very nice, and the Eduard set adds a nice extra level of detail to the cockpit.


Most of the side wall detail in the kit has to be removed only to be replaced by the Eduard items. These are pre-painted, and I don't know what the heck Eduard uses for color matching, but the color does not match the RLM O2 I was using, so any detail to remain, such as the data placard on the oxygen generator was masked and the whole interior shot with RLM 02. The wires were added from epoxy putty rolled out into fine worms. This worked really well and I like how workable they are when being placed.

The instrument panel built up well, the ends of the levers had a drop of Krystal Kleer added to give them a more 3D appearance, and then repaint in the appropriate color.

The multi-part seat belts are very nice, though the slot in the back of the seat needs to be drilled and filed out to fit them.

And the complete cockpit before closing up the fuselage.

Next up was modifying the rudder, two additional tail lights were added from Evergreen rod (.030 dia.) fitted and blended into small notches that were cut in. An extension needs to be added as well to offset the added side area of the direction finder bubble. Owl provides a template for this on the decal instructions. This was cut from a piece of .020 Evergreen sheet and added and final sanded to shape and to blend it into the trailing edge of the rudder.

The cowl guns were drilled out for an added bit of detail........

And together
The model is now in the paint shop, so hopefully pics of that soon!
Between July and August 1941, 10 Staffel NJG 1 used a pair of Bf-109E4's equipped with PeilG direction finders as night fighters. The direction finder was mounted in a clear bubble on the lower fuselage aft of the wing trailing edge. No victories were scored by either aircraft.
I started out with the Hasegawa special boxing of this night fighter. It came with a bunch of half used CMK detail parts, of course the half that was left was of no use to me on this
Anyway, I grabbed a Tamyia BF-109E-4/7 kit I had, that had a Eduard cockpit set included as part of a trade. I figured I would use the direction finder bubble from the Hasegawa kit, along with the Owl Decals to finish it off. So, off we go, the Tamyia kit is very nice, and the Eduard set adds a nice extra level of detail to the cockpit.


Most of the side wall detail in the kit has to be removed only to be replaced by the Eduard items. These are pre-painted, and I don't know what the heck Eduard uses for color matching, but the color does not match the RLM O2 I was using, so any detail to remain, such as the data placard on the oxygen generator was masked and the whole interior shot with RLM 02. The wires were added from epoxy putty rolled out into fine worms. This worked really well and I like how workable they are when being placed.

The instrument panel built up well, the ends of the levers had a drop of Krystal Kleer added to give them a more 3D appearance, and then repaint in the appropriate color.

The multi-part seat belts are very nice, though the slot in the back of the seat needs to be drilled and filed out to fit them.

And the complete cockpit before closing up the fuselage.

Next up was modifying the rudder, two additional tail lights were added from Evergreen rod (.030 dia.) fitted and blended into small notches that were cut in. An extension needs to be added as well to offset the added side area of the direction finder bubble. Owl provides a template for this on the decal instructions. This was cut from a piece of .020 Evergreen sheet and added and final sanded to shape and to blend it into the trailing edge of the rudder.

The cowl guns were drilled out for an added bit of detail........

And together
The model is now in the paint shop, so hopefully pics of that soon!





