Messerschmitt Bf. 109F-2 Stab 1./JG 3 W.Nr. 5458 Hptm. Hans von Hahn, Eduard Overtrees

I am proceeding fast on my second take to the Eduard Overtrees 109F kit: this is a 109F-2 flown by Hans von Hahn, the peculiarity and the difficulty of this build is the "ring" fuselage camouflage...
To ease this I had to divide the build and subsequent painting in sub assembly, thanks to the excellent fit between parts. 

The cockpit, once again, is finished only with plastic parts from the kit except the Super Fabric Eduard seatbelts, a good compromise between ease of use and realism.
Instrument panel is brush painted and the instrument glass replicated with Future 

 

 

 

after having sanded and polished the Gunze Surfacer Primer 1500, in order to be as faithful as possible to the original I traced with a UNIposca oil pastel where I will have to make the various rings;
now I will give a light hand of RLM76 and then I will open the dances... 

 

RLM76 done, I traced some very fine grey lines between the center of each circle: they can barely seen in the reference photos, but they are there...
 

Next it will be some RLM75 on the top of the fuselage spine 

After the third try, I decide that is the best that I can do with that RLM70 rings!
I had to admit that it is been the most difficult airbrushing time I had since my first try when I was fourteen...  

Now I will let it to dry, then redo the RLM75 spine and fine grey line with the oil pastel and finally masking for the yellow ID. 

Finally found some time to move forward! RLM75 fuselage spine, RLM04 ID markings and RLM70 cockpit frames and wing roots. 

Next, will be some RLM71 thinly airbrushed on the nose, over the yellow but ideally sparing the "Tatzelwurm" decals emblems, that will go in place in the camouflaged rectangles later on. 

Ok, now it is time to put everything together... 

...then some touch ups, decalling phases, weathering according with the reference photos... 

Houston we have a problem...
nose spiral Eduard's decal is undersized, if you plan to build this or Rohwer machine (option D from the double limited edition Wunder etc. etc.) be prepared to find a replacement or brush paint it!!! 

 

Finished decaling yesterday, markings are a mix of different brands: Eduard for the Tatzelwürm, AZ for the port rooster emblem and rudder victory markings, Xtradecals for stbd coat of arm of the city of Frankfurt, double chevron and all the various kind of crosses. 

 

on the left is a spinner with the decal supplied in the Xtradecal sheet, it is not a proper spiral but a series of concentric circles; to the right my attempt at masking with 0,4 mm. tape... 

 

well, after a couple of touch ups with a hairy stick I think I can accept its imperfections and live with it.
Now will mask the spiral and paint the bottom of the spinner 

Finally I finished my second new mould Eduard 109F!!!
This one is been a true challenge for my actual airbrushing ability but I am quite happy with the result. 

Nose spiral was another challenge, in the end I masked it with some 0,4 kabuki tape and this is my best, even if there is a curl less... 

I have to be honest: at the Overtrees prices and all the different markings options available in Eduard's boxes and in my decal stash, I cannot resist build more and more of this little marvel of a kit 

 

 

Thanks for having followed me in this build, I hope you enjoyed it as I did! 

Today I found some spare time to take some photos outside in the garden, hope you will like them!