mawz

While I was pondering just how to get the Eduard exhausts into the Fujimi Fuselage, I glued the fuselage together and selected the tail. Then it was some detail painting on the Hasegawa cockpit, to prepare for sidewall installation. The sink mark on the cannon breech is annoying, but invisible, so I didn't bother filling Hasegawa instrument panel, which will get a decal as well before installation And minor detail painting on the Eduard before the next bout of Photo etch install Eduard cockpit needs another coat of RLM66

It's basically the same price as the Tamiya 1/48 Tomcat and cheaper than the nearly 40 year old Tamiya Lancaster. I fail to see any issues with the pricing. Frankly, I was expecting it to be higher, with a street of $150 or so.

Back to the Fujimi. The cockpit bits have been it with primer and a coat of MMP RLM66 Next up is to deal with the exhaust situation. There's two problems here, the utterly terrible and completely fictional exhausts, and the exhaust deflectors. That's thick, but at least correctly shaped. unfortunately the deflectors are symmetrical on the kit, and the real thing is not, with the curved section only on the left side of the cowl to protect the supercharger intake Luckily, the Eduard kit includes two sets of exhausts, one all-plastic and one intended for use with

A battle of the giants here, very much looking forward to this one.

Next up is of course the Eduard pit. As this is infested with pre-painted PE, I've not fully assembled it prior to it being ready for paint, unlike the other two. The base unit is very nice. PE for the trim adjustment chain and part of the mechanism, and your choice of PE or plastic rudder pedals. I went PE. Note I've installed the seat back, but not the bucket. That's because installing the PE belts will be blocked by the trim wheel. The three sanded bits on the lower left get pre-painted PE The right sidewall gets one plastic section installed before paint, correc

Now for the Hasegawa Basic floor assembly: The Hasegawa pit is definitely closer to a real Gustav than the Fujimi, but very simplified. In particular the seat is weak, if closer to the actual design than the Fujimi's bucket. The inclusion of a proper dual-wheel trim wheel is a bonus, but otherwise the sidewalls are more than a tad simplistic and suffer from being entirely molded on, going the other way from the Fujimi's chunky detail At this point you can actually close up the Hasegawa fuselage, since eveything internal is inserted after the fact. So I've d

And now for getting started on the cockpits. First up is the Fujimi again. On the sidewalls, some chunky detail has been added. And the floor has the cannon breech, rudder pedals, stick and seat added. Still need to add the firewall. As you can see it mounts onto the wing lower section rather than being fitted to the fuselage. A bit odd, but not unheard of. Airfix does this on a number of recent kits like the Hurricane

And finally the Eduard. Since this includes both a G-2 and G-6, there's a LOT of plastic in this kit. It's broken up into 3 separate items. Wings, Fuselages and the very comprehensive set of F/G/K parts. For starters, here's the first wing set, it's for either a G-6 or late G-2, so 2 are included in this boxing. And the second wing sprue, this is for the other G-2 options (yes, 3 wings in this boxing) The difference here is the missing wheel bulges. Very nice. G-6 Fuselage 3 fins, 3 beule, 1 rudder and two top cowls are

Now for the Hasegawa Wings Wheel wells are still simplified, but the gear section is at least shaped right. Proper radiator setup, slats are separate. Fuselage: Nice, very nice. Version specific but this is actually a K-4, unlike the Fujimi which claims to be able to build as a K-4, but cannot. Clear sprues are version specific, so only one windscreen & hood option. Part Sprue 1 Exhausts are basic, but FAR better than the Fujimi. Cockpit is a mixed bag, trim wheel is better, but the sidewall detail is arguably

Thanks! I seem to treat the Eduard kits like a combination of a kit (or two) and an aftermarket decal sheet. Inevitably I want to build them all. I may use as many as 5 of the decal options in the course of this GB, across multiple kits. It helps that I'm of Finnish and German descent, so a Finnish 109 is very much my sort of thing. As to the kits, I've broken them open and taken some pictures. Starting with the simplest kit, the Fujimi. Ironically this is the only one of these kits which is not billed as a single variant, but despite it's claim to being a G-K, it's really a lat

As far as I've ever read, the GR4 program addressed sensors and electronics only, with all physical changes being to support sensor & computer upgrades. The Mk10A was retained on all Tornado variants as far as I'm aware. As to variants, there's really only 3. The IDS is the main variant, this is the strike version operated by all the Tornado operators. These were GR.1, GR1a and GR1b's in RAF service. The Tornado GR1 Mid-life update program produced the GR4 and GR4a versions. in RAF service the A suffix denotes Recce-equipped units and the B denotes Maritime Strike units with

Somebody clearly had the F.3 and GR.4 mixed up. The GR4 IS an IDS, the F.3 is the main production ADV variant and had the longer airframe.

The F.3/ADV is substantially different from the IDS and ECR, with changes to the wing gloves, flap system, a 1.36m stretch, longer airbrakes and different engines with longer afterburners. only the centre fuselage section remains unchanged. The IDS, GR1/4/4a and ECR are the same basic airframe though

I'll be comparing Gustav's, specifically 1/48 Bf109G/K's For starters I have the new-tool Eduard in G-2 and G-6 forms in the Mersu Dual-Combo boxing, the classic 1991 Hasegawa kit in K-4 form in their 'Red Tulip' boxing and a 1972-era Fujimi in the 1976 Me109G-K boxing Aftermarket will be limited, likely only belts. I'll use Eduard decals on the Fujimi because I don't trust the ancient Fujimi decals. And I won't be doing the Mersu box scheme as I'm saving it for the Tamiya G-6 Depending on how this set work out, I may look to build some of the other Gustav's on the market. Tamiy

RPM, the owner of Testors seems to want out of the model paint business. They've been killing paint lines off piecemeal and wholesale for a decade or so now. Floquil and PolyScale most notably but MM and Acryl are being discontinued slowly by RPM.

Hmm, definitely could turn this into a multi 109G/K build, I've got the Hasegawa K in the stash right now and was planning on getting a Tamiya soonest. Makes me wonder what other G/K's are easily available. HB has an Easy kit and Academy is still popping the HC plastic... I know Otaki did one, and Fujimi's other tooling is out there too. I wonder how many 1/48 Gustav's I could build in 1 year? I appreciate the offer on the Monogram kit, let me get back to you on that as if my LHS has any it will be a lot less hassle for either of us than cross-border shipping

IIRC HC got killed by some severe missteps on the train side, specifically the SW1200RS debacle

I'm building the Airfix right now. I'll recommend the Eduard just from my experiences with the Airfix. It fits like a Monogram kit, without the excuse of 50 year old molds. Far too complex and fine design for the soft and low-quality plastic they're using. My current opinion of new Airfix kits is they are good designs let down by middling tooling and the cheapest, softest plastic Hornby could source. I'd be very unhappy if I hadn't got it for $20CDN from a buddy. Right now if you're looking for an inexpensive but good build, get the Tamiya, otherwise wait for the inevitable Week

To the best of my knowledge, the cockpit tub should be black, the seat RAF interior green. Wells should be the underside colour or interior green. The best Tamiya paints for the outside colours are XF81, XF82 and XF-83, not sure if they have a rattle can equivalent. These colours were introduced for their superb 1/32 Spitfire IX, although some find the Ocean grey to be too blue (personally I'm undecided on that)

I think I'm going to have to jump in on this one. I'll got for a pair of Bf109G's in 1/48, one Fujimi with plastic dating to 1972 (their Bf109G-K kit) and the Eduard kit, in the Limited Edition 'Mersu' boxing. I'll be using the Eduard decals for both (and saving the best scheme for a Tamiya build 😉 )

A lot of HC plastic is now available in Academy boxes. See the 1/72 Sabre's for example I believe Academy was doing most of the molding for Hobbycraft before they folded, and took ownership of the molds in lieu of payment.

200 or so for me, plus my father's stash which has been earmarked for my uses as he's not really building anymore. Not as much space as it sounds, as most of the numbers are in small 1/72 kits. I manage my stash based on space, it has a pre-allocated amount and when it's full, I quit buying until I make some space by selling and building. Dad's got a closet full, which is slowly leaking into my storage as the years go by.

Worth noting that this aircraft didn't have the fixed tailwheel that was common on Korean War F-51D's

I'm pretty sure the J also supports external tanks.

To my understanding, the black cockpits appeared when depot-level rebuilds or refurbs were done, with the F-51D fleet these were -25 and -30's pulled from storage in the that era. I'd expect green cockpits on the ANG F-47's, simply because they were being retired in favour of those refurbs. Now in foreign service that may be a different story as those likely got refurbishment before delivery.