Little something. My way : )

[ya-gabor]

Little something. My way  : )

 

Have to start by saying that I have ZERO knowledge of this subject. It was simply a small challenge to see how this new kit works and what can be made out of it my way. I do like the Me-109 but have built very few of them in my time. This S-199 version is a very bizarre aircraft! It is of course not surprising that Eduard decided to do it for its home consumer base. Back in the old days (some 40 or so years ago)  Kovozavody Prostejov (KP for short) did an S-199 kit. In those times that was the closest we could get to a Me 109 lookalike kit this side of the Iron Curtain so many modellers including me had one or two or even more of them back then.

So the S-199 is a Czech home product mainly (apart from the few used by the Israeli forces), but it would be interesting to see its sales figures in the months ahead apart from Czech sales.

 

I know that I am a complete stranger in this work and sure that the hardened Czech modellers will be offended by my blasphemy of even touching this truly sacred Czech product. But after all I am here not to make friends but to have fun with this little kit, all this my way.   

 

 

 

 

All around the internet there are tons of general photos of the sprues, so I rather show here some fine details of the parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Some more views of kit parts.

The question of riveting on fuselage surface is an always returning dilemma. Eduard has added them on this 72 nd scale kit. They are very fine and add a lot of detail to the surface texture. But should the rivets be there???

Most certainly NOT!

Both period photos and surviving aircraft show a silk smooth surface with almost non-existent visible rivets. (especially in this scale) Also many of the joint panel lines were also filled and sanded on original aircraft like for example the ones on the fuselage tail section rings.

 

 Have to point out at the start that the rivet lines on the kit look excellent and I have absolutely no intention on filling them all, one by one. There is no point in wasting time on this, but I am sure there will be purist who will do this work to get a perfect scale reproduction.

The rivet question is also interesting since to make them for the manufacturer involves a lot of extra spending in tool making. All this adds up in overall production costs and so in the final kit price that the modellers have to pay.

So for extra production cost something was added on this kit that should not be there in the first place!!! A bit stupid! Fascinating to watch how some companies add rivets (where there are none visible) while others refuse to make them even if the subjects screams for it like on the Zvezda 48 th scale Mi-24 kit which in real life looks like a locomotive.

Actually this company had a solution for the rivets. : )  : )  The boss has recommended to modellers not to add any wash after painting so basically the rivets will remain invisible. It is a kind of hiding you head in the sand policy. Oh well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Some problems. Nothing great, just something to have in mind and look out for.

 

On the underside of the nose there is an inconsistence in some lines. One would expect that this line continues from one side to the next. On the original aircraft it is a sealant strip around the underside engine cover. Somehow on left side (Part E5) it disappeared. No problem, rub it down and replace with a piece of thin stretched sprue plastic bent to shape.

There is a small hole here as well. Looking at period photos it is visible that it should be just a plain hole with no rim around its edge. Just sand it down and it is solved.

 

 

One sidenote for the purists. As far as I can make out the early S-199’s were built with wings which had a similar main gear cut-out as late original German versions. It means that on the outboard side it was a square arrangement and not a completely round one as on later S-199’s. The panel lines are there so it should be no problem to cut it out. On the other hand there would be a bigger job in scratch building the inside from the round kit parts № C28 and C29 maingear internal wall parts. Nothing that few strips of plastic card could not solve.

 

 

There was one bigger problem with the kit. This dual combo was from the Moson show in April, they were early production batches of the kit. It looks like a bit of manufacturing problem occurred here. On sprue D the wing underside part D3 had an incredible bend on one side. Tried to make corrections to it, bending it back with different techniques but could not make it. So it was up to writing to the Support team. They acknowledged the problem (I was not the first one to notice it) and a replacement Sprue D was in the post with a perfectly shaped wing. Thanks for this to Petra from the Support team!!!

 

 

 

Looking at the decals there was another surprise waiting. The instrument panel looks a “bit strange”. Well in fact it was all white with no dial details. I know the company is using its own printers instead of Cartograf and claim that it is far better, but one thing for sure the traditional Cartograf screen printing can without problems produce such instrument panel details perfectly. Another letter to Support. Suddenly others have also raised the same question and asked the maker on forums about it. The boss answered on a Czech forum: “I don’t know what happened there. Looks like the colour went out during printing.” adding that it is such a small decal that it is possible that it was overlooked in Quality Control. Anyway, don’t know what was going on back in company headquarters but eventually a replacement instrument panel decal was produced and sent out by post. Once again thanks to Petra! Anyone with same or similar issues should contact them. It is possible that both the decal and the wing was just an initial production problem. One should check the kit when buying it!

 

 

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Apart from the above mentioned problems the kit looks good, with no big issues, no sink marks and on first dry fit test some of the parts go together rather well. For example the joint line of the two fuselage half’s is virtually invisible on top of the tail.

 

Have to mention that there are some technological innovations on this kit in comparison to the last new kit from them that I have seen. So it is possible that this is not the first time that this is used, I don’t have other recent kits.

 

The individual parts are attached through the sprue gates in a different way. The actual gate attachment is NOT on the part active surface which will be visible from outside but on the joint edge of the part. So there should not be any nasty marks left on the surface needing filling and extensive sanding from cut gates attaching to the, should I say “live or active” surface of the part (the one which will be visible from the outside). This makes kit building that much little easier saving some time and extra work to make the gate connection disappear!

Good idea!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Here are some more details of the kit.

Like the instrument panel details. Don’t know how the decal will settle on it or not, but will try. There is also a plain version included as an option for possible decal use, or as a base for the photoetched version or even as something that you can put the Quinta 3D decal on. I don’t think they have made it already, but who knows. . .  Or one will have to make use of Quinta decals for other makers Me-109’s.

 

 

There are some nice surface details on the tires. Actually there are two versions provided and no clear indication as to which should be used. Same applies for the wheel hubs. Try to look at the reference photos but unfortunately even they are not certain proof of which version to use.

 

 

 

Good looking propeller blades. Those paddle blades are massive. The only thing one could consider with them is to sharpen a little the trailing edges. Actually looking at the period photos there seem to be two versions. One of them had a metal leading edge protection strip on blades. The kit provides the plain ones. Also there were few which had a yellow propeller tip to give a bit of colour to the otherwise fairly drab aircrafts.   

 

 

 

So which aircraft should I build??? A choice has to be made at the very start because based on this one will have to choose all the bits and pieces specific for the given airframe from all the alternatives on offer in the box.

I would love to do that single camouflaged airframe 123 in Israeli service! It looks excellent. The problem is, that as far as I know this is a complete fiction and although one aircraft was painted like this, but it was way after its retirement (for a special ceremony) and it never flew like this in anger. Sad. : (  : (

So I will have to stick with a Czech airframe. Which one to choose? Simple! The one for which I could find most images and which is fairly well documented. Or is it? It turned out that more photos do not automatically mean more information. Contrary, it raises far more questions and details not catered for in the kit! Still I made a choice.

 

The one I am after is IF-01.

 

 

Remember the KP kit. My friend Pal has a soft spot for old kits (should I say prehistoric kits) and he has a bit of collection of old kits including a handful of original KP S-199’s. WOW Real historic value!!!

 

 

The Dual Combo kit I have was a “joint venture” with Pal from this years Moson show. I was going to get one S-199 kit one way or the other no matter what. The original idea was to just do a no paint build Pure Plastic and see how new / latest technology at this company is doing. At the show they had both the Dual Combo and also some Overtrees versions. In the end the decision was to get one Dual Combo and split it up both in cost and kits. I was after the bubble top and in comparison to Overtrees also did get the extras like the decals and one set photoetch. So overall it was a good deal for both of us.

Not sure if Pal is going to get in his stash a similar collection of Edu S-199’s as he has of those KP versions.

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Little research.

 

Looking at period photos there are many details which are not really supported by what Eduard is stating in instructions. Historically this unit should have red spinners. History and reality not always go hand in hand. Looking at the photos there is absolutely no evidence to support the claim of the red spinner on IF-01. I know it is all in Black & White but fortunately there are many photos of this particular airframe from all possible angles.

 

 

I know it is not a perfect experiment but I think it illustrates my point.

First simply let’s turn the Edu image to black and white and see how the different colours show up.

 

 

Something similar should be visible on 1950’s B/W photos also. It is far from perfect experiment since the colour reproduction of different B/W films is very different, so we don’t know what the original film was like also computer changing colour into B/W image is far from perfect. BUT and this is an important BUT, some kind of shade difference should be visible in B/W renderings of the colour image. In this case the Edu illustration was used for the start. Just to make it clear I took samples from the different colours and put them in those three circles side by side for easy comparison.

 

 

 

Now let’s compare all this to existing B/W photos of the original aircraft. If that spinner was anything different from the overall green used on the aircraft then SOME (at least a slight) shade difference should be visible!!! It is possible that one photo was processed and developed into print in a way where shades are missing, this is why the same look was made on several photos.  

It is OK to rely on historic memories of ground crews but their value is questionable when there are some photos to contradict them.

 

 

Let's look from the other side

 

 

Just in case, here is another view from a different period photo 

 

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

The only problem now is that the original Dual Combo kit did not have markings for the IF-01. But there are always those old KP kit decals (if still usable) or an alternative is a Czech company who do reprints to todays standard of old KP decals.

 

 

Another possibility is to simply cut out some masks for the markings and paint the IF-01 on the kit. Only the small black serial numbers on the fin are a problem.

Just when I was looking at this option Edu announced the Bubble Top kit which includes the IF-01 markings also. Now that I have the kit, there is no way I am going to invest in another S-199 kit. It is a nice little aircraft but not so much to have several of them on my work bench!

 

Here is a little comparison of the decals with the original. Looking at them it will certainly not be the reproduction KP decal. Even the new Eduard design is far from good. General and very symmetrical letters and numbers were used while on the original aircraft it is visible on photos that it was all rather a “freehand” job by the painters.

It could be easier to cut everything from masking tape. But it is all far in future so . . .

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[jgrease]

Makes me want to try 1/72 again...🤔

[ya-gabor]

Hi there Jgrease!

 

Well, the kit is good and easy. It has nice details. How interesting is it as a subject outside the former Czechoslovakia or Israel as the only users of it?  Not really I would say.

Are there any eye catching schemes for it???? None. Just greys and plain greens. 

 

So WHY???

 

It is a nice change from a classic Me-109! Something with a little difference! Some good kit design ideas, well made, nice details, many alternatives.

 

Also I believe it is a first member of Eduards future Me-109 family and it was a kind of test to see how it goes, what need to be changed, re designed . . . 

 

So if you have a little time to spare and try your hand at something smaller then this is the one for you!  Have fun!!! This is the most important part of it!

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Sorry it was my mistake at the beginning that did not add images of the decal sheet and the extras in this Dual Combo set. Here they are.

 

A lot of national markings of all sorts with individual aircraft numbers, squadron and special markings to go with them.

 

 

The stencil set is a separate decal of what I believe are two versions of stencils, one for the Czech and the other for the Israeli version.

I am not sure about the dotted walk way line in black. Of the very few surviving colour images there is one with the CS-199 in mid-fifties where the walkway line is clearly visible to be in red. So which one it was??? Unless you have a time machine and can go back to check the colour, it is up to anyone’s guess. On the other hand some period photos show the walk way in a double line, that is a U shaped line. While the decal gives you only an L shaped line. On those photos there is a second line (the other leg of the U) near the wing root as well.

 

 

 

 

There is a painted photoetch sheet also included in the kit. Actually two of them. I would say the most useful of them are the radiator grills for both front and back. If you get an Overtrees version or any other kit which does not have a photoetch set then you will not have anything for the radiators!

The instrument panel in pre-painted form is . . .  Well lets say I am not sure of it. Some details look OK but it is still a very flat two dimensional thing, a far cry from what a real instrument panel looks like. Haven’t decided at the moment but will probably go with the plastic version where all the instrument faces are far more three dimensional and more believable.

 

 

Here is a look at the clear plastic sprue.

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

While doing some further research, (not easy as there is so little information remain of the S-199) I was doing some basic cleaning plastic parts. Cutting them from sprues and doing little changes here and there to make it look better.

 

On the nose Eduard has added a fictitious panel line. Well actually there is a patch in this place on the surviving Kbely museum aircraft but it was a repair to the museum piece. The designer took it as granted that there should be a panel line there so it was added to the CAD design. Modellers have shown this misunderstanding and supported it with archive photos. Unfortunately it is still there and even today is added to the different resin aftermarket parts. Anyway I have erased it from my kit on both sides and on the top panel also.

 

 

 

Small intakes were opened up to make them look a little better. An internal blank will be added to close it up from within.

 

 

 

Here is the top engine panel in original shape with that unwanted line and the small gun openings

 

 

The two opening for the top machines guns are given only as an oval position holes for the gun plastic parts. On the real aircraft they were long rectangular cut-outs the whole length of the gun barrel.

 

The two small vents in front of the windshield were cut out. On many period photos they are visible as partly open, so decided to represent this.

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Did some further detailing of parts. The engine exhausts look a little “blunt” on the kit.

 

 

One can of course buy some expensive aftermarket but what do you get. In case of the Eduard resin exhaust the only difference is that due to technological constraints only a slight deepening of the exhaust is made.

Is it worth the price???

Everyone can decide but I simply took out some small drills and made some real and deep holes in the exhaust. Very simple modelling job!!!  After all some manufacturers are always telling us modellers that we should do modelling work and they can provide only to a level any given kit. The rest is up to us. So a simple drilling results in a better and deeper holes in the exhaust than what is provided at a zillion price in aftermarket product. Anyone remember that (I think it was called) Moskit exhaust which were made with some kind of galvanization technology and provided a true scale thickness and depth to exhaust. They were fantastic!!!  

 

 

 

 

Looking at period photos of both S-199 and also the original Me-109’s shows that there are many fine details which are not reproduced in a kit of this scale. Look at those slats from a side view and there is an edge visible. A sharp scalpel blade reproduced this to a certain degree. Some paint and it will look more detailed in comparison to an out of box kit.

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Added some bits to main parts and while the glue was drying did some detail work. The external fuel tanks.

Have a look at archive photos of fuel tanks but fortunately there are many still in existence today in different museums both under aircraft and on their own. So it is an excellent opportunity to have a closer look at them and all the details.

It is the same uniform tank on the S-199 as was on many Messerschmitt aircraft in WW2. Even the small tube on the front of the tank was there, mind you it had absolutely no function for the S-199. It was a holder for an “indicator” rod when the tank was fitted under the wing, so that the pilot could see if it was still there or properly ejected when going into dogfight. But of course on S-199  it was carried only under the belly so . . .

 

 

The tank is mainly nothing new, it is a downscale of the tank from the previous 48th scale Me-109 kits. Unfortunately it copied also the mistakes of the quarter scale tank. Oh well.

 

 

As a first step the two half’s were glued together and set aside for a little. A bit of sanding resulted in a nice overall shape. The structural mistake by Eduard was corrected before the very distinct weld lines were added from stretched sprue.

 

 

There are two tubes on top of the tank, one for fuel the other for air. A base (weld ring) was made before appropriate tubes were glued in place. The fuel cap on the front top has some details and also two winged nuts. Added them also. I was not surprised to see the absence of drain plugs on the underside of the tanks. It is a very simple thing and it would have not meant any extra cost to add to the plastic by the manufacturer. The drains are on every tank even on jets and still it was also missing for example from the MiG-21’s by Eduard. No surprise here that it was left off also from the S-199 (mind you also from all the 48th scale bigger fighters by Eduard also). No problem it was made with a drill and a bit of stretched sprue.  

 

 

The tank is held in place with a wide steel strap which has a tightening device. Since the strap is symmetrical and can be put on the tank from whichever side, so the tightening attachment could be either on left or right side. One can say check your references, but it all depends on which tank was used at a particular time, so everything is possible. On one of them I put it on the left side on the other to the right. The tightener is basically the same “device” as used even today on Mi-8/17 helicopters external tanks. Nothing have changed.  : )  : )

It has some nice riveted details on the straps so I added it. Was in contact with an aftermarket manufacturer and sent them details of this, so it is possible that eventually this “things” will be available in photoetch. When? Have no idea, so I did my own tighteners to get the fuel tanks out of the way.

 

 

The steel strap is attached to the pylon with a ring at the top and here there are also some nice rivet details. The fuel tanks were good fun to do. Actually one of them in the end was converted into a battered look with all the bends and scratches as seen on many period photos.  

A base dark grey paint was sprayed on. Eventually it will be natural metal.

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Changing and putting on my journalist hat I have to add the other side of the coin for fair view of a question even if I don’t agree with it.

 

 

Yesterday a comment was added from the manufacturer on a European modelling forum to my analysis of the decals for the IF-01 aircraft (Which you can see above)

 

To není pravda, Gábore. Nepoužíváme žádná obecná písmena. Všechna kódová písmena si kreslíme do konstrukce obtisku sami podle fotografií a pečlivě je upravujeme, aby odpovídaly fotografii. Pokud to vidíš jinak, tak si je klidně udělej po svém, ale nepiš tady nesmysly. To, že nějaké generické fonty nepožíváme, doufám víš. Mám za to, že jsem Ti to už říkal.

 

Here is a Google translation of what he has said:

 

That's not true, Gabor. We do not use any generic letters. We draw all the code letters in the design of the decal ourselves according to the photos and carefully edit them to match the photo. If you see it differently, feel free to do it your way, but don't write nonsense here. I hope you know that we don't use any generic fonts. I think I already told you.

 

 

And here is my answer to him:

 

Dear Mr. Sulc,

 

I am sure you have talked to many people about many things in all your years, but we never talked about generic numbers / letters before with me. Actually in the post you mention I never commented that your company has used off the shelf computer generic fonts for the decal.

 

All I mentioned is:

. . . Even the new Eduard design is far from good. General and very symmetrical letters and numbers were used while on the original aircraft it is visible on photos that it was all rather a “freehand” job by the painters. . .

 

My reference to wrong fonts (or as you say Generic) was in connection with the KP design. As far as I know Eduard company has not merged with KP at the moment. : )  : ) Or has it???

So if someone then Kovozavody Prostejov should feel offended by me as a modeller and respond to this question if they want to.

 

Does this decal (Bubble top IF-01) change anything? I don’t think so. Back all those decades ago someone was doing the job of painting on this S-199 aircraft the IF-01 code and the result was not really perfect, symmetrical. This is real life.

What there is on the period photo and what is visible on the decal in the Bubble top kit is different. This is my opinion but I am only a modeller.

 

But as you usually say this is a very MINOR problem and we modellers are there to solve anything that we see as a problem. After all we are just modellers and this is what we do.

 

Best regards

Gabor

Edited July 26, 2022 by ya-gabor

[ya-gabor]

Just a little more this time.

With the other external tank a little battered look was tried. Looking at war time photos and remaining collection and museum pieces one can get a lot of inspiration for the bents, scratches and dents on the tanks. In real life they were used every day, handled, dropped. . .   and they were never as perfect computer designed “clean” as one gets in a plastic kit.

Modellers are spending a lot of time on adding weathering to paint schemes but in most cases they are forgetting about “physical weathering” of the aircraft and anything associated with it.

Of course later in painting some of the dents and scratches will be further enforced.

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Still not decided on which cockpit instrument panel to use for the build.

1.There is the simple decal version on plastic part with positive details.

2.There is a coloured photoetch included in the Duo pack.

3.Or one can take time and do “simple” painting of the detailed panel with appropriate fine brush and a steady hand.

4.-   I am sure there are other ways also, like if Quinta will do a nice 3D printed decal for the S-199.

 

Started experimenting with the photoetch. Never been a great fan of it for the simple reason that the tampon painting technique they use for it results in a bad looking surface. It is an orange peel effect from all the tiny dots of different colours which make up the given detail. In this case a mix of colours is used to replicate the interior black grey and everything else.

 

 

Here is what it looks like originally.

 

 

This also means that when you put it all together as advised by the manufacturer, that is sandwiching the etched panels, the end result will still have all that orange peel effect on the dials also.

 

Decided on glazing the dials. Not easy and several techniques were tried by many in the past. I simply added glazing with varnish and assembled the panel layer by layer. It takes a lot of time, one should leave enough time for full drying. I like the end result. The surrounding area still has that nasty orange peel but at least the instrument faces are nicely glazed. Remember this is 72nd scale!

 

 

 

 

 

I might hear you ask: What is the point of all this work? Will it be visible? Probably very little is visible but at least I know it is there. It is like with so many other details on many kits which you know are there!   

 

Best regards

Gabor

Edited July 28, 2022 by ya-gabor

[ST0RM]

This has been an enjoyable read. The level of research you've done is fascinating. Hopefully your corrections will catch the attention of others and make it into another kit someday. Until then, I look forward to seeing yours mature. 

[ya-gabor]

7 hours ago, ST0RM said:

This has been an enjoyable read. The level of research you've done is fascinating. Hopefully your corrections will catch the attention of others and make it into another kit someday. Until then, I look forward to seeing yours mature. 

 

Hi Storm,

 

Thanks for the comment and for dropping in to have a look at this build!!!

 

If I remember right it was one of the first things that I mentioned at the beginning of this thread that I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO KNOWLEDGE of the S-199 and very little of the Me-109’s. So it was important and also interesting to take a closer look at what can be known about it in whatever shape or form.

 

It was also very important to get a little background on this aircraft since some manufacturers are, let’s say either mildly “nervous”, or more representing the truth very trigger happy when someone writes about their product. So it is a responsibility not to write rubbish only things which have some sort of basis confirmed with photos, documents.

 

Thanks for encouragement and hope that will be able to show in future more interesting things about this tiny kit.    : )   : )

 

Best regards

Gabor  

[ya-gabor]

It is really fascinating to see how people react, or how companies react to different forums. I have published my little build of the S-199 here but also on a Czech forum.

Further up I added a comparison of decals with views of the real aircraft. One company was furious about this even though nothing bad really was said about the decal they made, only the fact that there are some bad proportions of a letter.

 

It is interesting that another company (sorry, I still don’t know who they are, only the name of a representative) also seen the post and has taken note of what was shown and accordingly made corrections to the reprinted decals. See it below. So it seems that there is some use of doing a little comparison work. At least some people listen! I can only applaud them for this and in the end at least few kits will turn out to be a little more authentic representation of the original with the decal they make.

 

 

Here is the way it was (originally made so many decades ago by KP)

 

 

And here is a new version of the reprinted decal with corrections

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

First a note of warning for anyone doing the kit. The radio antenna has an anchor on the tail where it is fixed and also it can be adjusted on the real aircraft. On the kit this part is integral with the fin. It is extremely small and fragile. Be careful not to brake it off! I have seen some builds where it was gone in no time from all the handling of the fuselage parts. It could be an idea to add a small cardboard from two sides to protect it in the course of the assembly. Touch wood, but for the moment my example is still in place. Let’s hope it stays like this till the end!

 

 

Not much really significant work on the kit, but a lot of small things in the past days. One of them was a slight readjustment of that enormous propeller blade provided in the kit. It is obvious that injection moulding has its limitations so there is a certain thickness of plastic parts required for technological reasons. The propellers are one of this area. Base work was for removal of injection moulding division lines but at the same time the trailing edge was also adjusted. Considerable sanding was needed, followed by polishing and now the propellers look a little better in my opinion.   

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the current "home" of the S-199 that I am building. : )   : )   : )

 

 

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

Little more work, or to be more precise just research for the moment. The open or forward position slats look good on the kit as it is.

 

 

 

 

 

But looking at period photos there was something interesting. It should not be a “clean” slat bay.  Just as on its origin, the German Me-109 the slat actuators are visible when it is in out position. Fortunately there are some natural metal airframe photos on the internet where the exact position of the actuators and its length inside the slat housing is visible. It is in a different position from what is in the kit, but the kit parts are only for positioning the slat itself on the wing. It is the same as on 48th scale Me-109’s kits from this manufacturer, for the S-199 it was a simple copy and downscale as with many other parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little conversion is due here.  : )  : )  : )

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

[Cubs2jets]

Your attention to detail - even in 1/72 - is impressive.  This will really "pop" with the extra work!

 

The inclusion of positionable wing slats on a 1/72 scale model is commendable.  It is marred by physical limitations in molding technology - in real life the "step" along the aft edge of the slat cut out is only 1 or 2mm and when the slat is closed the trailing edge is flush with the wing top.  That's just too hard to do - especially in 1/72!   Smoothing the step with putty and making new slats from .005 sheet is probably over the top.

 

The slats were actuated aerodynamically.  I mean there was no mechanical device or pilot input.  As the aircraft slowed and the angle of attack of the wing increased, the slats slowly and automatically deployed.  All controled by aerodynamic forces.

 

Gabor, I am really enjoying your build.  I appreciate your level of skill and the effort you are putting into the build.

 

C2j

[SERNAK]

On 7/28/2022 at 8:38 PM, ya-gabor said:

 

 

AND THAT IS exactly why I don't like prepainted photo-etch parts! Because they are still not at that level that will allow them to offer a higher quality.

 

Very thorough work, by the way, Gabor!

[ya-gabor]

Hi Cubs2jets,

 

Thanks for the comments!!!

The fact that the “actuator” is visible on slats in forward position was evident and I was to do it one way or the other. It was only by accident that the precise location of the “actuator” was found. The position is clearly indicated by that panel line on wing surface from that natural metal aircraft. But one can also have a look at Me-109 structural drawings to see where it is exactly. If I don’t see that natural metal photo then.

 

Have to add that it is in reality not an “actuator” in traditional sense but a “roller-track mechanism” on which the slat moves forward and back into the wing.

 

Yes the technology is there and the designer had to cut corners here. There is a minimal thickness for injection moulding so the trailing edge of the slat is dictated by technology. Still it would have been possible to give a true depth to the after end/wall of the slat bay. BUT the manufacturer wanted to give the option to be able to show the slats in closed position and in this case they had to take into account the thickness of the slat trailing edge. This is the reason for what they did.

 

What can one do? it is possible to slightly "dampen" this problem in 72nd scale. I will show my solution later. : )

 

Hi SERNAK,

Thanks and fully agree!

 

Also later will show my versions for the instrument panel. I have a serious problem with this “orange peel” surface of prepainted photoetch parts. I believe it was a novel technology some years ago, introducing a nice touch and lots of previously unseen details. But believe it is the past and its time to step forward. It will be OK for some things even in future but not as an only solution.

Apart from orange peel the other problem with it (in my view) is that it is SO TWO DIMENSIONAL like for harness and straps on seats or ejection seats. To give it a true “fall” / bends / turnings is virtually impossible, the paint will flake off unfortunately. : (  : (  

 

Best regards

Gabor

[ya-gabor]

First of all have to repeat what was in the very first post: I don’t know anything about the Me-109 nor about the S-199. Just try to build a kit as authentic as possible and use references on the way.

 

But also I have to admit that I made a mistake!!! A serious one and not only one but three:

1. I should stop looking at old archive photos

2. always check before cutting, not only once, twice but at least three times,

3. don’t trust anyone, don’t believe anything blindly, before doing anything have another look at the references.

 

And learned something, the fact that something is brand new does not mean that it will not carry very old mistakes.

 

Looking at the kit and planning what I wanted to do with it to make it more lifelike and authentic, a detailed search was made in internet archives of both the S-199 and the Me-109. What did they look like in real life and what makes them more “real” or busy looking? To open up some small intakes was straight forward and no brainer. OK, what else? Looking at period photos those two small vents looked interesting. On many photos they were open, or to be more precise the small doors were dropped to a certain degree. Looking at the photos and at the same time holding the kit and comparing it to them, there was always a strange feeling in the back of the head, but couldn’t put a finger on it.   

 

 

I trusted the manufacturer and used the engraved details as template for cutting / drilling out the two small vents in front of the windshield.

 

I should not have done so!!!!!!!

They were opened up, cleaned from the inside, enough space for the doors and depth behind them so it will not look stupid and blocked off if one looks into it.

Why was all this work a mistake??? Simple. The doors are in wrong place. They should be further to the front.

 

 

 

 

One can say it is rivet counting. Well if these doors are located somewhere else on the fuselage in the middle of nowhere then nobody would ever notice the wrong position. Here the space is small and there are many things all around it like those big bulges, the panel line forward of them, the windshield to the back. Here proportions and ratios count and are very much so visible.

 

How did the doors get here on the S-199 kit???

 

Had a quick look at the 48th scale Me-109 kit from many years ago. They are in the exactly same wrong place on the Me-109G also! Once again, it was all a simple downscale for the 72nd scale kit. So it is all in the genetics of this family of kits.

 

 

 

There are several comparison photos of the kits with the real aircraft on the other side. With just view at one particular angle one can say it is simply a distortion of the photo which shows the doors in wrong place. This is why several views from different angles are compared. There is distortion in all of them BUT the proportions and ratios between distances will not be affected.  

 

 

 

 

 

So a little extra work will be needed here. Fill the wrong place, drill the new one and add the doors.

 

Best regards

Gabor