Here is an interesting article on the construction of the ICM Bf109E-7.

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Airfix Beaufighter | WW2 Model Airplane Kits

The Airfix Beaufighter is a WW2 model airplane kitset I recently completed. You can read about it here

Airfix Beaufighter | WW2 Model Airplane Kits

1/72 Scale ICM Messerschmitt Bf109E7

Well I've finished my Beaufighter, in the end I decided not to spend money on an acrylic matte varnish. The fact Tamiya doesn't appear to produce one kinda swayed me to use my Humbrol matte varnish instead. So I sprayed my Beaufighter with a diluted matte varnish with some trepidation as I had never sprayed enamels before. Everything went off without a hitch so I'm incredibly happy to be finished! And as I write this post I have found it a home with my very good friend and partner in crime Niven Clement. See picture on page for finished kit set.


So I got the ICM kit from my stash and opened it and had a look over it again. One sprue of light grey, slightly soft grey plastic came out of the side opening box, and my first pleasant surprise!For the money this is a well detailed and engineered kitset.

My only gripe is a lack of locating pins on the fuselage. My second surprise was a set of quite comprehensive decals in good register. It was an easy build and straight forward, except for the problem of aligning the fuselage correctly. Which was accomplished with the aid of Tamiya masking tape. The colour call out says to paint the interior a light olive green, but I painted mine RLM02, which I believe was the colour German cockpits were painted.

That aside I've got the kitset together and painted it, all I need do now is apply the decals and weather it. Having painted the kit with Mr Colour makes it easier to decal as Mr Colour is a gloss paint and the decals adhere to gloss paint so incredibly well. Saves on painting Future floor polish over my model.

I have compared my ICM Bf109-E7 with a kit from Italeri of a Bf109-G6. The Italeri offering is more detailed but almost twice the price! It covers two sprues of light gray hard plastic. Not sure where I'm going to fit this one in my build list, I'll probably wait till the mood takes me.

Still I'm now at the point of decaling and I find my mind wandering. What am I going to build next?? The eternal question asked by modelers every where, the next being what should I model the kit on? Something strange, like a Spitfire in Luftwaffe markings? A Bf109-G6 in Swiss airforce livery? Just because the kit is of a well known subject doesn't mean it has to be painted in the usual colours!

Okay Guys and Gals that's all for now I'll write more soon and let you know how my finished Bf109-E7 turns out and what I plan to build next.

Well it's been a busy month for me, working on my website, social book marking (Thank you hunny) and working out what I want to write. Well I've been working on the Airfix Beaufighter, gods I thought I wasn't that badly affected by A.M.S. (Advanced modelers syndrome), however after working on the observer/gunners position and cockpit I wonder if I'm more badly affected than I realize! See my album on Flickr and my website to see my progress.

Well I've got the Beaufighter together, painted, decaled, and weathered all I need to do to finish it is give a couple of thin coats of matte varnish, well I go to my paints and pull out what I think is matte varnish only to find its matte base, now matte base is a wonderful thing add it to a gloss paint and it'll turn it matte! But it IS NOT a varnish! So I have a trip to my favourite model store to pick up a tin or two of matte varnish!

I want to finish this project so I can start my next one, which is going to be an ICM 1/72nd scale Me109-E7 Trop. Now I don't know if you've seen the colour picture of two Me109-E7 over the north African Desert and how they just blend into the back ground? If not check out the book cover of Luftwaffe at war "Eagles over North Africa and the Mediterranean 1940-1943" there is an Me109-E7 on the cover in exactly that camouflage.

It's the camouflage that interests me as I'll have to use masks to create it and give it that hard edge look to it. Not a skill I currently have and it will be interesting to learn how to do it and share that knowledge with you all!

Hmmm okay guys and gals (Yes there a few of you out there who share my passion) I guess that'll do for now till later then!

Happy modeling

NZFlyboy

Welcome to my modelling desk.

WW2 Model Airplane Kits and their construction.

Well now to write a little about me, I'm 47 live in New Zealand I've been building kit sets since I was a wee tyke. I brought my first two over the fence from my next door neighbour Alex. I then spent the next years spending all my pocket money on kits and glue, roughly one tube of glue per kit! Later I learnt the art of using just enough glue that I didn't soften the plastic and have the sides of the model collapse. Later again I learnt how to paint them, but just the outside! My modeling took off when I got a job, all of my remaining disposable income after paying bills was spent on models and the tools and accessories of my hobby.

I became fast friends with the proprietor of my local hobby shop, run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. (sadly now long defunct) From these enthusiasts I learnt my new and novel ideas, namely painting the interior and filling the open seams with putty. my models began to actually look like smaller versions of the original. Later I became interested in researching the subject of my model, what squadron, where and who flew it.

Much later I became interested in my countries contribution to the Second World War, I read about the brave men who flew fought and died thousands of miles from their homeland, of our soldiers resilience and resourcefulness. The Long Range Patrol initially all drawn from the ranks of New Zealand Infantry and later the Long Range Desert Group. Of our pilots who fought and died in the early days in France and in the Battle of Britain. Our contribution way in excess of the size of our country. Of the outstanding men who came to command squadrons, Wings and entire sections of the RAF, both in the United Kingdom and the middle east.

This journey has been a frustrating but rewarding one, frustrating because of poor kits that took all my meager skill to put together (although at the time I cared not), rewarding by finishing and learning new techniques to deal with these models. The joy of making these kits look as real as possible, I have not as yet been badly affected by A.M.S. (Advanced Modelers Syndrome), but my wife watches my descent with apprehension (kidding hunny)! I have started a website to detail what I have learned and what can be done with the kits available to us. To encourage others to follow in my footsteps, learn from my mistakes. But mainly to inform and entertain my fellow enthusiasts, so that they may learn that their not weird and others suffer and enjoy the things they do. So welcome to my journey and to my world sit down and rest a while lets talk and see where it takes us.

Happy modeling

NZFlyboy