ICM Bf 109F-4… Decals and more

Day 251

Wednesday November 2, 2022

Building model kits since the late 50s has been a self-soothing experience. Listening to music is also soothing. People should listen to music more often…

Intermission Milk’n Blues – Smooth Operator + Secret (Sade + Madonna)

Wednesday morning shots…

The Tempest finally got its final clear coat. I had some leftover highly diluted clear coat so I completed that build.

The Bf 109F-4 got some decals in the morning and it will soon be a thing of the past.

The countdown will then begin for the P-38.

I still don’t know if I will document that build, but “Whereof what’s past is prologue; what to come, in yours and my discharge.”…

Footnote…

Final footnote…

 

ICM Bf 109F-4… The end of the tunnel?

Updated 8 March 2024

Day 250

Tuesday November 1, 2022Nothing to celebrate for on Day 250 of a special military operation which has become something historians will write about in November 2222.This is Sunday morning shot…

The Bf 109F-4 is on a make-believe tarmac.

I am always a few days ahead because you never know what to expect in life…This next photo was taken on Saturday morning.I had an idea during the weekend. Why not display the Bf 109F-4 by glueing it on its box with Clear Gorilla Glue?I don’t have any more picture frames left. The last one was used with the PBY Catalina which will be departing Wednesday to my son’s place.I hope this P-38 will be joining the PBY before Christmas.

Long overdue!The Bf 109F-4 got its clear coat Sunday and it’s waiting for its decals.

I wonder what will happen if I should add dark green over with a paintbrush to complete the camouflage?

Intermission – Resilience

Day 248

Sunday October 30, 2022

My forgotten hobby has been a learning experience I have been documenting since December 2013, and even more since February 24, 2022.

Sharing about what I have been building here was mostly about the fear of messing things up and taking bad decisions in a much smaller scale… 1/48 scale.

My forgotten hobby has been testing my resilience with ICM’s Bf 109F-4 since I wanted it to be a memorial for what has been happening in Ukraine since February 24, 2022.

One thing I haven’t learned is to get over mistakes I have accumulated and move on by building this model kit…

Wednesday the Bf 109F-4 had received its second coat of paint, and Thursday I wanted to see if the paint had effectively peeled off like it did a week ago.

I took this photo Thursday afternoon before removing the masking tape even if the last camouflage dark green coat had not been applied.

Taking photos helps remembering the decisions I make on the spur of the moment.

The paint didn’t peel off, but this is what happened… I saw that coming but I kept on removing the masking tape covering the landing gear.

 

I will never learn making bad decisions leads me eventually to mess things up again and again. However in this case I was able to fix that by drilling two holes and inserting a piece of stapple.

The landing gear was glued back and set aside for the glue to cure.

This is when I saw…

More yellow paint had peeled off under the wings and the engine…

Stay tuned.

Intermission – Going back in time

Day 246

Friday October 28, 2022

Time to reflect on several things on Day 246…

I must admit I wanted to stop writing this diary after having completed the PBY Catalina…

However I got curious on Day 245 and I found what I was looking for…

These are photos I took in December 2013 of my “stash” of unbuilt model kits. Well not all because I had kept two empty boxes…

When I took those photos I was trying to jump start my forgotten hobby. Since 2013 many model kits have been built but those were eventually replaced with dozens more in 2019 and 2020…

I was tempted to add Tamiya’s Brewster Buffalo to my collection when I got an email from Plaza Japan a few days ago. However shipping rates were too expensive. Japan Post doesn’t ship to Canada anymore since December 2020 because of the pandemic. I don’t understand why since they ship almost everywhere now.

Yesterday I have completed the PBY Catalina display by using Clear Gorilla Glue.

In the background you will notice the Christmas gift I bought for my son in 2020 from Wholesale Hobbies in Edmonton, Alberta. The P-38 is still in its box.

Long overdue? I even have one I bought for myself!

I will finish ICM’s Bf 109F-4 first and then try to finish my son’s P-38 before Christmas time.

Next time…

As always things didn’t go as I had expected.

Intermission – Bf 109-F4: Sleeping on it…

Day 237

Wednesday October 19, 2022

Sleeping on it is sometimes the best thing to do, but I couldn’t wait.

I used a soft bristle paint brush with Vallejo Gray Primer to go over some areas.

Yellow identification markings had been added before to the Tempest using a Tamiya cotton swab and Vallejo yellow paint. I skipped airbrushing although I had masked the wings leading edges.

Not perfect but it will do.

It still needs a few touch-ups using Tamiya cotton swabs but this will have to wait.

I will now get back to the PBY Catalina and complete it. Displaying it will come later.

Which brings me to reflecting on what I have been saving all those years with all I have been building.

Why do I keep all this? Is all this useful!

I have thrown away most of my model kit boxes, but I keep saving the instructions sheets of model kits I have built. Some I still have but most I don’t have anymore like Monogram F-104.

Have you been saving this kind of stuff?

Intermission – Bf 109-F4: Murphy’s Law

Day 236

Tuesday October 18, 2022

Do you need another proof for Murphy’s Law?

I airbrushed yellow paint Monday morning.

It’s right after that I remembered the primer coat has to be something different than black primer. There’s a YouTube video explaining it that I will share later.

I decided to unmasked the Bf 109F-4 and this is when Murphy’s Law was proven right again.

Looking at how the yellow had covered the Bf 109-F4…

Unmasking it I pulled off the some light blue paint with the black primer!

I love the mellow yellow though. I was tempted to quickly find a solution, but I decided instead to sleep on it.

Sleeping on it might become a corollary to Murphy’s Law.

Tamiya Bf 109-E3: Do I really need another Bf 109?

Day 235

Monday October 17, 2022

It’s too late baby, it’s too late…

Like the song says it’s too late and that model kit will be joining my collection among these two Bf 109s I had bought two years ago.

Did I really need another Bf 109?

Tamiya Bf 109-E3: Decision time?

Day 234

Sunday October 16, 2022

I went to JacHobby yesterday as planned to get this camouflage color for the ICM Bf 109F-4.

As usual I looked around the store since they had posted this on their Facebook page last Friday.

But I never expected to see this model kit.

Under $30… If fact $29.99. Did I really need another Bf 109?

It never crossed my mind.

Intermission – ICM 1/48 Bf-109F-4, by Scott Van Aken

Probably the best review I have read about ICM Bf 109F-4.

https://modelingmadness.com/scott/axis/luft/me/109/icm109f.htm

 

ICM Bf 109-F: Decision time

Day 233

Saturday October 15, 2022

I have finally decided to go along with this camouflage.

I have searched the internet for inspiration and I got it here on Thursday…

https://the48ers.com/bf-109f-4-en-2.html?sl=fr

Eduard’s rendition is light-years away from ICM’s but that’s not what this project is all about.

Thursday morning I started masking the Bf 109F-4.

I was really enjoying it. Then I stopped. It would have been easier to just spray the yellow and then mask the yellow after…

I will be using the used masking tape later for the rest of the camouflage.

Next time… Using my airbrush.