Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4

[cph64]

This is the Italeri kit of the Bf 110 G-4 nightfighter that I bought when Arrow Models had their shop closing down sale, so it's been in the stash a while. Consisting of 68 light grey parts, a clear sprue for the canopy, comprehensive instructions, an etch brass set and decals for 5 options, 4 Luftwaffe and 1 Hungarian. I was going to build it as one of the Luftwaffe options but then I came across the Colour Conundrum article 'White Luftwaffe Nightfighters 1943/44 Part 1. This showed a G-4 with the wing fronts, engines and nose painted greyish-white. To quote the article 'It is suggested that because white was the colour that reflected the most incident light, that it was found to be beneficial to paint the front of the Night Fighters white in an attempt to reduce their silhouette against the night sky. RAF Coastal Command employed exactly this camouflage technique on it's anti-submarine aircraft'. Vallejo 71.119 was given in the article as RLM 67 Weiss, this is 'off-white', so a bottle was obtained. There is also a profile of a Heinkel He 219A-0 in the article and as I have a varaiant of one of these in the stash the bottle will come in handy. The Bf 110 also features on the cover of Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1943 Part 1 and inside there is a better photo. Sorry Martin but I'm building it as seen before the crash!!

[zak]

No go with the crash, a chance to model some water.

[Bigkev]

It could be a 'last ditch' attempt!

Would make an interesting diorama though.
Cheers
Kevin

[chriswil42]

Go for the diorama Chris.

[cph64]

You've got me thinking.......
Anyway back to the build. The instructions call for the interior parts to be painted in RLM02 Grau but by this stage of the war they were RLM66 Schwarzgrau so the Tamiya equivalent was used, with detail picked out using Vallejo Red, White and Yellow. The etch brass could have done with annealing as the smaller parts for the seat belts didn't want to bend easily. I've left the 'rabbits ear' of the console up so they can be bent to fit once the two halves of the fuselage are joined.

[zak]

Nice detail.

[MSea]

Lots of small bits 

[chriswil42]

Yikes! That's small.

[Bigkev]

Small is beautiful........except it hurts your eyes!!

[cph64]

Too true Kev!!!
The fuselage halves have been joined but as the panel lines are raised some of these have been lost in the tidy up. Another thing I had to watch out for during this stage was that the 'towel rail' aerial underneath was already moulded onto one side. Once happy with this the wings, radiators, nose and tailplane assembly were all added. Lastly the main u/c legs were put in place to ease painting. Then the cockpit was masked and it was out with a coat of Halfords Primer which was left to cure for a few days before Xtracrylic RLM 76 v.1 was applied to the underside, rudders, u/c doors  and all small bits that hang underneath.

[Bigkev]

Coming along nicely Chris.
Kevin

[Bob C]

Nicely done, go for the diorama.

Bob c

[cph64]

Hmmm.......( Tracy said "Do they realise how small our cottage is?" Anyway back to the build. With the cockpit and fuselage sides masked with a combination of Tamiya tape and putty an initial coat of Humbrol RLM75 Grauviolett was applied. Now this is a fairly old pot and being Chinese Humbrol it was very grainy and caused no end of blockages in the airbrush. Once cured (all round) Xtracrylic RLM 74 Graugrun was applied.  Initially I didn't get close enough, or drop the pressure enough, to prevent some misting where I didn't want it but once I realised this I finished the areas I wanted to work on and will now get a new pot of RLM 75 to redo the Grauviolett tighter.

[Bigkev]

Looking good so far Chris

[chriswil42]

Your camouflage is looking good Chris.