For the history and description of the kit, follow this link.

I decided to make this review a primer on how to do resin kits. It is perfect for this purpose as it is not a real multi-media kit not having any etched or injected plastic parts. It will also be in a diary format so you can see how things are going. I'll do images when it is practical.

July 30, 2000

The first step in doing a resin kit is cleanup. Resin kits are generally hand made or at least a very low production run. That is the reason resin kits and conversions are so expensive. However, they all have some sort of agent that is used to keep the resin from sticking to the molds and this needs cleaned off. Warm (not hot as it will warp the resin) soapy water is the best, followed by a thorough towel drying.

Here is are some general cautions about resin. 

First of all, it can warp. To remove the warp, simply dunk the part in very hot (not boiling) water and gently bend back into shape. It may take several applications to get it right. 

Secondly, resin is often brittle so cannot take a lot of stress before it breaks, so be careful when handling it not to put too much pressure on it, especially thin parts. If a part does break, superglue is the only thing that really works well.

A third caution is sanding parts. Depending on the quality of the resin and the method of casting, resin can be chock full of tiny air bubbles. Most are just below the surface of the 'skin' of the part. For an example of these bubbles look at the three part image below. You can see large air bubbles that are just lightly skinned over. Vigorous sanding will break through that skin and open all these bubbles, which are a real pain to fill and get rid of, so be very gentle when sanding in areas that will eventually be seen on the model. 

Along with that, resin dust is not good stuff so wet sand and/or wear a dust mask to keep from inhaling the particles.

Back at the kit: now that you have the release agent removed, you need to to remove the bits and pieces from the excess resin. There are two main ways of molding resin pieces. One is by having a resin block  and the other is the wafer. Both have their uses. Wafers are generally used for relatively flat pieces like gear doors and instrument panels, while blocks are used for large, chunky pieces. These methods relate to the way the mold is made. Resin isn't cheap so the most economical method is used depending on the size and shape of the resulting part. 

Removing an item from a wafer usually just requires a good pair of small scissors. I use moustache trimming scissors for this purpose. The large blocks have to be sawn off using a razor saw. The best ones are thin to fit under some of the larger blocks. It is a good ideal to start at the edges and work your way in. Don't cut too deep or you may overcut the part. Any excess left can be sanded down. You can also sand off the resin from the back of parts on a wafer. Often the additional thickness is not a problem, but in some instances (like side panels) this additional sanding will be needed. 

Once you have all the parts free, then all the flash and other imperfections must be removed. Some of these are easy to remove and others require a delicate touch. 

The first  are mold seams. These can be easily removed with sandpaper. Again, be very  careful when doing those to prevent opening up any air bubbles. Often this cannot be prevented. Once you have all the mold seams cleaned up, hold the part up to the light and look for imperfections. If you find bubbles, you need to fill them. The best thing I have found is Mr. Surfacer. It is really just very thin filler. You can also use White Out or other paper correction fluid as it is also thin and fills these small holes. Once the filler has dried, carefully sand it down and repeat if necessary. Again, the key is to be gentle as firm sanding will only open more holes. Any really large air bubbles can be filled with superglue, then hit with accelerator and then sanded down. The key is to not let the superglue dry to where it is real hard or it will be a chore to sand. Start sanding almost immediately after using the accelerator.

Another area where bubbles can be found is in seams or corners of parts. These bubbles are usually outside the part and need to be removed. The best way is to simply scrape them off with a sharp knife or to dig them out of corners. Those in seams can also be removed with a knife and then the seam cleaned out. At times these bubbles can lead to buried air bubbles that need filler. At other times there is no easy way to clean them up and you have no choice but to leave them and mask their presence as well as you can.

The other areas needing attention are those that are filled with resin that need cleaned out. Often this is just a thin area and all that is needed is a hobby knife and a quick swipe with sandpaper. Other times the resin is thicker. These can be cleaned up after some careful carving or you can use small files. It is important to remove all the resin to assure a good fit.

It is not unusual for this step alone to consume a large number of hours. While this part is dated 30 July, in reality the cleanup is an on-going process. Often it is a good idea to keep the smaller bits on their wafers or blocks until they are needed. This prevents loss or accidental breakage.

July 30, 2000

Not much modeling time available today, so I only worked on a few parts. That consisted of more clean-up though some actual construction got underway. This was confined to the cockpit area. The front bulkhead, rudder pedals and control stick were glued in place. At this time I test fit the sidewalls to make sure there would be no problems in installation. The rudder pedals have a nice eyelet on either side for the foot straps. These eyelets stick up at a 90 degree angle from the rest of the pedal. Unfortunately, all but one was broken off during shipment. That is the problem with packaging all the bits in one bag.

The underwing radiators had the resin blocks removed from the rear of the part and a number of small resin bubbles removed from the inside and grille areas. Then they were test fit in the wing. The left one was nice and snug while the right one has a bit of play in it. Some small imperfections had putty put on them and will be smoothed out tomorrow. 

I also cleaned up the exhaust. Make sure that you DO NOT remove the seam on them as they are supposed to have it there. The exhaust were then test fit in the slots in the nose section. The slots needed some cleaning up. The exhaust fit snugly. In fact, too snugly as there are a couple of metal plates that need to fit above and below the exhaust. I got out the plates and then started to carefully sand away at the opening until I was sure that I could get them to fit. These parts will be installed AFTER the fuselage is complete and painting has been done. To make sure that I can get them to fit without falling into the fuselage, I superglued a piece of strip plastic in behind the exhaust slot opening.

All of this took about an hour and that was all the time I could spare on it. Tomorrow, I'll start cleaning up the other exhaust.

August 2, 2000

Today's efforts were mostly in the cockpit section. First of all, the partially assembled cockpit and the sidewalls were painted RLM 66 using Aeromaster's paint. When that was dry, the seat belts were painted with Gunze sail color, though you could use a very light grey as well. The buckles were carefully painted with aluminum. 

On the side panels, I still had the quandary about the trim wheels. It has to fit on the middle sprocket so cannot be too large. After much mulling, I hit on the idea of using tubing. I had some 1/4 inch (.25 inch) Evergreen tubing so cut off a thin section of that. The edge was scored several times with a razor saw until I had a nice groove. This would simulate two of these wheels side by side as in the real plane. The interior bits of the wheels was made from tiny bits of .03 inch  Evergreen strip. It took a while to get everything in place, but it should hopefully look OK once cleaned up and dry brushed.

Next, I turned my attention to the right inside panel. Now there is a fuel line that runs along the sill on the right side. This fuel line has a clear piece in it on the real plane. That way the pilot can tell if his engine problem is due to no fuel flow, as the tinted fuel will be visible if everything is all right. What I did was to remove the section that is supposed to be clear. I'll replace it later with a section of clear rod. This section will be made by heating and stretching a piece of clear sprue. I've done this in 1/48 before and though it will take several attempts, the proper size can be made.

I then went on to the right fuselage half to open up the exhaust opening so that the exhaust and metal shields would fit. After using a sanding stick to get the opening wide enough, a piece of plastic sheet was superglued to the inside. This will allow me to install the shields and exhaust after the kit has been painted. I did notice that the depth of these slots was different from side to side. Apparently the excess material was removed from the inside of the fuselage masters with a power tool of some sort as the thickness varies between the right and left side. This may mean that some more trimming of the back of the exhausts will be needed prior to installation.

I also took the opportunity to paint the inside of the gear doors with RLM 02. These parts are extremely thin and are best painted while still on the resin wafer. I also took the time to clean up the landing gear. These have metal rod reinforcements in them which is very nice. Most of the cleanup on these parts is removing much of the casting block from the bottom (this part needs to be shaped so be careful and don't get carried away with sanding). There are also a number of resin bubbles that need cleaned up. Most of these just brushed off, but a few needed a sharp knife point to remove.

 I also cleaned up the main wheels. Once the seam has been removed, the tread was replaced in the wheels by gently scoring it with a razor saw. Again, you need to be careful so as to not overdo it.

Though this kit may seem like it is an awful lot of work, this is pretty well standard for a resin kit. This particular one is one of the better ones that I have worked with. So far, everything is going quite smoothly.

Tomorrow or the next day, I'll be doing some more work in the interior and starting to glue some major bits together. 

August 3, 2000

Now that the backing plates are dry, it is time to check the fit of the cockpit. First the fuselage halves were taped together. Then the fuselage side panels were taped to the cockpit side. The entire cockpit assembly was then fit into the fuselage halves. Fit is quite good. What I learned from this is that I need to trip the rudder pedals as I put them in wrong. They are too tall and should be more horizontal. They prevent the side panels from fitting all the way. It also looks like I need to do a touch of trimming on the cockpit to get a perfect fit. I'll deal with that when the time comes.

Next, the fuselage halves themselves were glued together. Since I already had them taped  and properly aligned, it was a simply matter to drip superglue into the seams from the inside. This way, there were no superglue smears on the outside of the fuselage to clean up. This was allowed to dry for a few hours. Then the seams were filled using putty. The fuselage was then set aside to dry until the filler completely cured.

After that, I spent some time adding small amounts of filler to some areas on the wing edges as well as the wing radiators that needed it. I also cleaned up the tail insert in preparation for installing it in the fuselage.

August 4-6, 2000

Like most of you, I spent most of my weekend doing something other than modeling, however, some work was done on the kit. First of all, I smoothed out the filler that was put on the wings and fuselage. Once that was done, it was time to tackle the tail insert. Now here I ran into some problems, and I'm not sure if they were self-inflicted or not, so I'll take the blame. There was a lot of fiddly cleanup done to both the insert and the fuselage to make sure I had a good fit. When I had it to where it looked like a good, tight fit, it became apparent that the horizontal stabilizer wouldn't be horizontal. In fact it appeared that it would have a decided forward tilt. 

I then set to try to get the canopy to fit properly. What seems to have happened is that the master mold is 1/35, but the actual canopies themselves ended up being larger, like 1/32. I messed up both windscreen sections of the two Erla Haube canopies trying to get them to fit. In the end, I cut the canopy from the messed up windscreen section and then cut the windscreen section from one of the older canopies given. 

Before trying to attach the canopy parts, I first installed the gunsight, painted it black, drybrushed it and put a small square of clear on it. Then I cleaned up and painted the canopy armored back section and cut a section of clear to install on that. I'm still trying to figure out how to attach this piece to the very flimsy canopy section. At the same time, the exhaust and exhaust shields were glued in place. The shields still need to be painted. Still going slow, but at least it is still going!

December 28 2000 - January 1 2001

Had a nice long weekend to work on the kit but did little more than get the windscreen glued in place. It isn't a very neat installation, but the windscreen just doesn't fit the allotted area worth a hoot. I faired it in as best I could and it required some sanding to get it to look any good at all. This kit definitely won't be a contest winner!  It was then masked off with Tamiya masking tape. 

Also painted the exhaust shields with RLM 76. Then I went to look for ways to attach the canopy armor. Most of the methods I though of were not very practical. What I decided to do was to make small tabs from scrap brass sheet and then attach it to the inside of the canopy with non-fogging superglue. The installation just didn't work well and so I removed it and the brass strips and will try again.

January 2 2001 - July 12 2001

Hate to say it, but the kit sat and sat and sat. Interest had completely gone away. This happens from time to time and it often takes a push of some sort to get things going again. This was done in the form of a replacement sheet of decals and a new kit to review from Pend Oreille. There was some guilt involved in knowing that I had been sitting on this thing for so long as well!

July 13 2001 - July 21 2001

Resolved to getting the kit finished, I attacked it with renewed vigor. The first thing I did was to get the armored head rest glued in. This was done not with brass strips, but with attaching thin pieces of styrene to it. These were then trimmed to fit onto where the framing was on the canopy. The canopy was then masked and painted RLM 66 using Testors Model Master paint. Many late war 109s had canopies that were simply primed and without exterior colors. Once the paint was dry, the armored headrest was glued in with non-fogging superglue and actually helped to stiffen the very flimsy canopy! A small section of stretched sprue was glued to the right lower canopy frame to represent the hinge and the canopy glued to the fuselage in the open position. I also glued a couple of pieces of sprue to the upper corners of the windscreen frame as grab handles.

Next, the gear doors were glued on again as they had broken off during the preceding months. Returning to the upper fuselage, the short antenna mast was glued on and painted. Then a small section of wire was formed into a loop antenna by bending it around a paint brush handle and then trimming off the 'legs'. These were inserted in holes that were drilled in the loop antenna mount. Another hole was drilled in the upper fuselage near the tail for the radio antenna lead in and a similar one was drilled in the right lower fuselage near the  cockpit section for another antenna.

Once that was done, a long-wire antenna was made from clear stretched sprue and attached to the antenna mast and tail with superglue. The lead in wire was placed in the hole and also glued to the long wire. The underfuselage wire was then glued in. A section was also used to simulate the cable that kept the canopy open and was glued to the interior and the bottom of the head armor.

At this time, the very thin tail wheel fork on the right side decided to break off and disappear into the hands of the carpet elves. No choice but to make a new one from plastic card. This was done and glued in place. It was then smoothed in using standard putty and repainted.

Then it was back to the decals. I used the number 6 and a few stencil decals. These went down OK, but no amount of pressure or setting solution would have them conform to the panel lines. The yellow is also very transparent, even when backed up with white. While I did not have the problem with fragmenting decals from the earlier sheet, my lack of success in getting them to snuggle into crevices means that they are still less than ideal. Perhaps installing them onto Future, as many do, will be beneficial.

Next the pitot tube was glued into the wing leading edge, followed by the prop. These were given any last minute painting needed. The model was then sprayed with clear matte where needed before the final parts were glued on. These are the aileron balances. Of all the 109s I have built, these bits are the easiest to lose. If someone wanted to make major money, they'd produce an after market set of these in styrene or resin in at least 1/48 and 1/72 scales. I can't tell you how many of my 109s are missing these bits! Once the balances were on, the kit was given some exhaust staining with pastels and was finished (chorus of 'Hallelujah' in the background).

Pend Orielle has done us a real favor by producing this kit and doing it in 1/35 scale. It is just what WWII armor diorama builders have wanted. Now they can use all those neat military vehicles in an airfield scene and have a properly scaled aircraft to go with it. I would hope that it would spawn other models in this scale like a Hurricane or a Mustang, but that has not yet happened.

109 addicts will like it because it is another 109 model, and one that looks pretty accurate to boot. As you know, I don't drag out the tape measure for each kit, but base my opinions on if it looks like what it is supposed to be and this one does. What wasn't planned was that it would take almost a year to finish, and that is entirely my fault. The model is not a terribly difficult build and anyone who has any experience at all with resin models should be able to build theirs in considerably less time. I am quite pleased with the over all result and it will look really great in with my ever-growing collection of 109s!

Review copy courtesy of Pend Oreille Thanks for your support and your patience!

If you cannot find Pend Oreille kits at your local hobby shop, click on the link above to get them direct from the manufacturer.

July 2001

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