This old kit was sitting in my brother's basement stash. He had been given it by a friend, but since he had built one as a young man (and still has it) he offered it to me. I figured, why not. I have never built at the 1/32 scale so let's see what this thing is. Those familiar with Matchbox know that it is English manufacture. Interestingly molded in three colors. Not sure why, as different parts of a particular sub-assembly can be found on different sprues???
I started right in on the Daimler-Benz and instrument panel. The panel is multi-layered which is nice for detail, but painting instructions were blah! So I improvised.
I started out using the instructions painting guide as it is rather extensive, but I wanted to follow a real example.
And here it is.
The yellow stands out and I like it.
I did add (DIY with 22 gauge wire) some intake piping.
There are many pieces that have been assembled for the cockpit and painted per the instruction guidelines with the exception of the interior color. I purchased Testors Zinc Chromate. The instructions are too fixated on Gray IMHO and other 1/48 Bf-109s I have built call for an interior green/zinc chromate. In the past I have mixed my own. I like a little more greenish as opposed to the more yellow/mustard look, but I'm going with it.
With seat and controls and panel and guns etc. painted and in place I had to DIY a little more.
My go to wine foil makes for equipment access panels/doors into the fuselage. The foil is so easy to use and making impressions on the backside for bolts/rivets and hinges adds nice detail!
The pilot is painted basically in accord. with the instructions, although I had to look up what the instructions called Khaki Drill and Khaki Drab (which I had to mix).
I also painted a glove on the left hand as the molding of the hands appear rather thick. Hey, it;s cold up there. The right - stick/gun hand - is not gloved.
I did paint the access panels.
Here everything is lined up as it will go into the fuselage, but there is a lot of painting to do before that happens. Also, I have to take a break and work on the 1/48 P-40 Tiger Shark I promised for my step grandson's birthday!
I sprayed the underside of the P-40 and while that dries went back to the "Emil" interior. I added a little extra paint on the controls based on interior photos. With the cockpit dry fit....
....not the best photo, but the inside doesn't look too bad!
Hmmm. a little older than I thought! Zoom in to see the 1977 date.
Ok, quickly back to the P-40. I finished up with decals, touch up, dullcoat and canopy. The drop tank is an open question at this point, but it is only one day after Kaleb's actual birthday so not too bad. For the purists out there, I know the 1940, 8th Pursuit Group was not sporting shark teeth, but this is for my grandson, besides for me a P-40 isn't a P-40 without 'em! That reminds me, that this is the second Revell P-40B kit I built. I forgot to Blog the first one that I did as a Flying Tiger. I will have to do a quick post and extol the virtues (NOT) of the Revell kit (the molds were originally made in 1964!).
Oh, well, for now back to the "Emil" while I await delivery of it's Tecmod decals.
And here they are along with canopy masks and many color options for consideration.
The masks are for a Haswgawa kit so they did not exactly fit this old kit, but I was able to use them in various ways. They are vinyl - like electrical tape!
The thing is that the Matchbox molds are so pronounced that masking is (almost) not needed!
I am waiting for some paint that I ordered so I can make my decision on the total colors and how I want the camo to look. In the mean time I keep up with assemblies such as the gear. The wheels are two piece but the design is good and they rotate and paint up easily.
Other than wings, this is where I am at. Note the downward direction of the tail (elevators). I also have the under wing vents in an open position. The prop needs painting and is to be a "Black-Green".
I used to have a bottle of Model Master Schwartzgrun, but it is long gone, so I go back to mixing a gloss black with flat green for a more satin look. I think it will do. Check the next photo .
Pretty close?
Removing the rear canopy section caused me some grief since the attachment was too robust to snip off and it began to crack. I stopped, positioned back into placed and added a spot of glue. When it dried I used an xacto saw blade to remove it, so be forewarned. I find this generally true of all clear molds - the plastic seems more brittle and sawing off as opposed to snipping may be a better way to remove from the sprue.
I got tired of waiting for paint so I experimented with regular Testors flat gray. It looked ok in the bottle but dries darker. I will have to do it over.
I tried mixing the gray with white and sky blue and it seemed closer to the Tecmod color.
With an acceptable paint mix I decided to close up the fuselage.
The canopy fits just fine so I affixed the windscreen and the rear so the that access hatch sits properly centered; however, this fit created another fit issue as seen next.
The gun panels don't fit! Now the instructions show the panel without the notch that can be seen at the edge of the panel that is to adjoin at the windscreen. There is no mention of cutting grinding or otherwise removing any portion of the panel, but I knew if this was going to be useful as a part to be installed or used both on and off, then I had to cut this down. As it turned out the notch provided a guide for my xacto saw blade.
Here is the same starboard panel with a slice off of the edge,,,,,,
,,,,,and now it fits!!! Repeat for the port side😀
Well, the short story is that the Tamiya AS28 arrived and I got luckier than I could imagine that the color is nearly identical to my mix!! So now that the fuselage is closed up I have to mask up in order to use the spray - Ah Well😊
Lots of tape used but the result is nice. The bottom sides of wings, tail (elevators) and other
components (some still on the sprue) all got sprayed.
Attention is turned to the topside of the wings and tail for spray of Olive.
Followed by masking when the olive is sufficiently dry and a spray of dark gray.
I followed the Tecmod illustration and it turned out quite satisfactory IMHO.
Okay, I skipped showing a bunch of assembly pics as it is simply following instructions. Gluing the cannons and loaders and landing gear lugs, then closing up the wing halves and attaching to the fuselage along with the tail and rudder. Note also that the engine housing panels have been painted, etc. Decals are now being applied. The 1977 originals were unusable, hence the purchase of the Tecmod. They apply nicely and add much detail that was not included in 1977. I only have 68 decals to apply 😵 Once finished I can dullcoat and add the main landing gear. There is the radio wire to install, and while perhaps common to others, I am going to set up the wire on the mast before installing the mast behind the cockpit. At this scale I can drill holes, and since there are even two decals that are applied to the base of the mast it will be easier to do all of this while the mast is NOT attached.
All of the decals that are pertinent to the "Blume" 109 are applied. The tiniest are those little triangles just beneath the cockpit!
Warnings and instructions, in German of course!
The 1977 (with Tecmod decals) Matchbox "Emil" is completed, although I have not fixed the canopy (open or closed) yet. The monofilament radio wire was glued to the antenna mast before attaching the mast to the fuselage. The attachment to the tail was made by drilling a hole and threading and gluing back on itself. For the intermediate wire I simply drilled a hole in the fuselage to accept the straight piece of monofilament that I glued to the horizontal wire.
With the engine panels laid on it looks ok from this view.....
.....but here you can see how poor the fit is. I could get them to fit tight if glued in place, but I don't to do that for display options sake. One final shot!
