Torsten, have you ever thought of just masking taping the edges of the area to be covered, but using Blu-tac or masking putty to fill in the centre section between the tape sections?
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Thanks Jacob! 
Do you have a special machine in mind for your JG 27 build? Several years ago I built a 109 E from the Tamiya kit as a machine of Ludwig Franzisket, another JG 27 ace. He became a well known natural scientist after the war.
Peter, no, I haven’t. What would be the advantage using it instead masking tape? I could imagine to use it as a “flying mask” if I want soft edges but not too soft. But I never tried it. I here prefer free hand airbrushing like you can see on the rear fuselage of “Yellow 14” in IMG_2338 in post 837.
It was more of a way to speed up masking. That way you don’t need to trim tape to put in the centre of the masks. The tape is the outside and the putty fills the centre.
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Hey Torsten, iirc, Camo was painted on in the hope of keeping the aircraft hidden whilst on the ground, and make the use of netting more effective.
Once in the air however, Camo becomes redundant and it’s all about sorting friend from foe. Until radio IFF came into common use, bright colours were the go to. Of course, this meant the Camo pattern was reduced, but having the bulk of the aircraft painted in Camo pattern, meant only having to cover small areas of the yellow ID markings as opposed to the whole AC…
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No decision on a particular machine yet. A typ from a simulator pilot with 3000+ combat hours. A plane that is 200 meters away in your sights is soo small that you dont recognise anything aside from fuselage and wing shape. From the rear quarter its almost impossible to see any markings anyway. After a few fights its possible to tell the difference between the wing shape of 109 and a P40. The most challenging part is to adjust the speed. A 50kmh difference in speed will give you 1-2 seconds sights on target time. The actual target is just the center mass/cabin,since wings and fuselage of a 109 can absorb 303 rounds all day long.
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While Hans-Joachim Marseille sure smiles down from his cloud “Yellow 14” when he looks at my work of his last Friedrich, I finally have finished main painting on “Black 7” and just demasked most of the model.
Another pile of masking paper … 
Looking at the photo of the original aircraft, “Black 7” had only little mottling, maybe even less than I did here. Have used Gunze RLM 74 and 75 (H68 and H69) for it and thinned both paints with 70% IPA, so 3 drops paint and 7 drops IPA …
And here what I had expected in one way or another. Have to do some repairs on the black exhaust stripes. Here the right side …
… and the left side. Luckily it’s only Black which needs the touch ups and not Yellow. Nothing that can’t be repaired but it looks ugly though …
Still a lot of work ahead of me. Won’t finish the builds before years end but I hope to show you another update of “Yellow 14” before christmas. Decals are mostly on already …
Torsten
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Final update for this year on my Friedrich builds. While “Black 7” hasn’t changed since Thursday, “Yellow 14” is nearly finished. All decals are on now and the 109 is ready for the final clear coating …
I have used nearly all stencils on this build, though I believe, not many were visible on the real aircraft in September 1942, they were just “sanded” away by the conditions in the desert. Especially the tiny “ZU” (Closed) stencils on the cowling were nerve wrecking. Meanwhile I have re-adjusted my eyes … 
As I mentioned before, the etch parts for the sandfilter in the F-2 kit were not used there, so a welcomed addition to the F-4 build and this is the result. There are 2 clamps holding the filter, consisting of 2 parts each …
The stencil sheet even has the VDM propeller blade emblems, so I used them. Sure not visible on the original aircraft after a few flights. I noticed, that the stencils are less well printed as on other builds, some are a bit misprinted. Maybe I’ve got a Monday sheet here …
For comparision a look at the original emblem …
So this is my last update for this year. I’ll be again away for a few days over New Years Eve. Everything will be on hold now until early January 2024.
Wishing everyone here at the Kitmaker Family a Merry Christmas - Frohe Weihnachten - Hyvää Joulua - God Jul - Joyeux Noel - Feliz Navidad - щасливого Різдва - Buon Natale - Glædelig Jul - Vrolijk Kerstfeest - Wesołych Świąt! Hope you find some nice presents under the tree … 
Have some peaceful days, folks!
Torsten
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Looking very nice Torsten
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too.
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Wow, looking at this photo I think it would be best to spray the aluminum color them sponge paint some green.
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This photo makes me want to build the new ICM B-26 in this scheme even though I had no plans on building the kit. Great photo!
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Okay, one final post of “Black 7” this year. Had time this afternoon to repair the exhaust stripes among some other detail painting …
Torsten
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Hello and merry christmas!
I like this builds of a historic example, specialy the Marseille-109. Another one is the FW190 from Joseph Priller, Invasion-Front 1944. You know the decal-sets from Peddinghaus? With lots of personal markings. I ordered one for the 1/32 Ju87 from Trumpeter and was very surprised when I saw the one-piece swastikas on the sheet, I thought it’s against german law.Did you ever tried one of them?
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Well its ok if they are packed in a box I guess. There are a ton of kits with sw$#&ika decals available for sale. I doubt MBK is checking every box.
Don’t want to go off-topic here with this matter swastika but it’s forbidden by german law to import them so all retailers in Germany have to check all boxes. Even MBK. Otherwise it can become veeery expensive.
Marco, I’ll send you a PM about this when I’m back from holidays next week.
Greetings from Luxemburg 
Torsten
It came not from MBK, directly from Peddinghaus. It’s a german company and I first thought, the law may have changed, but it did’nt. Very often the decal is cutted in two pieces, but here it comes in one
Okay, have nice holiday 
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Thanks Marco! Yes, I had some nice, recreative but rainy days in Luxemburg City.
Happy New Year everybody here! Hope you have a prosperous modelling 2024!
Being back from holidays means also being back at the bench. And while “Black 7” is waiting shiny for the decals …
… I finally call “Yellow 14” done!
Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4
3./JG 27
Egypt, September 1942
Pilot: Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille
Kit: Eduard Weekend 1/48
According to the Eduard instructions, Marseille flew this aircraft (Wk-Nr. 8673) between 24. August and 25. September 1942 and achieved 49 victories with it. The rudder on this model shows 151 bars. With another pilot at the controls it was shot down by AA fire at El Alamein on the 22. October 1942. So it survived Marseille by 3 weeks …
used paints:
Vallejo 71044 Light Grey Green RLM 02
Vallejo 71055 Black Grey RLM 66
Vallejo 71057 Black
Vallejo 71078 Yellow RLM 04
Vallejo 71101 Light Blue RLM 78
Vallejo 71278 Sand Yellow RLM 79
Vallejo 71279 Insignia White
Revell 09 Anthracite
Revell 40 Black Green RLM 70
Tamiya X-25 Clear Green
Tamiya X-27 Clear Red
Final coating was again made with a 70/30 mix of Revell Clear Gloss and Revell Clear Matt. Somehow I have lost the right underwing balance weight. Okay, they are very tiny, even in 1/48. Will have a look, if I can find a substitute somewhere. Because “Black 7” is still waiting for all decals, I call “Yellow 14” my last finished model for 2023, which brings me up to a total of 7. Less than I hoped, but on the other hand I spent 3 1/2 months on the Marauder. And that equals 2 models …
I hope to have finished “Black 7” by the end of next week … 
Thanks for all your support along the way with comments and/or likes. It’s always much appreciated! 
Torsten
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Happy New ‘Modelling’ Year Torsten.
Yellow 14 has come out fantastic. and Black 7 should be equally as stunning.
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Thanks for the kind words, Peter! Same to you! 
Well folks, still a way to go but the most important and most precious decals are on since an hour without any problems! 
Na denn, Prost! 
Judging from the original photo, this bird had only a few stencils visible, which especially means no “ZU” decals for the cowling … 
Now, I’ll get me a nice glass of Red … 
Have a nice weekend!
Torsten
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Looking really good!
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