Kotare 1/32 Bf-109K-4 Cockpit, Fuselage, and Wing Assembly

Geeks!!

How’s Everyone doing?  I hope you all are having a great week and getting some modeling done.

The Kotare 109 is moving along and I’m almost ready for paint! Just need to attach the windscreen and we’re ready to go.

Overall so far, it’s just a fantastic kit. While there are a few issues I’ve found, they are all easily worked through with just a little modeling.  Here’s what I’ve found so far.

1. Cockpit to fuselage fit. It was perfect. Such great engineering. Follow the directions and it was perfect.  No issues.

2. Fuselage fit. Once the cockpit was installed, the fuselage fit was perfect. Panel lines lined up perfectly. The piano hinge on the front cowling was great too. Cool looking prominent feature.  No issues at all.  Aft cockpit compartment insert and front upper cowling insert in front of the windscreen fit was really good. Only needed a little Mr. Surfacer on the port side of the aft cockpit compartment insert.  The access hatch was mostly wood, so check your references.  I may or may not add some wood weathering for extra realism.

3. Underside Radiator Nose Cowling. Kotare is revising this part, which is good.  The kit part I have fit awesome on the starboard side and not so good on the port.  My test shot Dzus fasteners have large gaps on the port side, these are still test shots. Still, the fit was pretty dang good.

4. Nose and Super Charger Intake.  Nice holed out scoops and they are  in the correct location for a K.   Nice weld seam on the Super Charger intake. Remember to keep the weld seam.  I wish the Super Charger Intake attachment to the fuselage was different.  While the super charger intake weld seam is there on the real aircraft, there shouldn’t be a seam along the attachment point of the super charger to the fuselage. Up to the modeler to fix if they so choose.  Fit was still good.

5. Tail.  My horizontal stab alignment was off.  It was crooked.  The starboard side was lower than the port and there was a little play in the stab.  I know this is a tough area, but I just had to glue slowly and adjust as it dried.  In the end it’s fairly level, but it did take some effort.  There were also gaps on the aft part of the top tail piece.  Again, just little modeling required to get it straight.

6. Rudder. The late rudder has 2 additional (3 total) trim tabs, and the Early has just the single trim tab in the center. Both of the rudders in the kit have the same number of trim tabs.  There was also a small gap where the rudder attaches to the tail at the main connection tab.  Again, just a little modeling required here to get it right.  No big deal.

7. Lower Wings and Gear Wells. Fit was really good. No issues at all.

8. Upper Wings. Fit to the lower wings was really good. Just a little sanding to the leading edge. Slat wells fit perfect too. No issues here.

9. Wing to Fuselage.  Dry-fit revealed a small gap at the front of the leading edge/wing root area.  I added a small spreader bar from sprue to the front of the fuselage to help eliminate the gap in the wing root and leading edge.  It worked great.  Fit was much better.  Fit of the aft section underneath was almost perfect; really good.  Front wing to fuselage was good too.  This is probably the most critical fit of the model, especially the spot where the leading edge connects to the fuselage.  I had to fill and sand a little bit to eliminate the seam, but it wasn’t too bad at all.  Overall the wing to fuselage was a good fit and any seams were eliminated with a little modeling.

Well folks, that’s it for now.  She’s in the paint barn and ready for the fun part!!  WOO HOO!! Time to break out the airbrush and go to town slingin’ some paint!

Thanks again for following the Kotare 1/32 Bf-109K-4 Test Shot Build.  Have a great week and Look for another update soon!

Take Care everyone, See ya!!

-Nemo