This is the first balsa kit I have built in over 30 years. I have been building plastic kits for over 40 years. After finding this site and looking at some of the postings of built kits I thought I would give stick and paper another try. This is a 500 series Bf-109 built as a display model. I did some rework to the cockpit and the interior. I also scratch built the landing gear struts (front and rear). I learned alot with this build also the information on this site from some of the more experienced builders was a great help. I think I will try the 500 series P-40 next.
Because I had no intentions of flying this I was not worried about weight. This being my first build in 30 years I read many post on this site and also the virtual aerodrome site and took several bits of info and came up with this. The kit was covered with the medium grade silkspan (covered wet) I used dope and thinner to attach the covering. The covered kit was then sprayed with a fine mist of 70% alcohol. Once the covering was dry I brushed on 3 coats of a 50/50 clear dope/thinner mixture (sanding with a 2400 grit sanding cloth inbetween each coat) For paint I used Model Master acrylics thinned with 90% alcohol and airbrushed each color on starting with the lighest color first.
The paint is Model Master acrylics thinned with 90% alcohol. Some of the paint was shot free hand and some (top surfaces) were masked. The finnished kit was dull coated with krylon clear matt (after the decals were applied) Thanks for all the nice comments. Bill