Bf-105 (2 more started as of 3/3)

[Gunbird]

When the Republic of Texas started looking at German aircraft to bolster its ranks, they sent sent over a zeppelin with attachees and their latest state of the art hardware. Included for the protection of the zeppelin it housed an entire Staffel (12 aircraft, Red, White and Yellow flight), something unheard of for a zeppelin of this size. The aircraft was the tried and tested Bf-105, a variant of the Bf-109 specifically designed for Zeppelin duty. Clipped wings, a short tail, but still packing a powerful engine, 2 20mm cannons in the wings and 2 MG's in the nose the Kleiner Messer (or unofficially called the Stiletto or Wespe) wasn't exactly a pilots dream to handle but was more then a match for pirates and militias. Yellow flight was equipped with the 20mm cannon nose submodel for added punch. Mock dogfights were held to show the strengths and weaknesses of the design vs Texas aircraft.

We now show you some of the gun camera footage.






In the end, the Republic of Texas purchased several German designs, including production rights.

This was my back up for my main entry Relic, cause I wasn't too sure yet if I could do distressed and weathered bare metal. The original mode, a old Airfix Me-109 was converted way back in 2008 after an original idea from John Paterson for a parasite fighter for Crimson Skies.

It never progressed beyond this stage before being dumped into the spares bin.


I was actually going to use the hulk as a test for Reals flight stand, to see if I could refit older magnet bases aircraft to the new system. This was rather succesful so I took out the hulk and overhauled it.

Added a adapter for the flight stand


Fixed the problem of the propellor sticking out in fornt of the aircraft by adding some additional plasticcard


And gave it a good cleaning and sanding


And after a nice grey basecoat it was ready to be repainted

.....just rather annoying the basecoat came out all fuzzy, so after some light sanding and a respray she was again ready for paint.

And here she is, Rote 3 (Red 3) in all of its colourful splender. Wingtips and nose are painted red for recognition purposes (in Yellow and White flight these correspond to the group name). The scheme is derived from German aircraft of that particular era.










I gave her a handpainted wooden prop. Quite a bit more surface area then the gunstocks I'm used to painting like this.


Something quite different compared to my recent output, I know, but made it cause I know teher are some Crimson Skies fans outthere and I want to use this as a personal motivator for Modhail to kickstart his Crimson Skies interests again, and show it is possible to game this in 1/72 as well  :beg: Hell, I'm even going to use it for VBCW for all I care.....

Proud to say, this entry together with another I put in were good for 2nd place in the Wings contest over at the Guild Wargames forum. Only 1 point difference to the number one (a airbrushed Me-262). I copied my post form said forum so not all of the text will make sense I think

[NARSES2]

That's brilliant, absolutely love it  Good work on the wood

[PR19_Kit]

There's something about aircraft carried by BIG airships that gets my mind running away with itself.............

Excellent idea and execution Gunbird. 

[Army of One]

I echo brother NARSES2's comments......great job......now a Kurtz FW190A please.....big radial on the shorter plane would look awesome I think.......H

[Gunbird]

The first shorty on hand will be 2 converted MiG-3's, and after that a shortened twin engined P-47B. A mate of mine did a Crimson Skies aircraft using a pusher prop 190 with a additional Hurricane wing. Came out nice, jst not finished and painted yet.

[Army of One]

Thought a mig 3 was a real world shorty.... .....looking forward to ur work......H

[dumaniac]

Great effort and great pics

[Tophe]

  Without the tail swastika, I would have fallen in love but as this on the Bad side  , I fear I am not allowed to say it is very lovely...

[Gunbird]

Dragging this from the murkuy depths, just to say that the 2 MiG-3's still have not gotten very far, so to get my thumb from my proverbial dark place I've started work on 2 Bf-105's Mark B's



Forgive me for the rather mediocre WIP pic, as I'm building them as quick and dirty wargames models, so they will lack the finesse I see on many a fine conversion here. Also they have wheels up and big plug inserted in their undersides so my flying stands can be attatched.

The B is only different in that it has winglets-ish (I was doing the same on the MiG-3 conversion so why not, a small plane like things can use some more stability) and the tailsection is raised every so slightly for ease of construction. Also these have a cannon nose and will be in a fictious Militia/Air Pirate scheme, as soon as I find the proper decals to cannibalise. And I don't even know where to go for the new colour scheme, camouflage or bold, anything goes in Crimson Skies.

[Father Ennis]

I really like what you've done here. In fact I'm.thinking of doing something along these same lines with my IAF 199. I've been trying to think of a good Wiffey for it and now I think I have it !!!  Chop the wings and give them a vertical tip. Then shorten the fuselage quite a bit as you have done. I'm definitively using.its tall tail wheel.for sure !!!  Thanks for the idea !!!

[pyro-manic]

Somehow missed this first time round. Love it, love everything about it!

[eatthis]

that looks great also looks like it has some interesting flying characteristics 

[Captain Canada]

Crazy cool ! Great job. A neat looking little bird for sure.

[Gunbird]

More progress on the Bf-105's. Tails cut, wings clipped, plugs inserted in the cockpit area, wire guns ready to be trimmed. Need to drill the cannon nose on nr 2 and add plastic spacers on both of their noses so the prop sits in the right place. Coming along nicely.

[Tophe]

I love them