Bf109E

Eduard 1/32 Messerschmitt Bf 109E by Roger Doswell

I always said I would never build a 109 as everyone seems to, but when I saw this kit at the Milton Keynes show I just had to buy it. On opening the box the quality is such that I wanted to go home and start it there and then.

For forty quid you get everything you need in one box, no need for aftermarket goodies on this one- so how did it go together?

One starts with the cockpit, this is quite comprehensive with a fair amount of pre coloured brass to play with- not normally my favourite bit.

Starting with the left sidewall and then followed by the right this was assembled as per the instructions including the etched chain drives, then the sockets for the tail wheel. Next is the under nose oil cooler- the etch grilles on the fret are incorrect, but a small replacement set on a separate fret is included in the packaging, care must be taken to ensure everything is aligned correctly.

Then comes the floor and seat assembly, just follow the instructions here and you should be ok, however the top half of the instrument panel has parts PE8 and PE 7 transposed, careful reference to the parts layout should make this obvious. For painting all the plastic parts where sprayed RLM66 and when dry a dusted coat of RLM 02 was applied to give a shading effect.

You have the choice of using plastic parts for the instrument panels but the etch produces a superior result than I could ever hope to achieve by painting, so I went for the easy route as always! The next sequence deals with the engine, and here you have to make a choice to close up the cowls or leave the engine exposed, initially I was to have the engine exposed, and built everything up accordingly, then looking at it felt this spoilt the lines of the aircraft so chose to close the cowl. due to moulding issues this cannot be done, but by removing the lumps and bumps from the engine managed to shoehorn assembly into the forward fuselage.

One note here, separated parts are provided to allow the propeller to be fitted with the engine removed, but I the second build I just glued the engine block together with the separate exhaust stubs, leaving off the last one as this can be fitted later from the outside and push fitted into exhaust opening. Separate panels are provided to mount the exhaust stubs – so it’s your choice.

The rest of the build is quite straight forward although I did have trouble getting the wing halves to line up accurately, but I feel this was me rather than the kit.
For the canopy check the instructions for the head armour as two of the marking options did not have this fitted. The other point to be aware of is that the join line on the fuselage should not be sanded smooth (as I did on the first build) the 109s were built in two halves, with an overlap top and bottom.

Some jiggling with the centre section of the canopy will be needed to allow this to fit in the closed position, although with all that cockpit detail , leaving it open is the better option , albeit more fragile.

Painting and Markings

This is always my favourite bit and I couldn’t wait t get started, for the first build I went for yellow 11 and for the second for yellow 2.

Although both operated at the same period, the schemes are very different- in both cases I used life colour paints, preshaded with dark grey , when dry coated with Kleer ( 2 light coats sprayed neat) and left to harden for 24 hours.

For the second build I used a trick picked up from one of the internet forums, using pink as an under coat for yellow – it works superbly, as I always have trouble using white
It was then time to start applying the decals, which are really excellent, thin and in perfect register. For yellow 11 the placement diagram shows the fuselage crosses as 3, but these looked far too big when compared to the colour side profile, so I used decals no 7 instead.

Once all these have been applied ( the stencils took a whole evening session)) left to dry overnight, and coated once again with Kleer, no carrier film was present. The whole airframe was given a wash of dark grey Promodellers and wiped clean when dry.

Both builds were matted down with a mixture of Kleer mixed with Tamiya basecoat.
This gives a really matt finish, in fact on the first build I over did it and ended up with a very faded result. Overall an extremely enjoyable build, in fact I already have plans for a third, the next variant – an E-3 is due shortly, which was the most common used in the Battle of Britain, although the wing cannons are included in the E1 boxing, the wings are different, so these cannot be used to model the E3.