I grew up with my dad’s Biggles books but it was Len Deighton’s “Fighter” that really gave me an interest in aviation that has lasted for more than 40 years by now. The Messerschmitt Bf-109E is of course a major character in that book but I haven’t built one yet.
When Special Hobby announced that they were going to do one I was of course interested but for some reason I didn’t get one before they were sold out …
Strange. They didn’t ask for my credit card no, nor did they ask for one of my kidneys (I wouldn’t have given them the card no but a kidney could have been subject for negotiations…).
Could be a bit of a subtle roasting between modelling companies !
Rowan has already done one and there are others around the Internet. I have read that it is “a very good kit” but I really haven’t realised HOW good it is:
…have a look for yourself! Spitfire is the darker plastic…
This one goes directly onto the modelling table!
Regarding that SMS: it came from a friend of mine who had found one of the kits in a local hobby shop here in Stockholm and sent it to me ! I realised that it was a bit too good to be true but had quite a hard time figuring out which one of my modelling friends was the “culprit”!
To make things a bit more complicated I’ve gotten myself another 109, this is the E-3 boxing. An E-3 can be built from the E-4 since that kit contains both types of canopies while the E-3 kit only contains the earlier rounded one. Apart from that, the plastic is the same!
When it comes to paint schemes, I have had a hard time deciding which ones to do. After much deliberation, I’ve probably settled for the box art alternatives in both cases.
I like the clean look of the E-4 with the light blue fuselage sides, the “hellhound” badge is cool and then there are the yellow wing- stabiliser- and fin tips to further liven things up.
Regarding the E-3, I’ll go for Werner Mölders aircraft. It is a bit oddly painted, I think it was an “all green” RLM 70/71/65 machine from the beginning where RLM 02 was used to lighten it. We’ll what it looks like! This was the machine that Werner Mölders was shot down in to become a French POW for a few weeks in May-June 1940, I am almost sure this is what is shown on the box art.
And finally, @Merlin , I know what happened to your wing tip, it happened to mine as well ! They are sharp as needles and very thin so they will snag just about anything and break off. I found mine though and glued it back !
It great to see you well underway on your Emils after you waited so long to get one.
I still remember my total bewilderment when I looked at my kit during the build and realised one of the wing tips was missing. I hadn’t noticed it get broken, so I was in a panic, thinking “How can I have reviewed the kit and not noticed a short-shot.” The first thing I did was to check the review photos to be sure it was there in the first place.
Magnus! This one nearly snuck under the radar but I found the thread and here I am watching you apply your skills to this wonderful kit!
I am somewhat jealous though, given that I am seeing blogs pop up on the internet of this kit being built (Rowan’s great effort comes to mind) and yet the kit is still not available down under
I guess I’ll have to watch vicariously for now and continue to work on emptying the stash
I’ll be watching this one come together Magnus. Although 1/72 scale is a bit small for my taste, I do enjoy and admire these small builds. Looking forward to more…
No Covid and nothing else that is dramatic but I simply lost interest in the 109:s in April and it didn’t come back. Two things triggered this loss of interest: the first was that the clear parts didn’t fit as well as the rest of the models and left a bit of edges sticking out and some seam lines, the second was that I didn’t feel like getting to work on the paint scheme that required quite a lot of masking. Anyway, after clearing the table from the remnants of a rather bad armour trip that has lasted for several months (no need to worry, lots of work put in but nothing is finished so the world is still keeping its balance ) I finally sat down yesterday evening and started work. And enjoyed it !
Yesterday evening, a little bit this morning and a bit this evening as well and camo is finished! So much for my masking worries! And the clear parts, if I look really close I can see that they could fit just that little bit better but it really is nothing to worry about! It only needed four months on the shelf of doom to sort that out…
I also need to correct one of the more blatant lies from me in the thread, regarding what can be done from which boxing: you will need to get the boxing for what you want to build, an E-4 boxing builds just into an E-4, an E-3 boxing into an E-3 and so on, I misidentified the canopy parts before when I thought that one of the kits contained clear parts for both a -4 and a -3.
Good to be back and thanks to @BlackWidow who was worried enough about my whereabouts to even write me a PM !
As you already know, there are two 109s in the workshop for the time being. The E-3 will be painted as Werner Mölder’s machine and I’ll follow Eduard’s advice on how to paint it, I assume they did their homework !
It had a classic splinter camo as a base…
…in RLM70/71 that always leads to the use of a lot of tape…
…resulting in an aircraft that is rather dark and green…
…and all this masking work…
…just to paint it over in RLM02!
The battle of Britain period is a time of camo anarchy on the German side, new guidelines were sent out to the squadrons but they weren’t entirely clear so in the autumn of 1940 almost all geschwadern had their own distinct looks.
This is a fantastic result Magnus! Glad you stuck with it!
I’ve been battling Airfix’s 109 E-4 for the last 2.5years on and off and seeing your build and how good a kit this is, I’m definitely keen to pony up the coin for Special Hobby’s offering… Hoping they’ll apply their talents to a contemporary Spitfire as well!
Interestingly I was watching the Battle of Britain movie last night and thinking to myself, that if they could it would be nice to re-master the movie, but render over the Buchon’s with the correct 109 shape… I guess the camo anarchy could be applied at the same time too
@Russelle Sorry to hear about the Airfix kit, they have their ups and downs even with the new ones! I haven’t seen the new Airfix one (seen far too much of the old one though ) but considering the quality of the SH/Eduard offering there is probably not much choice there! The only complaint could be a certain amount of fiddliness and a lot of parts for a small aircraft. Regarding an early-mark Spitfire that shouldn’t be out of the question I think! I haven’t managed to figure out exactly the relation between Eduard and Special Hobby but one thing for sure is that even if I like SH kits in general, these 109:s are a huge leap ahead of anything else that SH has come out with. It is more Eduard than SH, and Eduard has done the early mark Spitfires in 48 recently so why not?
Regarding the BoB-movie, I can see what you mean but I think it’s better left alone… Watching newer movies that are heavy on CGI hasn’t convinced me that even if you get more accurate aircraft, they aren’t necessarily more realistic. I saw “Midway” right before the pandemic started and I can’t say that I particularly liked the “feel” of it. I wonder what the new Top Gun will be like, in my book the old 1986 movie is still the epitome of aviation movies when it comes to the feeling of flight, probably because it was all made “for real” with very good equipment and a huge budget!
Even if the modelling has been on the back burner during the summer, the shopping was at its usual healthy condition :
I will add a third build into this thread, the SH E-1. When I started it this week I quickly realised that I had gotten the wrong plastic in the box, the main parts were the same as in the E-3 and E-4 (labeled E-3/E-4/E-7) meaning that it has lower wings with bulges for the 20 mm cannon . However, I could steal that sprue from the Eduard boxing that has two kits inside, you can do one E-1 and then either an E-3 or E-4 from that one. At least until someone has stolen the E-1 sprue !
Hm, yes, the Airfix 109 kit I have is the new one, and it’s not sat well with me at all… The rear canopy being one of the worst culprits, bent like a banana, laterally.
I’m not 100% sure of the Eduard/SH relationship, but I am of the understanding that they have a gentleman’s agreement. Given Eduard’s recent focus on 1/48 scale and the fact that SH’s 1/72 109 was tooled by Eduard (correct me if I’m wrong), I think you may see Eduard providing more 1/72 tooling (Spitfire, early mk, hopefully next) for SH to produce. Since the warehouse fire, Eduard’s 1/72 Spitfire range has yet to re-emerge onto the market, although it’s still listed on their webshop
CGI can be done one of two ways: either it’s terrible or it’s realistic. As a HUGE Star Wars fan of all 6 movies since my early childhood (Yes, you read that right, 6 movies) I often debate with my friends who are also fans about the CGI of episode 1~3 and it’s reliance on it. Interestingly though, more props and models were built for each prequel movie, than there was for the entire original trilogy; it’s just that the composition of the scenes was so seamless that no-one could tell that models were being used!
@Russelle Sorry about that canopy, it’s make-it or break-it on any model and it is usually very difficult to fix, especially when it is contoured to the fuselage that way. A vacform canopy isn’t of much help either since that also has to be fitted and blended in very carefully . I would say that the approved remedy in this case without doubt is the Eduard Adlerangriff-boxing !
Sorry to treat you to another one of my masking photo sequences, you’ve seen them before. And then I’m not even finished with this one AND I have another 109 to pester you with in a few days (I wish there was an “evil laugh” smiley…).
The masks are made…
…starting from scans of the kit decal sheet…
…and I use my favourite white mix…
…of 30:1 pure white to NATO black…
…and end up with this beautiful result on top…
…as well as on bottom!
Will hopefully do the black parts of the crosses tonight, stay tuned!
@Russelle I don’t get along very well with decals so for me the masks are somehow the lazy way out ! Another reason is that it is a lot easier to tone down the whites and the blacks this way, decals are usually printed pure white and pure white. One thing the old off-white Hasegawa decals had going for them in my book at least !
As I threatened earlier, the mask fest isn’t over yet!
Time for the black parts of the crosses…
…painted using NATO-black…
…masks are peeled off…
…and we all stand back and enjoy the result !
But wait, I’m sorry to tell that it isn’t over yet!
There is another 109…
…but let’s speed up the process a bit on this one!
…
!
) I finally sat down yesterday evening and started work. And enjoyed it 
!
. However, I could steal that sprue from the Eduard boxing that has two kits inside, you can do one E-1 and then either an E-3 or E-4 from that one. At least until someone has stolen the E-1 sprue 
(I wish there was an “evil laugh” smiley…).
