**** DONE: GB-37 1/48 Bf109E-4B - Helicopters / Military a/c of BoB 1940

[Crimea_River]

Username: Crimea River
First name: Andy
Category: Judge – Non competing
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Eduard
Model Type: Bf109E-4
Aftermarket addons: None planned. Lotsa goodies in the kit already. Some scratchbuilding no doubt.

I was intrigued with this scheme when I got my a copy of one of Kagero's Topcolours Battle of Britain volumes and have decided to go ahead and build it.

The aircraft is a Bf109E-4B of 5/JG51 and is depicted here as it appears in what I assume to be October 1940 when the Luftwaffe was undertaking its final phase of the BoB with large scale Jabo operations.

The rather unique inscription on the side says "Achtung Anfänger" which translates to a rather ambiguous "Caution or Beware Beginners". Does it mean "if you are beginners, watch out!" or is it "we are beginners so stay clear"? I've seen opinions on both sides but, whatever the the meaning, it's still a unique scheme.

The other interesting feature is what appears to be an unpainted (or lightly painted) cowl covering the MG17s. The caption in the profile above suggests that it is RLM 65 but without a picture, it's impossible to see what this panel actually looks like and make a judgement on what was the most likely finish.

I'm creating this thread now but will likely make a sputtering start as I work through the Fairey Battle build. I also plan on resuming my Anson from the Trainers GB and paint that along side the Battle so between those two, you may see a bit of assembly on this one. In the meantime, facts, opinions, and conjecture on the open questions are welcome!

 

[parsifal]

Eduard Kit....very nice.

 

[fubar57]

Looking forward to it Andy. I have a load of Luftwaffe books that I can look through. Trolling through the interwebs using the airbase as I search I came across a pilots name...Lt. Hermann Seegatz. It's on a Russian site and I'm about to go there with translator and see whats what........

 

[fubar57]

This is what I found, verbatim from Google Translate. I take it the source is from the book mentioned...

Supposedly, this Bf 109E with the inscription "Achtung Anfänger" by Lt. Hermann Seegatz, commonly known as the joker in the season, flew. Beginners as Jabo were all'these hunters of the 5th / JG 5

The Jagdgeschwader 51: A Picture Documentation on the Years 1938-1945

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah that's the book I was thinking about. Abe Books had it for 41 Euros the other day plus 43 Euros shipping. Ahhhhh.....NO. Seems to be gone now anyway.

What's this "airbase" search?

 

[fubar57]

I was going to type Luftwaffe airbase. Sometimes I use a round about search instead going direct to find info, this time instead of "Jg.51 Bf 109E" I typed in "Mardyck Jg.51 1940". It's how I found a B-24 photo on a vintage race car web site

 

[Crimea_River]

Ah, I thought it was some different type of engine. I do the same and it's amazing what turns up sometimes. Having said that, Wojtek seems to get different stuff on Russian sites that I can never find with normal Google searches.

 

[fubar57]

I use Firefox as my primary search engine and if I come across a foreign site, I copy/paste the address into Chrome with its built in translator. I was just on a Russian Jg.51 site with 10 pages of photos I had never seen before, unfortunately your aircraft was not there

 

[Crimea_River]

Cool. Thanks for trying. I have plenty to work with here anyway.

 

[Crimea_River]

Made a start with this one in the cockpit as per boring usual. Eduard have moulded this kit in an unusual blue/grey colour but that's OK cuz it'll all get covered anyway. Plenty of nice PE details including the pedals, scuff pads and oil cooler grilles. Eduard have provided a duct for the latter, a nice detail, so you won't see up into the engine.

I've embellished the cockpit walls a bit, adding oxygen tubing on the starboard side and a scratch built throttle quadrant and levers on the port side.

Trim wheel and O2 regulator have been added. Eduard would have you glue the trim wheel chains to the sidewalls but I decided to glue them to the floor assembly.

Bit tight for time so gotta run. Thanks for following.

 

[fubar57]

Good start. Hope the weather is kinder to you than it looks. We got lucky, it stayed just to the South but are still being hammered by 50km/h+ gusts because of it

 

[Crimea_River]

I'm prepared. Had to go to a kayak course tonight in prep for a trip a bunch of us are doing in September. Fortunately the snow had only just started and there was only a skiff on the road when I drove home. Tomorrow could be a different story.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Very nicely done Andy.
I'd though about adding those 'T' bar pull handles on the port side, and some other detail, to my 'Emil', but my hands couldn't cope - maybe next time !

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry.

The above bits were given a coat of black and then sprayed with RLM 02. I concentrated more on the middle of the various panels and let more of the black base show through toward the frame to add some depth. Since I had run out of my 02 mix and had to make more, I thought I would check my formula against my colour chip from Merrick, given the good discussion we had on this topic in Terry's thread. Looks pretty damned close:

The seat was also painted and I decided to have a go at making a back cushion out of Milliput. It's still quite wet and I need to let it set up a bit before doing a bit more cleaning up and moulding on it.

Thanks for looking in.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very impressive beginning Andy, like to see a bit of scratch building and with the PE, it polishes it off.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Finished off the cockpit by highlighting details: throttle handle yellow, T-levers silver, oxygen tubing blue and the trim and radiator cables in steel. The trim wheels have partial wood rims and were painted accordingly. The floor was scuffed up with a silver pencil but it's not easily seen in these pics. Stuck some paper in the map holder as well. The breaker panel is a PE part supplied with the kit as is the small placard behind the throttle.

I need to as a small indicator dial on the radiator louvre crank before I finish and will scuff up the interior just a bit more. The next pics should show the cockpit partly assembled. Thanks for following along.