**** DONE: GB-45 1/72 Bf 109E-3 - BoB/Foreign Service (1 Viewer)

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PlasticHero

Senior Airman
394
762
Jul 31, 2019
Pennsylvania, USA
Username: PlasticHero
First Name: Alan
Category: intermediate (if I use the flaps, arggh I'd have to cut the wings)
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer /Model: Tamiya Bf 109E-3
Extras: Quickboost flaps; Squadron Signal Bulged wheels; Xtradecal decals

This will be the adversary of my Spit. I like the late August yellow but the paint mottle looks like a "stretch goal". I see that the cockpit armor is aircraft specific so I'll try to scratch the armor and use a simpler paint scheme. What's in the box? Again, I am amazed by the improvement in plastic over early Airfix and Heller. Fit is no longer a problem; in fact, I have to dust off my model display area, and I plan to show some of my old models to compare in another post.
sprue1-jpg.573760
resin-jpg.573761
sprue1.jpg
resin.jpg


I'm considering this with the yellow; same time frame. Beese was killed in combat on Feb 6, 1944.
Aces of the Luftwaffe - Artur Beese
decal1-jpg.573762
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decal1.jpg
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I'd need to check my references, as if it's the one I'm thinking of, it was shot down and force landed in July, and did, indeed, have a mottle finish. I also think it's one of the options in the Airfix 1/48th scale kit, but I may be wrong on both counts - and probably am !
 
It's familiar a I've seen it so many times during research. I think he actually badly hurt his back in that crash-landing.
The aircraft I was originally thinking of was Boehme's, the first to force land in England, on July 10th 1940, and it was mottled.
 
This is my first research and build of a WWII German plane. What you read here is very much a 'stream of consciousness'. Many of the schemes of late August have yellow noses and mottle. Beese is one of the few options without it so, I've settled on this as a guide.
Messerschmitt-Bf-109E1-9.JG26-(Y11+I)-Artur-Beese-crash-landed-near-Calais-24th-Aug-1940-0B.jpg

The crash photos show a soft demarcation between the upper camo and the RLM 65 on the side. Thanks fubar57.
armor2.jpg

The instructions for the E-3 don't show the cockpit armor, so I made one out of plastic sheet. He also is shown pointing to a bullet hole that would have hit him without it. Then when getting parts ready for paint, I found this little gem. The instructions have this in a list of parts not used. I wish they had offered the kit as an E-3 -4 and made notes about which parts to use.
armor.jpg
Spinner.jpg

It also has 3 different spinners, pointed, blunt and with a hole. I have not yet decided about the flaps yet.
flaps2.jpg

I'm not sure how to deal with this little cover on the wing that goes over the flap. If anyone has done this in 1/72 let me know how it went.
I ordered some paint just before the great unpleasantness but nothing has arrived yet. We had a local hobby shop and I was really glad to have such a resource but they had a bad fire in December. They are rebuilding but probably won't reopen till '21.
 
My own picture of 109E flaps down. The ridge that almost all manufacturers mould in along the hinge line should be eliminated if the flap is modeled in the lowered position

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Capture.JPG
 
Everything I ordered has arrived!! I have not fully committed to the flaps yet; there is a complicated step between the upper flap line and the lower with the lower further forward. The resin wheels are smaller than the kit wheels and they have better detail and a bulged flat spot.
radiator1.jpg
wheels1.jpg

The scale is tenths of an inch; The radiator is really nice, it looks white from glare from my window. Cockpit and other bits will be posted soon.
 

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