Messerschmitt Makeover.

She's looking great Terry, I admire your hand painting skills.

i echo V B's post

Terry,

I wish that my "fine line" painting was as "bad" as yours! She really is looking t1ts mate.

Great stuff Terry. Agree with all.

Looks great Terry!

very, very nice mate

Thanks very much indeed guys, your comments are appreciated. I should have some more pics tomorrow - working on adapting the Hasegawa canopy centre section at the moment, then it's time for the dreaded spenner spiral!

Dang, she's looking great - I tell you: If my 109'll look half as good as yours once I get it done, I'd be more than delighted!

Thanks very much Maria! I'm sure you'll make a great job of it - just take it steady, a stage at a time, and ..Bingo!

I tell ya Terry that is looking pretty Gooood oh boy!Cheers

Thanks very much Kevin.
I had a feeling I had more information on this aircraft, and sure enough, I found an article, by Paddy Porter, in a' Fly Past [I'BoB Special' [/I]from 1990, along with some notes I made at the time! Pity I hadn't remembered and found this a bit earlier, as there are a couple of things I would have done differently.
The attached photos were taken by Dennis Rolfe who, at the time, was on leave from the R.A.F. where he was a Radio Mechanic, and was at his home in the village of Hollingbourne, Kent. After lunch at home Dennis Rolfe had cycled into the village to meet some old friends, and it's interesting to learn that his lunch was freqeuntly interrupted by 'the clatter of stray bullets falling onto the roof of the house...', as there was an air battle going on overhead this day, August 18th 1940 - 'The Hardest Day'.
A Bf109, flying very low and fast, crossed the road where Dennis and his friends were, flying from the south towards the North Downs. Soon after this, another '109 flew low over the village of Leeds to the south, and it was evident it was going to crash-land.
Dennis Rolfe quickly cycled home and changed into his uniform, before dashing off to locate the crash site. The Messerschmitt was located in a freshly-cut wheat field (described as a corn field in the article) at Park Barn, adjacent to Leeds Castle Park, and the Home Guard were already at the scene. Dennis was able to gain access to the aircraft, the canopy of which had been jettisoned over a nearby cherry orchard, and described it as being 'in pristine condition' (apart from bent prop blades), and an inspection stamp on the tail was dated 15 August 1940, suggesting the aircraft had only been in service for three days. (This is not certain, as the stamp may have refered to a check, or replacement, carried out on that date, although the condition of the aircraft , and it's Werk Nr.1990, suggests, it could have been new.)
The pilot, Oblt. Helmut Tiedmann, had made a run for it, and was at large for nearly 12 hours before being captured.
The other photos of this aircraft, in the Jagdwaffe series, were apparently taken at night, when the aircraft had been covered in wheat sheaves to conceal it from the air, and not a lot of detail can be seen. The attached photos include a good side view, and it is interesting the the figures of the 'Black 13' are spaced further apart than usual, a fact I would have allowed for, had I found these pics a few days earlier!
But, having viewed the pics, and the brief notes I made twenty years ago, I'm fairly pleased that I seem to have got the starboard side camouflage pattern more or less correct.
I hope these are of interest, and thanks very much again for all your complimentart comments.

Excellent Terry, haven't seen those shots before!

great stuff Terry, i notice'd the spirel looks a bit different in the photo than it does on the profile from Jagdwaffe on page 2

Thanks Wayne. I knew I'd seen the kite somewhere before, and I'm glad I found the magazine article with my original notes.
It's great to have a first hand account, and the extra info about the Emil being new. I wonder if Eric Mombeek knew this, as it might not be in the crash report? I think I'll have to see if i can access some of those reports some day.
EDIT: Just noticed your post Karl. Yes, the spiral looks different at first glance, and I thought the rear section wasn't there at first. But close examination shows it's there, in shadow, or maybe coated in dirt or oil. A description I had from the mid 1980's says the spinner was white with four, or five yellow concentric rings or spirral, but the Jagdwaffe pics look more red, which would tie in with the staffel colours.

Meanwhile, back on the workbench - I've had three attempts, so far, at painting that bl**dy spinner spiral! I tried using thin strips of Tamiya masking tape at first, but the pronounced curves and conical shape of the spinner, plus the prop hubs, made this extremely difficult, and the tape would just not conform, or lay down and adhere. So, the second attempt was done freehand, using a 000 brush to paint the red over the white. It looked reasonable at first, until I realised the bands were too wide! So, after a few mild expressiions such as "Oh dear" and "What a shame", the spinner was lightly rubbed down, and given a couple of coats of matt red enamel. When this has had a good few hours to dry, I'll attempt to paint the spiral in reverse this time, using gloss white enamel, which, hopefully, should flow better and be easier to control.
Putting the spinner aside, work was then commenced on the cockpit and canopy areas. The original scratch-built canopy for this model will be used on another Matchbox '109 for the BoB build, as the kit's canopy is not so good, although the windscreen and rear glazing are fine. Consequently, I'll be using the 'E4' canopy from the Hasegawa kit, as that will be built as an E3, with the earlier canopy.
The first job was to correct some gaps at the rear of the cockpit, and improve the appearance of the rear bulkhead.
PIC 1 Shows the gaps at the edges of the cockpit 'shelf', designed to help locate the original Matchbox canopy, and also the plain bulkhead, which should have a baggage locker hatch cover. The rough look is due to overspray, and the raw edges where the rear glazing was removed, and will, of course, be tidied up and painted.
PIC 2. The gaps have been plated over with thin plastic card, and the circular access panel made from plastic card punched out using an ordinary paper punch. The baggage locker hatch was cut from thin plastic card, with strips of foil to represent the leather locking strap and buckle.
PIC 3. The Hasegawa canopy is not quite tall enough to match the windscreen and rear glazing and, even though the difference was minimal, this showed, due to the angle of the vertical framework. Therefore, strips of .25mm plastic were cemented onto the base of each canopy side panel and, when fully set, trimmed flush. This allows an almost perfect fit, and the canopy will have the locking lever and retaining cable made and added later.
PIC 4. The head armour from the Hasegawa kit will also be used, but, as it's 1mm thick, it needed thinning first. The full-sized armour was 8mm, and the kit part scales out at 32mm !!
PIC 5. The head armour undergoing the thinning treatment. This was filed down on the rear face, but can only be thinned so far without the part failing. So, to create the illusion of it being thinner than it actually is, the edges were filed more, and the whole lot will then be sanded smooth before painting. The padded head rest has also had small holes drilled, to represent the mounting studs, and these have yet to be smoothed off in this photo. As I intend to show the contrast in canopy shape between the earlier E3 and this E4, the canopy will be fitted in the closed position on this model.
A few other small jobs have been taken care of, and I'll post some more pics soon. Thanks again for your interest and support.

Nice delicate work Terry!

Good stuff Terry.

Thanks Andy and Andy. That sounds like a stutter!!

Coming along nicely Terry!