Swiss Bf-109E3

A very basic cockpit, but adequate for a closed canopy. It's no Eduard, but the fit is surprisingly good and it flew together over a weekend with very minimal filling and sanding needed.

Other than adding some holes to the oxygen bottle, it's straight OOB.

No detail PE/decals or resin, but it is my first attempt at a full rivet job based on plans. Figured I would try this 109 as it's quite small instead of starting out trying to rivet a B-29 or something. Not bad so far, but will they show up under a layer of primer and paint? Time will tell!

The weapon of choice for riveting. I don't think this brand is available any more, but UMM-USA has some left in stock. John Vojtech is a great guy and helpful.

Preshading done and working on doodle coat. Since the neutrality stripes are white/red, I think a black preshade for those areas would be too stark, so went with a lighter grey. We'll see how it turns out. The RLM71 areas still get a preshade of Nato black.

Underside is RLM65, so it also gets a lighter grey preshade. Should make it so I don't have to go so heavy on the blend coat...in theory.

Don't plan to use the decals, but these copies of them will make great templates for cutting masks. By happy coincidence, the stripes and cross are exactly as wide as 4mm Tamiya tape, so that should save a little cutting. Lay down the white first, then mask and come back with the red.

Doodle coat finished.

Underside doodle coat.

White and dunkelgrun laid down, now on to some masking for the red. Did I say "some" masking? I meant "endless" masking.

The neutral grey for the preshade in the white areas was a good call. Black or really dark grey would have been way too stark.

The hours of masking paid off. Much better looking than trying to wrestle with iffy decals. Minor chipping commenced, and then on to the few decals.

Underside looks ok too. Also easier than trying to align the top and bottom decals to meet!

Considering this one complete. Some niggling inaccuracies (including the color!) and annoying fit issues has led to some mojo loss.

Still, overall happy with how the stripes and paintwork came out.

One of the inaccuracies has been the main gear, which seems to be more "splayed" than usual. The location aids Hasegawa supplied were not that helpful.

Added detail to the gear legs, which isn't accurate at all, but adds a touch of color to an otherwise bland area.

Also pleased with the rivet job under the paint.

Tried some natural sunlight for pics but it was a bit too harsh/contrast.

Realized I had forgotten to attach the pitot and aileron balances weights after I took photos. Since attached.

Someone was annoyed that I took over his afternoon sunning spot for photos, but he was satisfied by a bribe of treats.

39 8 April, 19:14

Mark Sherwood
Looking good. Kudos on the rivet job, one piece of kit I don't have at the moment.

9 April, 04:52

Thomas Bischoff
I'm in - built this years ago

9 April, 05:08

John
Thanks Mark and Thomas. For an old kit, this one is quite nice. It's also nice to be able to build it so quickly due to its simplicity.

9 April, 13:52

Neil
Following also 👍

11 April, 21:52

Spanjaard
nice job so far.
unfortunately you are right about rossie the riveted. but I have seem what seems to be a copy of it....

11 April, 21:55

John
Thanks Neil and Spanjaard. Have the base/chipping coat on, now on to the doodle coat... The copies of the rivet tool are fine, not like they're that sophisticated, but anything is better than the abomination from Trumpter they sell as a "rivet tool!"

12 April, 14:57

Thomas Bischoff
good idea to paint the markings and not use the decals 👍
is the Hasegawa instruction sheet recommending RLM71? This is wrong - should be the darker green RLM70.
… I have two Emils with the wrong green - lol

20 April, 05:35

John
Thomas, yes! I was looking at some other kits (Tamiya and Wingsy) last night for their box art and noticed they both listed RLM70 for the main color. Even the Hasegawa box cover shows a darker green, so someone at Hasegawa in charge of research made a mistake and I was too trusting.

I don't want to go back and repaint, so we will just guess that this machine was on a rare Swiss deployment to North Africa and the paint has faded. 😄

20 April, 12:30

Thomas Bischoff
like this explanation - can contribute two builds to prove your claim, lol

20 April, 15:45