Emil Of The Rising Sun

[Smiffy]

For my first ever entry into a group build I present to the wonderful community of International Scale Modeller Airfix's Bf109 E3/E7 Limited edition. Before we get to the kit and the build a little background info on the Messerschmitt Bf 109:


The Messerschmitt Bf 109, commonly called the Me 109 (most often by Allied aircrew and even amongst the German aces themselves, even though this was not the official German designation), is a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid-1930s. The "Bf 109" designation was issued by the German ministry of aviation and represents the developing company Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (at which the engineer Messerschmitt led the development of the plane) and a rather arbitrary figure. It was one of the first truly modern fighters of the era, including such features as all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, and retractable landing gear. It was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted-V12 aero engine.

The Bf 109 first saw operational service during the Spanish Civil War and was still in service at the dawn of the jet age at the end of World War II, during which time it was the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. From the end of 1941, the Bf 109 was steadily being supplemented by the superior Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

Originally conceived as an interceptor, later models were developed to fulfill multiple tasks, serving as bomber escort, fighter-bomber, day-, night-, all-weather fighter, ground-attack aircraft, and as reconnaissance aircraft. It was supplied to and operated by several states during World War II, and served with several countries for many years after the war. The Bf 109 was the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 airframes produced from 1936 up to April 1945.

The Bf 109 was flown by the three top-scoring German fighter aces of World War II, who claimed 928 victories among them while flying with Jagdgeschwader 52, mainly on the Eastern Front. The highest scoring fighter ace of all time, Erich Hartmann of Germany, flew the Bf 109 and was credited with 352 victories (and also survived the war). The plane was also flown by Hans-Joachim Marseille, the highest scoring German ace in the North African Campaign, who scored 158 victories - 154 of which were against fighter aircraft flown by western-trained pilots. It was also flown by several other aces from Germany's allies, notably Finn Ilmari Juutilainen, the highest scoring non-German ace on the type with 58 victories flying the Bf 109G, and pilots from Italy, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary. Through constant development, the Bf 109 remained competitive with the latest Allied fighter aircraft until the end of the war.

The Prototype Bf 109





Imperial Japanese Army Air Force

Five Bf 109 E-7s were acquired by the Japanese in 1941, without armament, for evaluation. While in Japan they received the standard Japanese hinomarus and yellow wing leading edges, as well as white numerals on the rudder. A red band outlined in white is around the rear fuselage.

They were used in comparison trials by the Japanese Army Air Force with the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa, Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki and the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien. As Japanese were interested in the DB 601 engine and license-built it for their Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien fighter, they had little interest in the Bf 109 itself.

The Allies, expecting to encounter Japanese Bf 109s in combat, assigned a code name of “Mike” to the Messerschmitts, in the event one were flown in combat by the Japanese.








On to the Build, first the obligatory box and sprue shots:

Nice box art with colour profiles


All the sprue's in one bug tut.




Very nice clear parts with plenty of options for the windshield


There's not a great deal more than can be said about this kit that hasn't already been said. Its a very nice kit with great surface detail and having followed Paul's build videos of this kit, it pretty much falls together. The only thing I will comment on is the sprue gates, some of them are unnecessarily large!

As with most kits construction starts with the cockpit. This kit has some very nice and fine details in the cockpit








The prop, rather too keen to take pics I had negelected to clean it up!


Now time to prime the cockpit parts and inside of the fuselage










While giving the primer time to dry I moved on to the wings and started to clean them up. Sprue melted in an old bottle of Airfix Liquid Poly used to fill the ejector pin marks right in the middle of the wheel-well on each wing. Just as well I have some Ultimate Thinny sanders


Having given the primer time to dry onto paining the parts in AK's RLM 02. The first time I have used AK paints and I have to say they have sprayed well.








That's all for now. I need to leave the paint to dry over night before detail painting and weathering. Plus the weather is beer garden weather.

[Lysus]

Crazy, I never knew about this. Great choice! And yeah, those are some pretty sweet details for what is otherwise an inexpensive kit. I should really get one of these newer tool Airfix kits someday. Off to a good start, sir.

[Willem]

Nice idea. Like your style mate.

Off to a good start.

Looking forward to seeing the final scheme.

[Smiffy]

Crazy, I never knew about this. Great choice! And yeah, those are some pretty sweet details for what is otherwise an inexpensive kit. I should really get one of these newer tool Airfix kits someday. Off to a good start, sir.

Why thank you kind sir. I've collected a few of these new tool Airfix kits now and they sure are nice. I'd definitely recommend trying one, the difference is like night at day compared to the Airfix kits I built in the 80's and 90's.

Nice idea. Like your style mate.

Off to a good start.

Looking forward to seeing the final scheme.

Thank you

[Smiffy]

I've made a bit of progress now on the Emil, she is now primed. I will now wait for the primer to fully cure for 48 hours before doing any further sanding that my be required. I am enjoying using Stynlrez, its incredibly easy to spray through my H&S Ultra with a 0.4 needle.

While waiting for the cockpit to dry I got the wings together, though as can be seen the inserts for the guns didn't fit particularly well.


Cockpit weathered and masking tape seat belts added for a little extra detail.


Fuselage buttoned up and wings dry fitted. The dry brushing on the IP didnt show as well as I had hoped






Filling ejector pin marks on the flaps




Filling the holes for the wing armament as the BF109-E7's supplied the the Japanese had no armament.




Filling the small gaps on the horizontal stabilisers.








Filling the small gap where the rear of the wing meets the fuselage.



After leaving the filler to dry for 2 hours sanding could commence. Time to arm the Ultimate Sanders, which make light work of the job.







Control surfaces fitted and deflected to match the position of the control column. Canopy masked and fitted






Prime(r)-time






Next up will be rectifying and thing that needs doing before applying the camouflage. Thanks for looking

[Avgas]

Looking good so far. One tip is to dry fit the exhausts. I've built four of these 109s now and on everyone I've had to sand substantial amounts off the exhaust bases to get them to fit. The wing guns aren't a great fit either but that doesn't apply to your build. Other than that a nice kit.

[Cymru]

What brand of putty are you using sir?
GREAT progress so far

[Smiffy]

Looking good so far. One tip is to dry fit the exhausts. I've built four of these 109s now and on everyone I've had to sand substantial amounts off the exhaust bases to get them to fit. The wing guns aren't a great fit either but that doesn't apply to your build. Other than that a nice kit.

Thanks and thanks for the advice I shall definitely test fit the exhausts first.

What brand of putty are you using sir?
GREAT progress so far

Thanks. The putty is Humbrol thinned with liquid poly approximately 60:40. It was all I could get hold of at hobby craft and didn't fancy the 8.99 for milliput. Unfortunately hobby craft is the nearest Cambridge gets to a model shop.

[Avgas]

There a good model shop in Ely if you're up that way anytime, not too far from Cambridge I think. Can't remember the name of it but it's above a bicycle sales/ repair shop.

[Smiffy]

There a good model shop in Ely if you're up that way anytime, not too far from Cambridge I think. Can't remember the name of it but it's above a bicycle sales/ repair shop.

Thanks I shall look it up. I will be working in Ely over the school summer hols.

[Les]

There is some good work going on here, how have things progressed since your last update?