Eduard 1/32 BF-109 E over the Balkan peninsula

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So with no wingy stuff on the bench i decided to get a new plane kit from the stash
This time it will be a bit larger then what i am used to as this is a 1/32 kit instead of a 1/48 that i usually build

This is the kit i will be building

It is one of the few BF-109 kits in this scale by Eduard and it offer 2 types of the BF-109 E
Namely the E4 and E7

So what do we get in this kit

2 sets of canopies
I haven't noticed a clear difference between the 2 but i guess 1 is slightly different then the other


The fuselage


The wings


Propellor and controlsurfaces


Parts for the cooling ,landing gear and exhausts


Cockpit parts


Engine parts


2 frets of photo etch detailing parts


Mask set


Decals


Resin parts





4 of the 5 paint schemes
The 5th is on the front of the instructions but as you can see they all are pretty much the same


Not part of the kit but i bought it from a fellow modeller and he had this Montex mask set in the kit
I don't know if they are good or not and they are ment for the Airfix E3 version but i haven't decided if i will use them

So that is the kit content
My plan is to make it with the canopy open but the engine coweling will be closed
As there is no way to put the coweling on with the engine installed
So what i will do is to build the engine as a seperate piece
For the paintscheme i have picked option C wich is a E4 version that was stationed in Greece and Romania in 1941
I want to try a bunch of techniques and tips from my copy of the aircraft FAQ allthough i doubt i will go and buy a bunch of pencils for the chipping
That will most likely be done with paints instead of pencils
But i do want to make it look used
Not as much as my Dauntless wich looks pretty beaten up but i do want to add a lot of small chipping ,stains from gunfire and the exhausts and some other general dirt and grime
Just to see if i can improve my plane building skills

So that concludes my intro for this build
I started building it already and the cockpit and interior are ready for priming at this time
Wich is good considering i have 5 figures waiting to be primed aswell
Wich means i can do a lot of priming at once and that saves me a bit of clean up work with the Ultimate primer
It is a great primer but not the easiest to get out of the airbrush once you are done
And i don't like cleaning anyway

So take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[Hackovsky]

Looking forward to see progress on this one. The amount of things included in the base kit seems to be more the enough. Will you be having the engine on display with the kit?

[ElCapitan]

Really interesting paint scheme, you'll be glad of the larger scale when you get to those swirls I'm sure! Good luck with the build, looking forward to seeing the progress.

[MarkVerploeg]

Looking forward to see progress on this one. The amount of things included in the base kit seems to be more the enough. Will you be having the engine on display with the kit?

Yes the engine will be displayed with the plane
Just not in the plane ,the cowling won't fit over the engine unless you remove a lot of the styrene and possibly ruin the part
So i decided to make a small stand for the engine once the plane is build

Really interesting paint scheme, you'll be glad of the larger scale when you get to those swirls I'm sure! Good luck with the build, looking forward to seeing the progress.

Thanks
I have the base color on the cockpits at the moment so once the cockpit is ready i will post a update

[Hackovsky]

It is the same problem in the 1/48 scale Bf 109Es. But they are not putting there engine in the Gs and comming F versions, which is pitty.

What colors are you planning to use? Gunze?

[MarkVerploeg]

I will use the Gunze paints
They are the only ones i have with the RLM colors i need and that i actually like to use

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So after quite some time i am back on this build
After painting the base color i put it in a storage box for safe keeping
Something i don't do usually so ofcourse i forgot i was working on it
But i found it again and got right back to work on it now
The cockpit is build,painted and weathered so that is what i got to show you now
While i keep working on the rest of the build


The basecolor is H70 from the Aqueous range but i forgot the RLM number ,i think it is RLM 02
The cockpits on early German planes where still painted on the light green color while later planes where painted in a very dark grey


I chipped the top part of the seat as that is a place where the pilot and ground crew would make contact with the plane while getting in or out of it


The interior and sides where painted and weathered before i added the last bits of photo etch
Those where the printed parts so they need to go in last


With the seatbelts in place i installed the seat in the tub


The instrument panel looks pretty nice if you ask me
Eduards work though i just put it together


Then i placed all the parts in the fuselage halfs
And noticed i forgot the backplate of the cockpit but that can be added later


And the fuselage was closed up

And that is all i have for now
I am currently working on the wings and other control/steering parts and should be able to have most of the building part finished today ....i hope anyway

Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[Davethepitch]

Nice details

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you Dave
The detail is okay i guess but a 1/32 plane could be better in my opinion
But then again this is not quite a recent released kit
From what i have seen the new 1/48 BF109's from Eduard are a bit better

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So here is the update to round up the building stages of this plane
By now it is ready for primer for a couple of days but i didn't get around to posting a update
The construction was pretty straight forward but there where some points i didn't like too much
First was the flash on several parts like the edge where the canopy goes
Then there where the flaps and slats on the front and back of the wings ,they can only be fitted in a extended position
The flaps could be adapted by cutting the pins to make them fit
But the slats don't have that option
These parts are slightly too thick so even if you remove the positioning pins they would stick out a bit

But after some research i found that several units of the Luftwaffe had the habbit to leave the flaps and slats in the extended position after landing as they would be in these positions for take off aswell
So in the end it isn't a big problem

And now for the pics as those are more intresting then my ramble about the kit


After the fuselage halfs where fitted together i finished the tail section
They only comment i have about it is that the 2 pe steering rods don't fit all that well and i had to shorten them a bit


The fit of the wings was good
Only a small seam to remove at the leading edge


The wings where fitted and the slats where placed


The engine cowlings and steering surfaces where placed aswell
The cowling is a bit of a puzzle but not too hard


The last part of the instrument panel was fitted
And the propellor was put together


The last parts on the bottom where placed


You even get to place these tiny strips of pe in the intakes


Then the front and rear of the canopy where placed
The middle part will be painted seperate as that makes painting easier
And masking too for that matter


Everything was placed together for the photo
The few seperate parts will be placed on sticks for priming and painting



And everything was placed on sticks
The prop can still be removed and for painting i will remove it as the spinner will be painted in 2 colors
2/3 will be dark green and the other part will be white
The paintscheme will be a pretty standard one for the BF109 with a splinter camo on the wings and mottling on the sides of the fuselage
The Montex maskset that i received with the kit will probably stay unused as i plan to use the decals instead of the marking mask from the set

And that is all i have for now
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[Stokesy44]

Looks like a superb build so far. Good luck with the painting.

[Skullfish]

Fantastic mate!, ive somehow ended up with 2 of these in the stash must have slipped while browsing ebay
ill follow along

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks guys
The kit is not that bad but you can tell it isn't the best either
But still good enough for me
The painting will begin soon but i didn't check my paint supply all that well
I have the mr hobby aqueous colors for late war german fighters like the FW-190 as i ordered those using the instruction from Eduard's FW-190 kit but they are different then a early war BF-109
So i am missing a couple of colors like the ones for the prop and one of the main colors for the splinter camo
So while i wait for those paints i can decide if i want to pre or post shade it

[demarcation]

Great work so far mate!!

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So after quite a long time the Messerschmidt is painted
Well base painted ,i still need to paint the gun and cannon barrels and the inside of the slats on the front of the wing as i think those have a different color then the RLM 70 or 71(the light green) that is used all over the plane
I went for a less traditional scheme with colored wing tips and stripes on the side instead of mottling wich was more common on the BF-109




I quite like the look of the spinner with the white on it and that should look pretty nice with some chipping on it
But i want to add the decals first so i can do some chipping on them aswell
So tomorrow i will do a gloss coat to prepare the plane for the decals

And that was all i have for now
Hopefully i will have more to show soon but at the moment the The end is nigh sig has the priority as that needs to be finish by the end of the coming week
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
Just a little update this time
But after being painted for quite i while this build finally got it's decals
The eduard decals are pretty nice to work with
They let go from the paper pretty fast and overall they look good
The only one that was a bit off was the red cross on the hatch that holds the first aid kit
The cross was a bit off centre but the others look a lot better





There aren't a whole lot of decals on the plane but then again they didn't have that many markings back then
Modern jets are a different story comparred to these old planes

By now it is gloss coated for a second time and i hope to get started on the weathering soon
But at the moment i have several builds that are at the same stage of the build
All of them are decalled and ready for weathering so i probably end up westhering all of them at the same time
My idea is to only use washes and oils for this build
Mostly because i wanted to try using oils for the fading
Just to see if i like that better then pre or post shading
It will get chipping the old fashioned way but other then that it will be washes and oils

Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and happy modelling
Cheers
Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
Just one last update for this build
Last time the BF-109 was painted and decalled so it was nearly at the end already
Only some weathering was needed and i wasn't planning on going all out on it
My main reason was that the Luftwaffe was keeping their planes in a pretty good condition back then
They still had enough parts and supplies to keep the planes in top condition while they where still winning the war
So a really beaten up plane from 1941 would look a bit off to me
With that in mind i decided that some chipping and a wash would have to be enough


So i started out by doing some chipping
I used german field grey as the main color wich is pretty similar to the planes light green
So in order for it to work on that color i added a drop of white to it
Then i added the wash wich is Mig prod. dark wash and started to add rust to the exhausts
I used dark and shadow rust from ammo for that and then applied some rust pigments to it


I then thinned some Tamiya smoke and sprayed that around the guns and cannons
But in the end i felt i wanted a bit more color on the plane so i also used it on the panel lines but in a much thinner coat
I then matt coated it with some Vallejo matt varnish


Stains on the wings and the reworked panel lines


Bottom of the wing


Then the canopy was installed wich didn't fit all that well so a bit of trimming was needed there


Antenna wire was done with the rigging wire from Ammo
Made by Ushi van der Rosten i think


Some dust on the wheels
They often where atationned at makeshift airstrips or grass fields so they would get a bit dirty


And i called it finished
Had a look if i forgot something but i think it is okay

I then took some better pics outside but i will keep those for the plane gallery
Overall not a bad build but the kit is showing a bit of age
Newer Eduard kits like their MiG-21 range are defently better made kits but i also made some lower quality kits comparred to this one
So thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and happy modelling
Cheers
Mark