R11 - Airfix Bf109E

March 2017

Airfix Messerschmitt Bf109E-4/E-1

Scale 1/48

The 'E' variant.

worldwarbirdnews

The actual plane the kit is based on

Completed: May 2017

My rating: 9/10

Therapy ratting: 9/10

Very nice to come back to Airfix models, my first true love.

Well the Bf109 - it's such a classic. It's legendary connection with the Spitfire will never be forgotten, certainly not in the UK. Looking forward to putting this one together, my first '109'.

This particular plane was involved in the 'Battle of Britain' crashing at Broom Hill in Kent in September 1940, not far from where I live.

Looking over the model shows good attention to detail. All the basics are there. Nice deep panel lines although not a hugh amount of surface detail. The engine has some nice raised surfaces which will look good once highlighted.

This is a dry mock up of the cockpit. It all fits together very well so only a minimum ammount of gluing will be required.

Again, the detail in the cockpit is pretty good and what you would expect in a 1/48 scale model. Perhaps could of added a bit more ? There is room here for a little customisation. I will certainly add some home made seat belts and that yellow piping (at right) ? Maybe.

A bit surprised there are no decals for the dash. The offering here is,well, basic. Hand painting this will be a challenge.

I was a bit undecided about the internal surfaces for the cockpit. On the whole they are often a very dark grey. I choose a lighter grey with a silk varnish to lighten up what would otherwise be a bit of a black hole in the finished model.

I was pleasantly surprised with the dash after painting in the dials black with the Tamiya detail brush. I wasn't aiming at perfection, my hand isn't steady enough, and you will never match the detail of PE parts by hand (although you can come close).

The seat is rather too blue but should darken down with some black/silver dry brushing.

In the end I was pretty happy with this result. Its a bit messy in places but you don't really notice it when viewed at scale.The yellow pipe is probably too big but the nearest I had size wise.

Once everything is in place there is in fact quite a lot of detail that can be brought out with the painting. I have gone for a fairly weathered look with grime/dirt added using black dry brushing and exposed metal with silver.

I spent a couple of hours doing this, nice to make use of 'luminous' red (332) on the stick, a color I rarely use but helps add a bit of zing.

As usual once in place most of the detail is hidden so I think I will leave it at that for now.

The whole model can be pretty much assembled as a dry run which is unusual. I was very impressed with this and required only tiny amounts of cement to stick it all together. No spillage whatsoever. Nice one Airfix.

I have varied away slightly from the given camouflage scheme for the 1940 variant. The wing colours in the instructions are very dark for both colours offering little contrast. I opted to lighten up one of the greens a bit more like the photo shown above. This is more like that depicted on the box cover art.

I used the same basic 'army' green for both colours. For the brighter one I mixed it up roughly 50/50 with silver. This gives a nice sheen which varies in intensity depending on the lighting conditions.

The brown 'desert' camo on the main fuselage is a bit challenging for a brush based painter. It does have a soft gradation at the edge and I was fairly happy with this. The painting on the actual aircraft is rather coarse so you can get away with a fairly rough finish.

'another witness version said the angry women who had

filled their aprons with plums to pelt the pilot'

The Friends of BroomHill

Go see One

A nice touch is the removable engine nacelle. It fits in very snuggly so hopefully wont get lost.

This allows you to view the Daimler-Benz DB601 engine which had a top speed of 323mph. A little slower than the Spitfire Mk.1A at 367mph which may well have been decisive in the outcome of The Battle of Britain.

A good set of decals is provided with the kit. There are actually quite a lot to apply although the majority are pretty small. Altogether they took around three hours to apply.

A magnifier ( and a German dictionary) are helpful to get things the right way up. 'Heir aufbocken' anyone ?

This is a detail from the Airfix 1/24 Bf109. (Not currently available)

Some really nice weathering effects.

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