Airfix 05120B Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3/E-4 (Franz von Werra)

Kit#: A05120B.

Price: 27$

Decals: Three options. 

Notes: Nothing noted.

History: 

From the kit's instructions: "Classed as on of the outstanding aircraft of the Second World War, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Luftwaffe's standard day fighter from 1938 to 1945. A low wing, single seat monoplane, the Bf 109 was designed by Professor Willy Messerschmitt in 1934.  The type first saw combat during the Spanish Civil War in 1937, and two years later formed the spearhead of the Luftwaffe's fighter units in their Blitzkrieg across Europe. In September 1940, the Battle of Britain saw the Bf 109 pitted against the RAF's Spitfires and for the first time Germany's much vaunted fighter met its equal in combat..." 

The Kit:

Inside the box there were three sprues (two grey and one clear) in a single sealed bag, with the clear parts sealed in their own bag. The plastic inside is joined to the sprues with some fairly large sprue gates for the big parts, and small sprue gates for the smaller parts. The grey plastic has a pebbly surface to it and deep panel lines, perfect for those who brush paint. The greatest thing about this kit (and for the price), is that it comes with all the parts you may need to build your favourite Bf 109E variant, from the E-1, going through the Jabo aircraft, to the E-7 and E-7/Trop (4x50kg bombs, 1xSC250 bomb, three types of spinners, fuel tank, tropical filtre, and early/late canopy options). The clear parts are protected in their own bag, and the sprue gates for those parts are rather hard to cut, so you have to be extra careful to not break the parts. Painting instructions came in a single foldable sheet of glossy paper, with the part listing on the back of it. 

Three decal options are included with this kit:

1) Bf 109E-4 "Chevron and Bar," Franz von Werra. Painted in RLM 02/71/65 with white wingtips and rudder.

2) Bf 109E-3 "Yellow 1," Josef Priller. Painted in RLM 02/71/65 with squiggles of 65 in the wings and heavy mottling of 71 on the fuselage, plus a yellow cowling and yellow rudder.

3) Bf 109E-3 "L-52," Milutin Grozdanovic. Painted in RLM 71/65.

Construction:

I began construction, not surprisingly, in the cockpit. The parts were painted in RLM 02 with silver rudder pedals, trim wheel and black details on the instrument panel and the fuselage sides. After fully building up the cockpit, I glued it to one fuselage half and trapped it with the other half. It was at this time that I chose to glue the cowling in place, together with the intake that goes on the left side of the fuselage. I glued too at this time the oil cooler.

I next built up the wings. Before gluing them, you have to open the ejector chutes on the lower half of the wing for the E-3/E-4 wing. After that was done, I glued the wings, together with the flaps, ailerons and slats. The wing radiators were also glued at this time. I also glued the inserts for the wing machineguns into place.

With the wings completed, it was time to put everything together. I glued the horizontal stabilizers, rudder, and wings into place to the fuselage.

Colours and Markings:

Franz von Werra's aircraft was painted in the Luftwaffe's mid war colours of RLM 02/71/65. I brushpainted the fuselage first with RLM 02/71/65, then I painted the upper wings with 02 and 71, and then I painted the lower wings with 65. The white details were also painted a this time, together with the RLM 65 leading edges. I then glossed the aircraft with Revell's gloss varnish to prepare the surface for the decals.

Decals behaved perfectly, and I had a fully decalled aircraft in two hours. Decalling is the most critical part of model building for me, since it can make or destroy a model if it's not done properly. After decalling, I matted the aircraft with Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

The final pieces were the landing gear doors, the wheels, propeller and canopy. I accidentally broke the propeller, but was able to reglue it with CA. The gear doors were painted with RLM 02 inside and 65 outside, while the cockpit canopy was painted with the fuselage colours.

Conclusions:

Another 109 for the collection, Airfix did a good job on portraying this important fighter in its early variant. I'd buy more of them if I had the money to do so.