Hobby Boss 80369 Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a (Jet Striker)

 Kit#: 80369.

Price: 16$

Decals: Two options.

Notes: Aircraft painted as the Jet Striker from the Strike Witches 2 anime.

History:

From the Strike Witches wiki: "Etherjet Strikers (commonly known as jet strikers) were invented by researchers in Karlsland and built in Neue Karlsland. They are faster and more powerful than an average striker unit. It was able to ascend really fast. However, only witches with strong magical capabilities as well as support from their familiar can safely use them, and it didn't seem good for flying for a long period of time. Although they're very powerful and faster, a defect in the machine caused the first test pilots to suffer from heavy magic power consumption and made them crash. The strikers have two cohets that, as the striker unit runs on magic power, the shock diamonds appear as disks similar to the rune shields used by the witches. While it depends on the model, Jet Strikers are usually capable of a maximum speed of about 950 km/h.

The main model of the Jet Strikers is the Messerscharf Me 262, with sub-models as the V1 and the A-1a. On May 22 of 1943, Air vice-marshal Adolfine Galland from the Karlslander Air Force performed a test-flight with the Me 262. Afterwards, she proposed its manufacture in an imperial conference and Frederick IV, a known lover of new technology, accepted it. Galland had high hopes in this model. Initial testing looked promising. The 262 set a new altitude record of 16,000+ meters. In spring of 1945, Ursula Hartmann developed the first Jet Striker Unit prototype, the ME-262 Swallow, which was delivered to the 501st JFW for testing. Gertrud Barkhorn tested it, and during its third test of speed, Barkhorn fainted and crashed into the Adriatic Sea. The Prototype was then locked away and was scheduled to be sent back for further development. After scrambling to intercept a Neuroi, the prototype fell to its destruction. The remains of it were sent back with Ursula Hartmann. Post war, Jet Striker prototypes became the main focus of development."

Real life description from the Tamiya Me 262A-1a: "Development of the Me 262, the first practical jet powered fighter in the world, started in 1939. In July 18th 1942, Me 262V3 made its flight with two Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines. After prototypes featuring nose housed landing gear and improvem Jumo 004B engines, the first production model of the Me 262 was completed. Capable of 870km/h top speed, the Me 262 featured 18,5 degree receding wings. With Allied bombing raids on the German homeland were rapidly intensifying, the Luftwaffe proposed the hastened deployment of the of the revolutionary Me 262 as a jet fighter/interceptor. However, Hitler issued strict contrary orders prioritizing the deployment of the A-2a fighter bomber version of the Me 262. Despite these orders, the A-1a assigned to Me 262 test/training units (Ekdo 262) were deployed to intercept and succesfully shot down Allied Mosquitoes and Spitfires. On September 1944, the first practical unit was organized and on November 4th, full scale production of the Me 262A-1a was permitted at last. Me 262A-1a fighters were assigned to units such as JG7 (organized based on Ekdo 262) and KG (J) 54 (re-orginised from bomber unit to fighter unit). On April 1945, just before the end of WW2, Lieutenant Galland organized an elite unit of ace piloted Me 262A-1a fighters as JV44. Although the Luftwaffe was on its last wing, ace flown Me 262A-1a fighters packed with deadly armaments of four MK108 30mm cannons, as well as W.Gr 21 and R4M air-to-air rockets continued to threaten Allied aircraft until the end of the war."

The Kit:

The kit comes in a top opening box with a nightfighter  Me 262A-1a flying. There're a total of 11 sprues, 9 in light grey and two in clear plastic. The parts have finely done panel lines, and the aircraft is covered in rivets. The kit also comes with a nose weight in the shape of the nose landing gear well, just as the Tamiya kit (there's also a plastic nose gear well too).

Instructions are of the black and white type in a booklet style, there're 7 construction steps in total.

The kit also comes with a fully coloured painting and decalling page. There're two decal options (mixed in the painting instructions):

1) Me 262A-1a "Red 2" of 10/NAGe 11, painted in RLM 81/82/22.

2) Me 262A-1A 9K+LK of I/KG51, 1945, painted in RLM 81/82/76.

Construction:

After taking a look at the instructions, I realised this kit is similar to its big brother, the Trumepeter 1:32 Me 262A. Excepting the flaps, slats and ailerons, which come moulded into the wings, everything is the same as the Trumpeter offering.

Back to the kit, I began by painting all the cockpit parts in RLM 66 (Revell 78), and the fuselage interior parts in RLM 02 (Revell 45) After all that was dry, I assembled it together and left them to dry.

Next came the machinecannon bay. I didn't paint those parts since they were going to be covered by the hatches. I finished building them and the gun bay was glued to the metal nose gear well with epoxy glue. After glueing the gun bay to the metal nose weight, the instructions tell you to add the nose landing gear strut, but you can safely add the strut after the aircraft is fully painted and decalled.

I next glued the nose gear/gun bay into the fuselage. The first one was glued with CA, and the cockpit was glued in place with regular Revell Contacta Glue. After that, I glued the nose and gun cover into the fuselage. At this point, you have the option of glueing the cannon hatches open or closed. I decided to close them, because I like the look of a clean Me 262. Before closing up the fuselage, I glued an extra 30 grams weight inside the aircraft, since I didn't know if the supplied nose weight would be enough to avoid a tail sitter.

I then glued the horizontal stabilizers and the rudder, together with the fully built up wings,to the fuselage. I then built up the engines and glued them to the wings.

Colours and Markings:

The Jet Striker V1 of Strike Witches 2 is painted entirely in red with a yellow band on the aft of the fuselage. Before painting the red, I primed the entire model in white (Revell 05), to give the red a good surface to stick to. I first painted the yellow band (Revell 14), and then painted the red (Revell 36). I then covered the model with two coats of Revell's gloss varnish to prepare the surface for the decals. 

The Karlslandian Luftwaffe has a similar insignia to the real life WW2 Luftwaffe, but the Iron Cross in split in half, making an X. The crosses came from an Eagle Cals decal sheet. After letting the decals dry for 24 hours, I coated the entied model with two brush coats of Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

I painted the landing gear in RLM 02 and the wheels in RLM 66 with black hubs. These pieces were then glued into the plane, and left to set before putting the aircraft on its wheels. The clear parts were the last pieces to be glued into the model. 

Conclusions:

Painting this kit in an all red colour scheme is a change of pace compared to the regular 262s painted in the Luftwaffe late war colours. The Hobby Boss kit is recommended for those who don´t have the money to buy the Tamiya kit.

References:

Tamiya's Me 262A-1a instructions.

This link of the Strike Witches wiki: https://worldwitches.fandom.com/wiki/Striker_Unit

ICM 48239 Junkers Ju 88C-6b (What If for Walter Ehle's aircraft)

Kit#: 48239.

Price: 32$

Decals: Four options.

Notes: Decals stick to the surface as soon as you place them.

History:

From the Revell Ju 88C-6Z/N: "During the Second World War, the Junkers Ju 88 embodied what the Eurofighter, the Rafale and the F-22 represent in our day. The MRCA, Multi Role Combat Aircraft. It served as a conventional high altitude bomber, a dive bomber, and was just as effective as a night fighter or even a torpedo bomber engaging surface vessels. It could also be used as a tank killer and against railway targets, or even as a mine layer or reconnaissance aircraft. During its final days it was used as a bomb carrier in a composite unit under a Bf 109 or Fw 190. The Ju 88 was still in full production at the end of the Second World War and up to this point in time more Ju 88s had been built than all other Luftwaffe bombers put together, over 15000 aircraft."

The Kit:

10 sprues of light grey and clear plastic come inside a single resealable bag. This is one of the many variants of the Ju 88 made by ICM released some years ago. The instructions come in the shape of a thick booklet in full colour.

There're four decal options included in this kit:

1) Ju 88C-6b of Wilhelm Beier, 10/NJG 1, Leeuwarden, October 1942. Painted in RLM 74 uppers and RLM 75 undersides.

2) Ju 88C-6b of Prinz Heinrich Zu Sayn Wittgenstein, Stab IV/NJG 5, Orel, Russia. Painted in RLM 76/75/22.

3) Ju 88C-6b of 3/NJG 4, Mainz, March 1944. Painted in RLM 76/75.

4) Ju 88C-6 of 6/NJG 2, Kassel, Spring 1944. Painted in RLM 76/75.

Construction: 

When I first opened this kit, I felt daunted by the amount of pieces that came inside the bag. I was really hoping for something simple than the Revell 1:32 Ju 88A-1 I had built last year (which was an exercise in patience).

What I first did was to paint all the cockpit parts in RLM 66 (Revell 78). Once they were dry, the pieces were put together, and the cockpit was built in a single day. So far, the kit was proving to be easier than the Revell 1:32 kit. Once I was finished with the cockpit, I glued it to the fuselage, together with the tailwheel assembly (which comes as a single piece, including the tail wheel), and closed the fuselage. I then moved on to work on the seats and the cockpit floor. I glued the rudder pedals and control stick to the cockpit floor, which were previously painted in RLM 66 (Revell 78), and then were left to dry. After everything was dry, I glued the cockpit floor tot he fuselage.

After the construction of the cockpit, you have to build the tail, horizontal stabilizers and wings. The first two fitted like a glove into their openings in the fuselage, but the wings turned out to be the most difficult stage in the entire kit, since they didn´t want to fit into place. After putting quite a fight, I was able to glue the wings in place, and left them to dry for the day. After the wings had dry, I glued the flaps, airlerons and rudder to the aircraft.

I then went to work on the landing gear. Unlike Revell, ICM provides a very clear assembly stage of their gear. The parts were painted in RLM 02 (Revell 45) and then glued into place.

The engines came next. ICM provides two complete engines for the kit, but I only needed them to hold the exhausts and the propellers, so I built the bare bones of the engines an glued them in place. After that, I trapped the engines into their respective cowlings, glued the radiator faces, and tried gluing the engines into the wings. This step also proved to be challenging, since they didn't want to fit properly. After more fighting with them, I was able to get them in place. The engine cowling s were then glued into the wings. The last step after working with the engines was to glue the flame dampers. 

Colours and Markings:

I had decided to paint the model as the Ju 88C-6b of Prinz Heinrich Zu Sayn Wittgenstein. Thus, I painted the upper sides of the aircraft in RLM 76 (Revell 49), mottled them with RLM 75 (Revell 47), and then painted the lower fuselage sides with RLM 22 (Revell 08). I then coate the entire aircraft with Revell's gloss varnish.

I found out when I tried to place the decals, that they were as Eduard's in house ones, they sticked to the surface solidly after placing them. And I had placed one of the crosses in an incorrect position and wouldn't move. It was then that I decided to strip the paint and decal and paint the aircraft in an entirely black camouflage colour. Luckily I had on my decal stash a decal sheet for several Bf 110 nightfghter aircraft, so I went with a "what if" route and decalled this Ju 88 as Walter Ehle's Ju 88 (it should be a Bf 110). I then gave the aircraft two coats of Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

I intalled the lower gondola to the lower fuselage, and glued the antennaes to the nose. The wheels were painted with black hubs and RLM 66 (Revell 78) tyres. The landing gear doors were painted in black. The clear parts were painted black and glued into their opening with Revell's clear Contacta glue.

Conclusions:

ICM has lauched a very good series of Ju 88s, and for 32$, one can have many of them. Mind the decals though, have some spares.

Academy 12327 Focke Wulf Ta 183 in 1:48 (Erich Hartmann)

Kit#: 12327.

Price: 24$

Decals: Six options.

Notes: Reboxed Amtech kit.

History:

From Wikipedia: "The Focke Wulf Ta 183 Huckebein was a design for a jet-powered fighter aircraft intended as the successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other day fighters in Luftwaffe service during World War II. It was developed only to the extent of wind tunnel models when the war ended, but the basic design was further developed postwar in Argentina as the FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II. In early 1944, the Reich Air Ministry became aware of Allied jet developments, and were particularly concerned that they might have to face the Gloster Meteor over the continent. In response, they instituted the Emergency Fighter Program which took effect on July 3, 1944, ending production of most bomber and multi-role aircraft in favour of fighters, especially jet fighters. Additionally, they accelerated the development of experimental designs that would guarantee a performance edge over the Allied designs, designs that would replace the first German jet fighters, the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe and Heinkel He 162 Spatz."

The Kit:

Inside a top opening box with the boxart of Erich Hartmann's Ta 183 attacking a formation of B-17s over Europe, there're a total of seven sprues bagged in three independent bags. Six of the sprues are mouded in dark grey, and one in clear plastic. Also included are a fret of photoetch pieces and masks for the canopy.

There're a total of six decal options on the sheet printed by Cartograf:

1) Erich Hartmann's Ta 183 Black Chrevrons. Painted in RLM 76/75/74.

2) Heinz Bär's Ta 183 "Red 13." Painted in RLM 81/82/76.

3) Ta 183 "White 3," Unknown Unit in 1946. Painted in RLM 81/82/76.

4) Ta 183 "Red 1," JG 1, early 1946. Painted one half in RLM 81 and the other half in RLM 82 over RLM 76.

5) Ta 183 "Green 3," Stab of JG7, early 1946. Painted in RLM 81/82/76.

6) Ta 183 "Red 2," captured example by the Russians. Finished in silver.

Construction:

I began by painting on the sprues all the cockpit pieces in RLM 66 (Revell 78). The seat's cushion was painted in brown. The control stick was painted in RLM 66 with black for the base and the grip. Next, I glued all the cockpit pieces to the cockpit tub, and set it aside to dry.

Next came the fuselage halves. These need to have the wheel wells glued before closing them. I glued piece B2 to the right fuselage half, and piece B1 to the left fuselage half. Academy tells you on the instructions to glue the fuselage halves first, and then add the cockpit and nose gear well, but I decided to glue the cockpit first to one fuselage half, and then glue to its back a weight, since I was afraid the kit would be a tail sitter. The nose gear well was then glued to one side of the fuselage. It was at this time that I also glued the cover that goes in the belly of the aircraft. You have the option to attach a drop tank instead of the flat blanking plate. I also glued the intake and the exhaust.

Then, I began working on the wings. These are a top and bottom thing. At this stage, you have the opportunity to open holes for the underwing armament, which consist of four air-to-air X-4 rockets. I chose not to open the holes for them. When I test fitted the wings into the fuselage sockets, I discovered their tabs were a tad wider than what they should be, so I filed them a bit and then glued them to the fuselage halves.

Colours and Markings:

I had decided to paint this model as Erich Hartmann's aircraft, with the black tulips. The camouflage of several splotched of RLM 74 and 75 over an overall coat of RLM 76 didn´t rock my boat, so I went and chose the camouflage style of options 2 and 3, a splintern camouflage. To avoid leaving paint ridges (I brushpaint), I first painted the entire fuselage in RLM 75 (Revell 47 Mouse Grey), then masked and painted the RLM 74 (Revell 69). Once the upper sides were done, I painted the undersides in RLM 76 (Revell 49). I also painted the wheel wells in RLM 02 (Revell 45). Once all the colours were thoroughly dry, I brushed two coats of Revell's gloss varnish, to prepare the surface of the model for the decals.

The decals are from Cartograf, so quality is assured from the start. I began decalling by applying the tulips for Hartmann's machine. I put first the the petals 41 and 42 to have a good guide for placing the other tulips, but sadly, one of the tulips was off-centre after I finished the nose. After applying the tulips, I applied the other decals, which behaved perfectly and posed no issues whatsoever. Two tulips have to go above the nose landing gear doors, so I recommend other modellers doing this scheme that they tape the doors to the fuselage, apply the door's tulips, cut them with a fresh hobby knife, apply Microsol to make the decals conform to the imperfections, and left them to dry thoroughly.

Final Construction:

I painted the landing gear struts in RLM 02 (Revell 45), the wheels were painted with black hubs and panzer grey tyres, and the landing gear doors were painted in RLM 76 (Revell 49). All these parts were glued together and left to harden. The last part to be glued was the canopy, which was previously masked and painted in RLM 66 and then RLM 75.

Conclusions:

This is a welcome addition to the Luft 46 scene. There aren´t many kits of this subject in 1:48. The plane isn´t that big, and you can make many of them and form your own Gruppe with them.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_183

 

Airfix 1:48 A05120 Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 (Adolf Galland)

Kit#: 05120.

Price: 21$.

Decals: Three options.

Notes: Parts for every important Bf 109E variant.

History:

Adolf Galland was a German WW2 ace and general, who served in the Luftwaffe since the times of the Condor Legion in Spain. He was born on March 19th 1912 in Westerholt, Westphalia.

He became a glider pilot in 1929, and became a pilot in 1932 after graduating from the German Commercial School. He then applied to join the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, was accepted, but didn´t join in the end.

Galland was transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1934, and volunteered in 1938 to join the Condor Legion to fly ground attack missions in support of the Nationalists in Spain.

During the invasion of Poland in 1939, Galland flew again ground attack missions. His superiors allowed him to fly as a fighter pilot in early 1940.

During the Battle of France and Britain, Adolf Galland flew Messerschmitt Bf 109s. He had accumulated 57 kills by the end of 1940. During 1941, he stayed in France to combat the RAF and, by the November of the year, his tally had risen to 96. A

Also in November of 1941, because of the death of General der Jagdflieger (General of Fighters) Werner Mölders, Galland was appointed to this position until January 1945. As General der Jagdflieger, he was forbidded from flying.

Between January and February of 1942, Galland designed the Luftwaffe´s air cover for the Kriegsmarine´s Operation Cerverus, with a resounding success. For this he was awarded the Knight´s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.

Over the years, Galland´s relationship with Reichmarschall Hermann Göring deteriorated because of their differences on how to handle Germany´s air defense and the Luftwaffe.

In 1944, and with the Allied bombing offensive in full force, Göring blamed Galland for the Luftwaffe´s inability to counter the bombings, and was relieved of his command in January 1945 because of his constant criticism over the Luftwaffe´s leadership. Galland was placed under house arrest after the Fighter Pilot´s Revolt.

In March 1945, Galland was allowed to fly again, and to form Jagdverband 44, and all jet fighter unit, and flew with it until the end of the war.

After WW2, Galland travelled to Argentina, acting as a consultant for the Argentinian Air Force. He returned to Germany later to manage his own business. He also befriended RAF aces Robert Stanford Tuck and Douglas Bader.

Adolf Galland died in Oberwinter, Rhineland-Palatinate, on February 9th of 1996.

The kit:

The kit comes in Airfix´s tradition red top opening box, with a really great boxart showing Adolf Galland battling Spitfire Mk.I DWoK over the skies of the British countryside.

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. 

There´re three decal options included:

1) Adolf Galland´s JG26 Bf 109E-4/N with telescopic sight. Painted in RLM 04/02/71/65, with heavy RLM 71/02 mottling on the fuselage sides and yellow cowling and rudder. 

2) Bf 109E-3 White 4, 4/JG51. Painted in RLM 02/65/71 with RLM 02 mottling.

3) Bf 109E-1 , Schlactgeschwader/Lehrgeschwader 2, painted in RLM 02/71/65 and with and RLM 71 cross-shaped camouflage pattern.

Other options of the kit are the separate flaps, slats, ailerons and elevators. Flaps and slats are keyed to be placed in the extended position. Should you want to raise them, you´ll have to cut the tabs and trim those pieces slightly, since they were designed to be glued extended. The sltas also have really thin plastic, so if you want to place them in the retracted postion, make sure to use CA glue instead of regular plastic glue, to avoid unwanted damage to the plastic.

Construction:

Before opening this kit, I had tried my luck with Revell´s reboxed kit from ICM P-51C Mustang III in 1:48. Lack of locating holes and warped fuselage parts made me put the kit in my spare parts box, with lots of frustration. After that, and not wanting to clear my table, I decided to finally open this kit.

I began with the cockpit. I painted all the parts with Revell 45, while also painting the smaller ones such as the trim wheel and the control stick in silver and black with a brown base. While that was drying, and cut the fuselage halves from their sprue and glued two small pieces to each side, while also painting the cockpit openings in Revell 45. 

Before gluing the cockpit, I test fitted the fuselage halves, and they were a perfect fit. Due to the big locating pegs, you can basically join the fuselage halves without glue.

With the cockpit dried, I glued it to one of the fuselage halves and left it drying, while I cut the propeller shaft and its backing plate, and glued them together while also taking care to have them aligned, and have a spinning propeller. After that was dry, the fuselage halves were glued together, and the propeller shaft was still spinning freely. 

While the fuselage was drying, I cut the engine cowling, trimmed it a bit, and glued it to the fuselage assembly. I also built the nose radiator assembly and painted it in black. The piece that serves as a base for the radiator needs to be trimmed a lot, it won´t fit onto its opening otherwise. The fuselage was then completed after gluing the air intake to the left fuselage half.

With the fuselage complete, I took my attention to the wings. These are a simple single lower wing/two upper wings. Because I chose to built my plane as an E-4 model from the Battle of Britain, I opened the holes for the lower wing bulges that gave space to the MG/FF 20mm cannons. I glued the wings after that, and then glued the bulges. To make way for the 20mm cannons, you have to glue two inserts onto the wings. I test fitted one, and saw it didn´t have the greatest of fits, so I trimmed its locating point, and had a better fit (I repeated that for the other side). 

With the wings dry, I glued them to the fuselage, with a really nice fit between both. I also glued the horizontal stabilizers and the tailplane struts to the fuselage. The elevators were glued in the neutral position. 

It was also at this time that I had to choose on gluing the slats and flaps in the extended or retracted position. I chose retracted, so I had to remove the locating tabs from both of them. I glued the flaps into their opening, but had to trim both to make them fit. Next came the slats, and I removed a chunk of one while I was removing the mounting peg from it. The slats were superglued into place, while also fixing the broken slat with superglue. The ailerons were glued last in the neutral position. There´s a lesson here, glue the slats and flaps in the extended position, it´ll save you a lot of trimming time.

Colours and markings:

The kit was simple to paint, RLM 02/71 on the upper surfaces, RLM 65 on the fuselage sides and lower surfaces, and yellow for the rudder and cowling. Due to the pebbly surface mentioned above, I didn´t need to brush many coats of paint, since the plastic had a good grip on them.

I masked the fuselage first, and painted it with Revell 45 (RLM 02) and Revell 39 (RLM 71). I next maske the fuselage spine and painted the fuselage with Revell 49 (RLM 65). The mottling was also painted at this time, not my best job, but I´m happy with it.

The wings and horizontal stabilizers were next. They were masked and painted too with Revell 45 (RLM 02) and Revell 39 (RLM 71). The undersides of the wings were painted in Revell 49 after the upper surfaces were dry.

Before painting the yellow bits, I made sure to sand the raised paint ridges of the masking tape and the brush painting. I did this before the paint had time to throughly dry, so I removed some paint while sanding. Lesson: Let the paint dry properly before sanding. After that setback, and with the paint ridges mostly gone, I touched up the areas where paint had lifted, and went on to paint the yellow.

Yellow areas were masked and painted accordingly. These included the rudder, cowling, and propeller nose cone.

With the model fully dried, I brused two coats of Revell´s clear varnish and let it set.

Decalling started soon after. I applied first the wing crosses, and watched with delight as I saw them conforming to the panel lines almost instantly. The fuselage decals came next, first the crosses, and then the bars and chevrons. The kill marks were also applied to the rudder. Next came the lower wing crosses, and with those dry, the walking area decals. The last decals to be added were the serial numbers on the vertical stabilizer.

All the decals were given a coat of decal softener, which was left to dry, before the excess being wiped out by brushing water over it.

Final assembly:

The landing gear legs were painted Revell 45 (RLM 02) and glued into their sockets. They have a really positive fit, and leave no room for error when trying to get the "109 stance" right. The landing gear covers were painted Revell 45 on the inside, Revell 49 (RLM 65 on the outside), and then glued into the struts.

The cannons were painted black, and glued into their openings (while almost losing both of them). They´re a tight fit, you´ll have to make some pressure to make them fit.

The propeller was painted Revell 40 (RLM 70) and glued in place. With it dry, I added the spinner (painted in yellow).

The hardest part was the canopy, the pieces were fragile and had to be removed very carefully from their sprue. Having big sprue attachment points for them didn´t help either. I masked and painted the three pieces, glued with clear glue Galland´s gunsight to the windscreen, removed the pegs for the open canopy on the central piece while also gluing the headrest. I tested the three pieces into the cockpit opening, and found they didn´t fit really well, so I trimmed the central part as much as I could to get a more or less decent fit. The clear pieces were then glued, and the model was finished.

Conclusions:

A great model with a great price and great fit (excepting the canopy parts). No matter which version you choose, you´ll be left with plenty of spare parts for your next Bf 109E in 1:48, whether they´ll fit or not onto other company´s E models is another story.

The model was recently re-released by Airfix, so make sure to buy it!

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Galland