The plane I will be building for this group build is the Messerschmit Bf109E as flown by Marseille.

Marseille first fought in the Battle of Britain on 24th August, with JG2, and after a long dogfight with a skilled opponent got his first BoB kill on that day. He was famously quoted from a letter to his mother thant same day saying

'Marseille did not take any pleasure in this kill and found it difficult to accept the realities of aerial combat. In a letter to his mother, dated 24 August, he said:

Today I shot down my first opponent. It does not sit well with me. I keep thinking how the mother of this young man must feel when she gets the news of her son's death. And I am to blame for this death. I am sad, instead of being happy about the first victory.'

Towards the end of the Battle of Britain he was moved to the famous JG52, where he lasted only a few months before being moved to JG 27 for 'insubordination'. The insubordination in question appears to be for livign an overtly 'playboy' lifestyle.


The kit I will be using is the 1/48 Hasegawa Bf109E 'Marseille' kit, so i'm kind of cheating as all the required markings are in the kit .

Its a nice looking kit, very crisp and no visible flash, it also has a small PE fret.

Obligatory box shot.



and Sprues




Intention is to do it mostly OOB, but will likely add stuff if I feel confident enough, or find something I think I can do.

Been looking forward to this for a while now, wish me luck

If initial progress is slow, it's because i'm building this in tandem with my 1:1 Kitchen from IKEA

Welcome aboard Paul, Its good to see a fellow brother-in-arms. Perhaps you can provide top cover for my build?


Rowan

OK the kitchen is closing in on completion so finally found time to make a start. Apologies for bad photography, if anyone can provide tips on gettign better resolution on these photos i would really appreciate it.

Work starts, as ever with the cockpit, side walls lacked a bit of detail so painted some extra in.




Wasn't keen on the foot pedals so made the holes in them, added some wires behind, although they arent at all visible on the photo. Scratch made a rubber boot on the stick as well, as this wasn't included in the kit and all the source photos i can find seem to indicate the presence of one, again not too visible.



Have drilled out a hole in the seat for the seatbelts and will scratch the seatbelts as the moulded on ones are hideous (no photo here sorry), next job will be putting the whole 'pit together.

So good to finish up tiling and get on with some proper work

Cockpit finished.



Seatbelts were scratched from tape and some spare PE frets i had. Had to make 2 sets as carpet monster ate the first.

Next job is fuselage.

Looking good

Getting close to finished, more in progress shots inc soon and hopefulyl some better finished ones

Ok thought I had taken more in progress pics than this, but this is all I have

Fuselage and wigns stuck together, fit was superb, as seems to be normal with Hasegawa kits, had to do a bit of filling aroudn the cockpit, but otherwise very nice.

Masked up and airbrushed with Lifecolor paints, first time using them and I think i'm in love, went on beautifully, didn't dry early and left a lovely smooth finish. Definetly will be using them in future.




Camo finished, and nose and fins done, love the contrasts thsi gives on the 109, really sets it apart



had issues with the yellow paint, had a bit of a run and needed to set airbrush down for a second to clean it, knowing full well I would knock it over. Tried 5 different spots before I was satisfied it was safe, then knocked it over with 3 seconds, oh well.



Thats all I can find atm, will check camera to see if I missed uploading some. Need to finish work on the undercarriage and tidy up a bit then see if I can take some better pics.

that 109 looks likes its been through the wars....

Must say I love the colour matches of the Life colour paints though. I really must convert fully. I've had some Itallian colours for a little whilte now and have found them really easy to use.

Great build mate, I could do with an escort for my He111 and Bf110. they're getting chewed up by a gaggle of spits and hurricanes in the gallery!

Looking good

Pics or no, that Emil is looking nice!