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MesserMig (now MesserMovic)


kwaterous

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Stumbled onto an idea when I decided I didn't want to build my airfix bf109e the normal way.

Then I remembered, I've got the engine left over from the ICM Mig-3...

And I was wondering, what if he Germans weren't the only ones to trial one of their engines in an enemy fighter? (Messerspit)

Would this have worked? I plan to do it anyway, and have the engine exposed, maybe a maintenance scene, but it's a bonus if it's plausible.

Cheers,

K

:pilot:

Edited by kwaterous
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Sounds interesting, matching the cross sections will be the biggest job.

Russians were familiar with the Emil having bought some before the war, but if they hadn't, a crash-landed example might be fitted with an availble engine, then tried at NII-VVS in 'dissimilar combat'... it was done with Fw.190s although those had their original engines on.

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Hmm interesting about the Russians having their own 109s. Did 109 vs. 109 ever happen I wonder?

I'm pushing on with this, even if the realism isn't really there.

Step 1:

64878880-EEA6-459A-94E2-FCB87AC5884F_zps

No more german engineering up front.

Step 2: beginning to assemble the Russian replacement

86C7B15F-D01A-42DF-B65C-E691E1B112F4_zps

There seems to be many different colour options for an AM-35a so I'm following the ICM instructions.

New engine will require a new firewall

00088502-B3BE-455B-9490-C1130149CB93_zps

This is the first try, might make another one later.

Step 3: Engine painted and together

96A1ACC0-4989-4A24-B033-EB2D0BCF84E0_zps

Fit is iffy in a few places-espescially the front tanks.

I couldn't resist:

FAED4B15-B786-4590-8BF4-0F1ABCCA5AA3_zps

Looks neat with the spinner too, but that fell off right before the photo

Cheers,

K

:pilot:

Edited by kwaterous
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Hmm interesting about the Russians having their own 109s. Did 109 vs. 109 ever happen I wonder?

They had a captured B and a few Emils, five or six, bought along with bf.110, do.215, ju.88a-1 for technical evaluation. Numbers were too small to create a fighting unit and these models were likely not in German service by the time of Barbarossa. A likely use would have been reconaissance - either with Red stars or black crosses on. I have a few books on the subject, will check when i get back home this weekend.

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There were quite a few captured planes

http://wio.ru/gal2a/gal-capf.htm

but most of the fighters were not assigned to combat units, instead they were used in dogfight training

Captured Storchs, Ju-52s and Si204 were used as transports / reconnaissance planes

There was a post war unit equipped with FW-190D on Baltic Fleet

fw190_d9_15s.2bm9a0eek0bosskkocccwo4w8.e

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109 vs 109 happened over Romania, as described in one of Steinhoff's books. Presumably later over Hungary too. Not Soviet ones.

It was carefully avoided over Finland.

I have one qualification about the What-If: the AM-35 was a very heavy engine and the Bf109 would need rebalancing in some way

- a bigger tailplane at least. However a Klimov from a Yak or LaGG would have fitted better.

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Lots of interesting information coming to light here guys, thanks for all the expertise.

I'm torn on how to paint/decal this one as I'm not sure if it would be more likely in german or Russian hands. Will have to think on it.

Thanks for the info about engine weight, this could look cool with a bigger tailplane.

Cheers,

K

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  • 1 month later...

So this one has been sleeping. This is both due to my being away, and preparing for university this fall, and due to the plane suffering from an identity crisis.

I have eventually come up with a solution.

The AM-35 that I have from the Mig-3 looks quite similar to the AM-38 found in the IL-2. It stands to reason that both engines were quite durable. (I hope)

Germans, at the squadron level, were frustrated at losing large numbers of stukas in the attempt to destroy soviet tanks. During the many soviet armoured advances in early-mid 1944.

The fighter units also had a few, mostly damaged, early model bf109s left from the beginning of the invasion.

There was several cases of mechanics making modifications to existing aircraft in order to make them more capable in combat.

The most extreme case of aircraft modification will be modelled.

This included:

An early model Bf109E

A replacement of the engine with the larger, more durable, although heavier one from a soviet aircraft.

Reinforcements to most of the frame

Armour playing being riveted to the sides and top of the aircraft to increase protection.

Thick armoured glass windscreen.

Extra machine guns fitted to the wing root

Stuka style heavy cannon inter the wings.

And a powerful radio receiver able to listen to communications from german tanks.

Performance was severely lacking when compared to other fighters, however it was still better than that offer by the Ju-87.

This aircraft, and others similar to it, could be found desperately fighting on the eastern front up until the end of the war.

Hopefully this is at least mildly believeable, and I'm doing it even if it isn't :D

Cheers,

K

:pilot:

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Be that the story post is out of the way, it's time for the photo update :)

Fuselage together and armour applied with Alu tape.

26DC4D87-2F93-431D-BABD-C96856BD332F_zps

Underside showing quite a few mods. I'll leave it up to you guys to figure them out, as I don't remember them all

222A70BD-1D15-4E75-873F-2AD45763D5FD_zps

Engine prop rudder and gun pods

E30B6B8A-9920-4640-B892-7A1D32A707C1_zps

Armour plus rivets, and plane plus radio

53979A76-445A-442F-8640-7D4AB9D4C665_zps

Belly post paint job

DD19CB02-B82A-44C9-A8EF-70B97F51386A_zps

Engine plus radiator thingy and exhaust stacks. Also a painted gun pod.

80EFA9C6-9EDA-41A7-B191-0D3A5BBDAED8_zps

And that all for now. Hope to get this finished as my last pre-uni build--it'll be the last one for a long while likely :/

Let me know what you think, or the story or the build, and feedback is always welcome.

Cheers,

K

:pilot:

Edited by kwaterous
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