Airfix 1/72 Bf 109E-1 2/JGr 101

[Diggers11]

Hi,
Here is a selection of images from my latest completion.
An Airfix 1/72 Bf109E starter kit from Lidl forms the bases for this model along with a Yahu YMA7216 instrument panel, Eduard SS582 steel seatbelts, Rob Taurus 72034 E-3 vac-form canopy and Print Scale's 72-021 decal set.
The model is completed as a Bf109E-1 flown by 2/JGr 101 in 1939. Photos I found online labelled as being Red 10, suggest at sometime its wing mounted guns were upgraded to the E-3 spec of a MGFF in each wing. As the Airfix kit depicts this armament including the underwing blisters instead of the E-1's MG17 guns I didn't argue with the evidence.
The cockpit along with adding the Yahu panel and Eduard belts was embellished with scratch built details made from aluminium tubing, wire and plasticard. Prior to adding the photoetch the enhanced cockpit parts were primed with Ammo One shot black primer then given a coat of Xtracrylix RLM02 from an above angle to give more coverage to the areas that would receive more light and leave the areas in shadow darker. Details were then picked out with a selection of acrylic paints by paintbrush and once protected with gloss varnish an oil wash was used to add tonal variation and contrast to the cockpit. The Eduard belts worked well attached with cyano as was the Yahu panel, although it did require slight adjustment of the kit parts especially the gunsight and the metal part itself to fit correctly.
The rest of the model went together easily except the lowered flaps which fowled the underwing radiators. After minimal trimming it went together in the end. I added some more detail to the airframe such as trim tabs on all the control surfaces and a splitter in the oil cooler intake. The underwing radiator intakes were embellished with a splitter made from aluminium tubing slid through a drilled out hole in the radiator housing, which was later filled and smoothed over with a drop of cyano. All four machine guns were replaced with scratch built versions made from Albion Alloys brass tube along with the pitot tube. The same pack of tubing was utilised in making a replacement aerial mast, paired with some plasticard and sanded to shape for installation later in the build. Other improvements I made were relocating the rudder control horns closer to the hinge line to match references and adding thin plasticard discs to the wing leading edge where the older MG17 apertures were. The MGFF barrels protruded slightly outboard compared to the MG17's openings.
I carefully cut out the vac-form canopy, which was tricky. Despite the canopy being for the Tamiya kit it did fit the Airfix kit with a little adjustment. The kit supplied canopy was of the later style and the aforementioned photos found online clearly showed this aircraft retaining the early style canopy. This was dipped in AK Interactive Gauzy Glass Coat to improve its clarity.
Wire brake lines were added to the main undercarriage legs which had previously been glued to their doors to simplify the construction later on, as they are the same colour. The exhaust ends were drilled out for a better scale appearance. The propeller and spinner were cleaned up and painted then assembled to create a sub assembly to be added at the end. I went with a red tipped spinner despite the decal sheet suggesting it was yellow. Red seemed more appropriate based on references.
I primed the main airframe with One shot black primer and marble coated using white to create variation to the subsequent base colours.
Before painting the main scheme I glued the already masked canopy windscreen and rear part in place. My usual method being Microscale Crystal Klear. Unfortunately as the vac-form parts were really thin there wasn't enough surface area for Crystal Klear to provide a solid joint so I resorted to using cyano, this took a couple of attempts but in the end I managed to get a satisfactory result.
My colours of choice for this build were Mr Hobby H67 RLM65 for the underside and the same manufacturers H65 for the RLM70, the darker of the two upper surface camouflage tones. The lighter tone was provided by Ammo by MIG Jimenez's AMIG0233 RLM71. Each application was later varied with lightened down versions of the base colour to further add interest. The wheel wells and the fuselage mounted gun troughs were painted with the same RLM02 as the cockpit. I used a sandy brown to depict the canvas wheel well linings.
The Print Scale decals were added after a couple of coats of Tamiya X-22 gloss. The decals where tricky as they didn't want to leave their paper backing until they had soaked longer than I expected. I had to replace the red wing walkway markings with those from the kit, as the Print Scale ones distorted and twisted when I realised part of the text was supposed to extend on to the flaps, midway through application. The main markings went on well enough but the stencils included on the Print Scale sheet didn't match the labelling on the stencil guide, not a single number matched. I had to consult references including Eduard's 1/48 kit instructions to aid in their placement. Also the stencils that are supposed to go on the underwing radiator flaps were wider than the flap and I think they were misspelt anyway. In the end I trimmed the erroneous letter out of the middle then overlapped what was left to make it fit better. Fortunately its not too noticeable. The decals were aided in their application using Microscale's Micro Set and Sol.
After a further gloss coat the model was weathered with a selection of Ammo by MIG Jimenez panel line washes and oil paint including Ammo's Oil Brushers thinned with Enamel thinner. Ammo's matt aluminium acrylic paint also provided some chipping. A coat of Vallejo's Satin varnish was applied to create a key for further weathering with oils and enamels. Tamiya's weathering set A provided some mud for the tyres and undercarriage doors. A black/brown mix of acrylic paint was used to airbrush a recreation of the engine exhaust staining of both sides of the fuselage.

Final assembly included attaching the undercarriage and aerial mast. A new technique I tried on this build was to use thin self-adhesive aluminium tape instead of paint for the undercarriage leg oleo struts. This worked well so I may use it again on a future build. The same tape, painted black was used later in the build to create a hinge to hold the canopy in the open position. Once the model was on all three wheels it was given a final Vallejo matt coat, which was allowed to harden for a couple of days. Then the model was completed with a aerial wire made from Uschi van der Rosten "Rig that thing". This was painted with Ammo's matt aluminium. The masking was carefully removed from the canopy sections. Then only finally could the propeller/spinner assembly be added to complete the build.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy!

Mark.
 

[Hook]

Very nice! You don't see those very early schemes modeled very often.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Mig88]

Well done indeed! Great!

 

Miguel

[Hairtrigger]

Tremendous job...  Excellent pics as well.

[Sky Keg]

Excellent presentation and equally impressive is the quality of the photographs.  

 

Mike

[Farmerboy]

Airfix 1/72! Wowser!!! Great job!

[adey m]

Where on earth did you find a real E-1 to photograph from every angle and then pretend it was a 1/72 model ................... cheeky  🤔

 

Absolutely stunning.

 

regards, adey

[Aces High]

This is 1/72?!?! That's simply astonishing! Seriously, very well done indeed. Could you give us a close up of the cockpit?

[kapam]

Stunning!

Not sure if this inspires me for my build of the same kit, or completely intimidates me.

Seems like every time I see a new build of this kit, the bar is raised a few notches further!

Extremely well done!

 

[Diggers11]

Thank you everyone for your enthusiastic comments. Its a really nice kit from Airfix, the fit is good and the panel lines are not too thick, but not too shallow either. Unfortunately it lacks the earlier canopy out of the box and its not that easy to retrofit the older armament, as the underwing blisters would need removing. That would then leave a big hole in each wing to fill.

 

I see AZ models are planning to release a new tool Emil that may have more options out of the box.

17 hours ago, Aces High said:

This is 1/72?!?! That's simply astonishing! Seriously, very well done indeed. Could you give us a close up of the cockpit?

 

Its a bit difficult getting the camera into the cockpit now its finished, so here is a couple of shots taken before the fuselage was closed up.

The seat had its moulded in harness removed and replaced with the Eduard steel one. The trim wheel, throttle controls and the seat height adjustment lever are scratch built. The Yahu photo etch panel replaces Airfix's underwhelming decal.

 

[FalkeEins]

Wow, there’s a thread elsewhere asking for opinions on the ‘best’ Emil in 72nd scale which didn’t/doesn’t mention the Airfix kit! 
 

Great work!

[Tokyo Raider]

Wow...  I love it!

[woody37]

Can't believe it's 1/72, stunning. And the photo's are superb too, amazing crispness and detail for such a small kit

 

[jean]

Hi,

 

brilliant build, painting and photos!

All the superlatives are there!

Wholehearted congratulations for your masterpiece.

Just one small snag: you have depicted an E-3 rather than an E-1. The E-1 did not have canons protruding from the wings, but machine guns that were inside the wing, and as a result there was no fairing protruding on the underside of the wings.

But at the end of the day, it is a tremendously nice model, and you can call it what you really want!

 

JR

[72modeler]

Everything you did to enhance the Airfix kit have taken it to a new level- looks like a Tamiya or ICM kit now! For future reference, if you decide to do another with the flaps down, be aware that the flaps and ailerons were interconnected, so the ailerons drooped with flap extension. A detail often missed on builds. Does not detract in any way from your outstanding build!

Mike

[Jeddahbill]

Excellent work!  A real inspiration!

 

Bill

[Diggers11]

Thanks everyone again for your comments.

 

 

18 hours ago, jean said:

Hi,

 

brilliant build, painting and photos!

All the superlatives are there!

Wholehearted congratulations for your masterpiece.

Just one small snag: you have depicted an E-3 rather than an E-1. The E-1 did not have canons protruding from the wings, but machine guns that were inside the wing, and as a result there was no fairing protruding on the underside of the wings.

But at the end of the day, it is a tremendously nice model, and you can call it what you really want!

 

JR

As I understand it a lot of E-1's had their wing armament updated to the MGFF from the MG17's, which were standard on the E-3's. As the photos I found show a circular patch over the old hole in the wing leading that the MG17's used to fire through, I presumed it was built as an E-1. Most the references to the aircraft also list it as being an E-1. I don't know if replacing the guns was classed as a field mod or a rebuild. So I am still calling mine an E-1 with E-3 armament, a E-1/3 if you like.

 

18 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Everything you did to enhance the Airfix kit have taken it to a new level- looks like a Tamiya or ICM kit now! For future reference, if you decide to do another with the flaps down, be aware that the flaps and ailerons were interconnected, so the ailerons drooped with flap extension. A detail often missed on builds. Does not detract in any way from your outstanding build!

Mike

I found out about the drooped ailerons during the build and I bent them down to what I thought looked the correct angle at the time. Unfortunately since then they seem to have returned closer to their original position. Its easy enough to fix, ill just bend them back down a bit. The plastic is soft enough and they are moulded as part of the lower wing half so they bend along a recessed hinge line.