1/32 Eduard Bf109E-3 5/JG3 Black 11+- Unteroffizier Fritz Mias, Brombos, France, early August 1940

[Stew Dapple]

So with a week to go I thought I'd set out my placeholder...

 

I'll be building (and hopefully finishing this time) the Eduard Bf109E-3 in 1/32 using the markings for Black 11+- of 5/JG3 based at Brombos in early August 1940 which are part of the Kagero Battle of Britain Part 2 set and which were very kindly sent to me by @Silver Fox and for which I would like to record my gratitude: thank you Andy  

 

Trying to dig out the history of this aircraft and the pilot has produced very little apart from a few pictures on Asisbiz, so any further information about either would be gratefully received, but in short Black 11 was one of the aircraft assigned to the schwarm led by Unteroffizier Josef Heinzeller and I believe that all four aircraft received the stylised profile of the dog 'Schnauzl' in the cowling, 'Schnauzl' being Heinzeller's nickname for both his childhood dog and, apparently, his wife. What a charmer. Similarly I have been able to find out little about Unteroffizier Fritz Mias beyond the fact that he existed, his first kill was a Potez 631 or 637 on 17th June 1940 near Lecaude and he was himself shot down in 'Black 8' on 19th June 1940 in what may have been a 'friendly fire' incident whilst escorting Stukas to Cherbourg - the plane was a write-off but Mias returned safely to his base the next day. The Kagero markings for Black 11 show two kill markings, but I have not been able to find any record of the second kill, or indeed anything else about Fritz Mias. Incidentally the same markings were provided as one of the options included with the Dragon 1/32 Bf109E-3.

 

The Eduard kit is, as far as I know, pretty well thought of, with no glaringly obvious problems reported in the reviews I have read apart from the fact that as the DB601 engine is more-or-less scaled to size rather than to fit under the cowling, you have to decide early on if you want the engine on display or the cowling fitted, as you can't have both. I'll have my cowling fitted, thanks  

 

Here's the box for this particular edition of the kit, it is the Profipack version that I picked up for around half the current price:

 

 

Instructions:

 

 

Clear parts:

 

 

Wings and fuselage sprues:

 

 

Control surfaces etc.:

 

 

Various cockpit, engine and undercarriage parts:

 

 

 

 

Etched parts and masks:

 

 

 

... and decals:

 

 

 

That's what comes in the box - I've also got a... well, a raft of aftemarket stuff, to follow...  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Greg Law]

Excellent.  So you are the escort. 

[Ozzy]

Looks a really nice kit Stew.

[stevej60]

Superb choice Stew all the better for the larger scale too.

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks gents  

 

So having spent less than what we might consider market price when I bought this kit I then spent about 18 months accumulating aftermarket bits just to make sure that the economic forces of modelling followed the kharmic norms. HGW Seatbelts:

 

 

Eduard do provide a set of etched ones with the kit but to be honest etched belts don't really do it for me any more as I always manage to crack the paint/printed surface off. I started fiddling around with these and within an hour I had actually made up the whole set of belts without any trauma so they obviously get easier with experience.

 

Quickboost exhausts - again, Eduard provide an acceptable set of exhausts, but I liked these better:

 

 

Master Brass gun barrels... yes, of course Eduard provide these too, and with recessed barrel endings too, but if you've ever had one of these Master barrel sets you'll know what I mean, they are just jewel-like. This set is specifically for the Eduard kit and includes only the short MG barrel tips for a closed cowling, but I think they also do a set with the full-length MG barrels for the cowling-off option:

 

 

... and Eduard's own Brassin wheels. I remember reading that the wheel-hubs in the E-1 kit were much too shallow which might have influenced this particular purchase at the time, but Eduard had re-done their moulds for later releases with the wheel hubs in two parts giving a much deeper effect:

 

 

 

This set contains two options for the mainwheel hubs, I chose the one-piece ones because I'm lazy and I'm not really into undercarriage porn. The set is worth buying just for the tyres which are indisputably an improvement on the kit parts, but I did crush some of the detail on the wheelhub using a little too much force to get it to fit inside the tyre, a bit more sanding on the insides of the tyre might have made my life a little easier there.

 

I got my paints sorted out too:

 

 

RLM02 for the interior and with RLM71 for the uppersurface camouflage, RLM65 for the underside and fuselage sides (under a mottle of 02/71) and RLM70 for the propeller, spinner and canopy framing. The markings I'll be using are illustrated in this booklet:

 

 

Sometimes you just casually buy a book or a set of transfers or, as in cases like this, both in one, and then years later they are rarer than hen's teeth and you give a mental tip of the hat to Past You for his foresight and commendable lack of parsimony because your chances of getting one now would be pretty slim. One of the sets of markings included are this one, as discussed above:

 

 

 

Which is appealing to me, as if I were a 109 pilot I too would have wanted this sort of nose-art:

 

 

From the nickname I suspect it is meant to represent a Schnauzer rather than a West Highland Terrier (and for some reason my Westie has a pathological dislike of Schnauzers) but I will generally have a soft spot for any aircraft with a dog as its nose-art.

 

Anyway, that's me, ready to go, by great good fortune I have the 10th off work next week so once I have got the dog's long-awaited and much-needed trip to the dog-barbers out of the way I can get cracking on this...

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

[modelling minion]

Great choice Stew.

You certainly seem to be well sorted for goodies to go with your build, and I like your choice of markings too. The camouflage scheme looks good and that mottling is going to test your eyes but the best bit has to be the dog markings, and I agree with you that it looks suspiciously like a Westie.

[Stew Dapple]

Hi all,

 

As I mentioned earlier I built up the HGW seatbelts:

 

 

As my superpower is "not following the instructions", the left-hand lap-strap has a label which should be on the right-hand lap-strap but I'm confident that no-one will notice this as long as I don't mention it. Oh...

 

I painted up the Master gun barrels and attached the MG.15's to the Eduard mounting block, having first removed the kit barrels. The cannon barrels are a straight swap for the kit parts and don't require any surgery:

 

 

... and I assembled some of the interior parts ready for a black-base then a coat of RLM02:

 

 

Which I hope to do over the weekend  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

[OutcastJoel]

This looks like is going to be a seriously impressive build. That dog on the nose art really does look like a Westie, it is uncanny. I am not the biggest fan of the ME109 (I am really more of an FW190 chap) but I am looking forward to seeing this! 

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Joel  

 

The interior parts got a spray of nearly-black grey as a base ready for the RLM02:

 

 

 

I'll leave that to cure for a while; in the meantime I set about the Brassin wheel set, they scrubbed up quite nicely:

 

 

As did the Quickboost exhausts:

 

 

I might set about the etched instrument panels while I am waiting...  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Stew Dapple]

Today's progress... I fitted the canopy masks and lined the inside of the clear parts wth Blu-tack to prevent any accidental overspray:

 

 

Then the interior parts got a coat of RLM02:

 

 

... as did the clear parts:

 

 

I also sprayed the brass etched fret with Alclad Steel:

 

 

... and once the paint had dried, I started fitting some of the etched parts:

 

 

... and the harness to the pilot's seat:

 

 

I'm pretty happy with the progress I made over the weekend - helped in no small part by the fact that I wasn't working on Friday - I suspect things will slow up a bit now...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Valkyrie]

Wow that is a stunning start Stew, great colouring and detail 

[Cookenbacher]

Wonderful work Stew and some wonderful Stew Dapple signature turns of phrase:

 

On 7/3/2020 at 4:26 PM, Stew Dapple said:

Sometimes you just casually buy a book or a set of transfers or, as in cases like this, both in one, and then years later they are rarer than hen's teeth and you give a mental tip of the hat to Past You for his foresight

 

On 7/3/2020 at 4:26 PM, Stew Dapple said:

So having spent less than what we might consider market price when I bought this kit I then spent about 18 months accumulating aftermarket bits just to make sure that the economic forces of modelling followed the kharmic norms

Ah, so good.

[Stew Dapple]

12 hours ago, Valkyrie said:

Wow that is a stunning start Stew, great colouring and detail 

 

Thanks mate, in fact there is still a lot of detail to add from the photo-etch and quite a bit of detail painting to do; it should look quite nice when it's done  

 

9 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Wonderful work Stew and some wonderful Stew Dapple signature turns of phrase:

 

On 7/4/2020 at 12:26 AM, Stew Dapple said:

Sometimes you just casually buy a book or a set of transfers or, as in cases like this, both in one, and then years later they are rarer than hen's teeth and you give a mental tip of the hat to Past You for his foresight

 

Ha, thanks Cookie; I should be remiss if I didn't note that the concept of Past Me (i.e. benefitting from some decision previously made, similarly actions taken for the benefit of Future Me) originated, I believe, with our mutual friend @Procopius. Also despite my heavy undertone of smugness, if Andy @Silver Fox had not generously provided the 1/32 scale decals from the Kagero set (which I had given away from my set in the firm belief, correct at the time but less so if we follow the course of events over a couple of years, that I would not be building anything but 1/72 kits) this build would not be happening.

 

I did forget to mention that in one of the build reviews of this kit it mentioned that the etched oil-cooler matrices were too large for the plastic parts to which they are attached, and made a difficult fit; Eduard have obviously modified the etch since then as mine fitted fine.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[rob85]

This looks awfully big! Looking forward to it Stew, I might join you in building an Emil once the corsairs are tucked away... but mine will be smaller, much smaller.

 

Rob

[Bill Livingston]

Very impressed with the seatbelt... is that an HGW set? 

 

As far as painting is concerned (on the belt) what did you do..?

 

(BTW... saw Sovereign on your signature. Say 'hi' to James for me... and tell him I have moved over to the 'dark side' for this year... I normally build ships, but, well, I haven't finished one in years and am on my fourth aircraft this year - having actually finished the previous three, which will shock him!)

 

 

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Hi Bill, and thanks - yes, the seatbelt set is from HGW, it adds a fair bit to the expense but it does look better than the Eduard etched one. I basically followed the instructions from HGW, gave the straps a coat of Klear and applied a thin wash of blackish-brown before giving the whole lot a coat of matt varnish. I don't usually bother with those stages as they look good just assembled and fitted as is, but it is an improvement if time is not a particular issue.

 

Jamie won't mind that you have succumbed to the dark side - he's a forum member too and is not above building aeroplanes himself  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[MattG]

There are times when the "like" button just isn't enough.  That's a really impressive start to a lovely looking kit.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of it goes together!

 

Matt

[Valkyrie]

I really love the scheme, looks an impossible paint job. 

[Stew Dapple]

22 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

I really love the scheme, looks an impossible paint job. 

 

I always regard artists' profiles of mottled schemes as a representation of the real thing and therefore allow myself as much licence as I require in these circumstances  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

Great start Stew (as usual) - those bits look great!  

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Cedders  

 

I painted the joystick; there are two shades of black (well, both very dark grey) on the stick, one for the rubberised handgrip and 'boot' and one for the metal top of the stick and the box below the handgrip. I really shouldn't have bothered as they both look exactly the same in the picture:

 

 

I assembled the rudder pedals and their mounting:

 

 

For such a well-known aircraft there seems to be a lot of uncertainty over what parts were actually painted what colours, and as a result a lot of variety if you google "Bf109E Cockpit" for example. With the Spitfire, a little research and you can be reasonably sure that you are painting the various bits the right colours, but perhaps because there are simply less of the originals left it's not so cut and dried with the 109. Where it suits me I have used/will use the Eduard recommendations and otherwise I'll use whatever colour I like best/believe is correct despite any evidence/amuses me most. In other words, I left the rudder pedals silver, partly because I'm sure I have seen pictures of 109E's with unpainted metal rudder pedals and partly so they might be a little more visible in the cockpit when it is all closed up. 

 

I also made up the pre-painted Eduard lower instrument panel:

 

 

It's nice, I don't like the lines in the printed colour but it doesn't notice unless you get as close as I did for that picture and I couldn't have hand-painted anything nearly as good. If you're not familiar with the Eduard IP's, they usually come in two parts, one of which is positioned behind the other. I attached them with a little Micro Krystal Clear as this gives you some time to manoeuvre the parts into position rather than doing it with superglue which could end up with a mismatch. Once they had set I filled the instrment dial holes with more Micro Kristal Clear, partly to add a bit more strength and partly to give a more 'glassy' effect to the dials.

 

Next step will be fitting the pedals and panel to the cockpit part.

 

Cheers, 

 

Stew

[CedB]

Very nice work Stew - that lower instrument panel looks really nice  

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

On 7/13/2020 at 7:58 PM, Bill Livingston said:

(BTW... saw Sovereign on your signature. Say 'hi' to James for me... and tell him I have moved over to the 'dark side' for this year... I normally build ships, but, well, I haven't finished one in years and am on my fourth aircraft this year - having actually finished the previous three, which will shock him!)

 

 

 

 

 

On 7/14/2020 at 5:17 AM, Stew Dapple said:

Jamie won't mind that you have succumbed to the dark side - he's a forum member too and is not above building aeroplanes himself  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

Hi Gentlefolks both

 

I came here looking for Stew's Messerschmitt. Either the two of you have met or you've been within a few feet of each other for a while - probably with me talking with Bill whilst Stew humours someone showing him his photo album...

 

You've both been with me at Telford - simultaneously I am certain! I first met Bill through modelwarships.com on the subject of big HMS Hood models. We met Stew on our debut day trading at the Scottish Nationals in April 2015.

 

Time flies huh?

[Bill Livingston]

Hi Jamie!

 

My Hood is still 'in progress'... I think thats four years so far! 🙄 I have managed to almost finish the armour plating on the hull (I cut it down to waterline and sanded off all the moulded armour and then replaced it all with various thicknesses of Evergreen sheet so it was all 'in scale' and sharp. Almost a complete waste of the best part of six months, as I suspect, once airbrushed, it will look very similar to the original kit plating unless you look carefully (or measure it with a micrometer).

 

Hence my 'dabble' in aircraft modelling to try and get back to actual modelling, including the important bit, finishing something! (I have managed two finished Spitfires in the Spit group build which you may have seen and before that, a Tamiya Spit 1, currently on a Hurricane)

 

Hi-jack over. 

 

VERY nice painting on the cockpit interior Stew... subtle painting just makes things come alive. I'm really looking forward to watching this build evolve...

Edited July 15, 2020 by Bill Livingston

[FalkeEins]

 

 

Hi Stew,

 

the 19/06 loss record for Mias states "Luftkampf Hurricane südlich Cherbourg, Notlandung bei Brezolles, 100%" .  Not sure how likely that is  - Brezolles is a long way from Cherbourg and just as far from Brombos.