1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 109E #234 ** Finished **

[TommyF]

Never built a Heller kit before but this group build caught my eye and picked this up cheaply at The Aviation Bookshop in Tunbridge Wells last month. You can bet your bottom dollar there are kit inaccuracies but I'm likely to build mostly OOB other than the painting. A quick bit of research seems to indicate the white on the lower cowling and rudder should be yellow and I agree. 

 

Would love to hear any experiences anybody has with this kit and any other comments. Many thanks Tom

 

 

[JeroenS]

Hi Tom, welcome to the GB. Count me out as far as comments regarding this build, but I'm sure there's lots of others who have more useful things to say about the 109 🙂 

 

Good luck with the build!

[Wez]

As I said in Steve's @fightersweep build thread, I made this many times in my youth, I remember it fondly.  ISTR some of the fabric surfaces had a rough sacking like texture to them which I'd get rid of these days.

 

Looking forward to seeing this one built, a real blast from the past for me, it's been nearly forty years since I last made one.

 

Welcome and good luck.

[fightersweep]

2 hours ago, TommyF said:

You can bet your bottom dollar there are kit inaccuracies but I'm likely to build mostly OOB other than the painting.

 

Would love to hear any experiences anybody has with this kit and any other comments.  

 

Welcome aboard Tom! Can never have enough Emils. I know there are more up to date plans, but the Heller Emil matches perfectly to the 1/72 plans in the old Aerodata International book I have. Having got a few bits together on my build, and had a bit of a dry fit, it looks every inch a 109E to me and the fit is very good too. Just glued the U/C legs, doors and oleo linkage together, and that is a bit fiddly. Heller don't do locating pins on small parts. Other than that, it's a great little kit for it's age. As @Wez points out, the control surfaces are made of sack cloth, but in a funny way I find that a bit quaint. I'm pretty much building mine OOB too, so I think I'll leave them as is. Enjoy the build....I'll tag along for the ride.

 

Steve

[Rabbit Leader]

So good to see another 109 E being built and since Fightersweep (Steve) posted his, I’ve got my eye of this kit whilst also building Heller’s B/C version. Good to know this kit matches the Aerodata plans which ensures that although it’s not ‘state of the art’ it still has a fairly accurate outline. Thanks for joining us with this lovely Black Box edition. 

Cheers and best of luck.. Dave 

 

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Tom

I've not built this kit either, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

Best of luck

Cheers Pat 

[fightersweep]

Hi Tom;

 

Don't know if it's of any use, but here's a bit of info I dug out regarding the marking option for the Heller 109E. I was interested myself because having known of this scheme via Heller for a long time, it's not one I've ever been particularly familiar with.

 

"Bf-109E-4 flown by Hpt. Gunther Scholtz of III/JG 5.  During the early part of 1942, III/JG 5 were tasked with providing fighter cover for the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen during the channel dash. After this operation, III/JG 5 began relocating north to Trondheim. By 1942, most pilots were flying the 109F, but Scholtz retained his 109E as he preferred flying the Emil. The aircraft was RLM 70 overall with RLM 65 undersides. Lower surfaces of the wing tips and the lower cowling were painted yellow. The rudder was painted white. Spinner was painted 1/3 white and 2/3 RLM 70"

 

Hope this helps!

Steve

[Graham Boak]

Overall 70 was a misunderstanding based on poor quality printing of photos showing freshly camouflaged 109s.  They were in 70/71.  It has been suggested (somewhat unconvincingly to me) that some Es received  a single coat of 70 during experimental camouflage trials in 1939, but that wouldn't apply here.

 

This is simple picture is confused by views of some JG.77 Fs on the Eastern Front which quite definitely appear to have a single dark colour uppersurface - see the profile of the Bf.109F.  This sub-unit of JG.77 had both Es and Fs,  but moved to become a sub-unit of JG.5 - maybe III?    The was a old profile of a Bf109E of JG.5 in a single dark colour, but this was interpreted as RLM 74.  So you have some leeway - but the best recent works on Luftwaffe fighters in Norway does not show this scheme.  Classic's Luftwaffe Fighters and Fighter-Bombers over the Far North (Brekken and Akra) does show one E in what appears to be a very dark scheme with a low demarcation, but there is a clear pattern on the wing...  (Actually, this can be seen in other photos in other books claiming a one-colour scheme....)  The problem here, I think, it is that the white background makes it difficult to photograph camouflage patterns.

 

The book unfortunately is not indexed: it may indeed show Scholtz's aircraft somewhere but I haven't time to look though it thoroughly at the moment.  It's a beautiful book for the modeller looking for interesting schemes for the 109/110/190.

[TommyF]

Thank you for the comments so far - very interesting. I have made a little progress over the last week and I'm pleasantly surprised how it is coming together, so far so good. Everything appears to be fitting together rather well. I'm also getting interested in the Bf 109 in general and it's likely this will be the first of a series of 109's  I've just noticed the photo below has highlighted a little sanding is needed on the port wing leading edge..! 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

9 hours ago, TommyF said:

I'm also getting interested in the Bf 109 in general and it's likely this will be the first of a series of 109's

 Good thing we've got a 109 single type build next spring. 
 

 

 

[Graham Boak]

I've been able to spend more time closely reading Brekken and Akra@s book, and it does indeed have reference to Scholz (not Scholtz) and his Bf 109E.  Lo, it is described as being very dark and "may have been RLM 71".  However similar photos elsewhere in the book are described as 74.  Either way, these show a very heavy mottle rather than a single colour overall, and this aircraft shows signs of splinter camouflage on the top of the fuselage.  It also has the bottom stem of the fuselage cross extended under the belly, as the official instructions called for but was rarely seen.  The markings include the double chevron and the personal badge of a little girl under the cockpit.  The rudder and ventral cowling is also yellow, the spinner 1/3 white with a curved demarcation (rising to the rear).  There are three bands of ten kill markings on the rudder.  The Lapp boot insignia  of III/JG5 is carried on a square, white with blue vertical cross, just forward of the cockpit.  There is a colour profile of this aircraft, but the caption is mistakenly that of a different machine.  The profile shows a patchy green finish to the fuselage sides.  So you can do a green JG5 aircraft - but the text on the adjacent page says "although 74 cannot be discounted."

[TommyF]

 

On 11/8/2020 at 10:11 PM, Graham Boak said:

I've been able to spend more time closely reading Brekken and Akra@s book, and it does indeed have reference to Scholz (not Scholtz) and his Bf 109E.  Lo, it is described as being very dark and "may have been RLM 71".  However similar photos elsewhere in the book are described as 74.  Either way, these show a very heavy mottle rather than a single colour overall, and this aircraft shows signs of splinter camouflage on the top of the fuselage.  It also has the bottom stem of the fuselage cross extended under the belly, as the official instructions called for but was rarely seen.  The markings include the double chevron and the personal badge of a little girl under the cockpit.  The rudder and ventral cowling is also yellow, the spinner 1/3 white with a curved demarcation (rising to the rear).  There are three bands of ten kill markings on the rudder.  The Lapp boot insignia  of III/JG5 is carried on a square, white with blue vertical cross, just forward of the cockpit.  There is a colour profile of this aircraft, but the caption is mistakenly that of a different machine.  The profile shows a patchy green finish to the fuselage sides.  So you can do a green JG5 aircraft - but the text on the adjacent page says "although 74 cannot be discounted."

 

Thank you for the comments Graham. I'm very much learning about BF 109 colour schemes (varied and many) and I probably haven't chosen a simple one to start with. As is to be expected there are many unknowns and often relying on scant evidence. This is where I've got to so far; RLM 65 on the underside and RLM 71 above. I've prepped the rudder and the underside of the engine cowling with white for a final yellow soon. I'm tempted to leave it pretty much at that. I could mottle the RLM 71 (although with brush painting I foresee potential dangerous ground).

 

Should I leave the upper wings as they are or try a subtle splinter (with RLM 70?) or leave that scheme for the next 109?

 

[TommyF]

Meant to add many profiles I've seen for Scholz's III./JG5 109 have yellow underside wing tips. Is that a safe bet or is it better to leave RLM 65?

[Graham Boak]

Yellow under the wingtips was normal, and is a safe assumption although not shown in the photos.  The cowling is also not seen on Scholz's machine, but is on the accompanying fellow Stab.III/JG 5 example.  here's no hint of the uppersurface on the wings, but the partner aircraft does show signs of the splinter on the leading edge.  This would be 02 not 70.  However the fin is still in 65 with a light 02 mottle.  (This is assuming they weren't in 74/75/76 anyway...  To avoid one possible trap, their 109Es had the pointed spinner of the E-7.  There was a an unusual curved division between the 3/4 green 1/4 white spinner, sort of starts out 1/3 at the tip and reduces to 1/4 at the base plate.

 

JG 5 does seem to have gone in for this very heavy mottle on the fuselage sides, so to that extent it is a slightly awkward one to begin with.  However, things were to get much more complicated with their F-4s and G-2s!  A pure nice and simple 109 would be pretty boring, after all.  They did exist, honest, but like all aircraft the closer you look the more differences you find.

[TommyF]

Recent progress below. This is my first Bf 109 and I'm feeling my way somewhat. To do: yellow underside to wingtips, detail on engine exhausts and other small details. Would love to hear your thoughts on how it looks so far for Scholz's JG 5 109?

 

[TommyF]

I think we'll call that done. My first Heller kit and first Bf 109, more pictures to follow in the gallery

 

[Toryu]

It looks great. Very neat work! I wonder if we should present a summary in RFI of all the 109s from this group build?

[JeroenS]

16 hours ago, Toryu said:

It looks great. Very neat work! I wonder if we should present a summary in RFI of all the 109s from this group build?

That's not a bad idea, you could make a nice photo collage in the last week of the GB and post it in the gallery. You know, one picture containing one photo from each build.