Tamiya 1/72 Romanian liveried BF109-E3 in service 1942 axis forces vs Russia

[Cuppa_joe]

Hi all, first image post here, this is a Christmas gift to my father, we being romanians ourselves, i felt it was rather fitting although unusual Christmas present to cause a welcome surprise, and surprised he was!

Taken from phone, need to dust off the legit camera and post genuine pictures.

For some backstory, haven't picked up a sprue in over 15 years, not too competent or patient in my younger years modelling and now with lockdowns, and restless hands....oh and watching WW2 in colour (haha) i have now been reinvigorated in my interest in the hobby. 

Since this is my first build post ill fill in the progress and finale in this one post to save doubling up on the same pics on a redundant thread
I think it pays to say that i learnt many new techniques on this new model, reasons being: Youtube, honestly! My last go'round was your on your own, with expensive modelling books (apprentice wages at the time) as the only real learning material, clubs were almost exclusively R/C. 
I learnt from the likes of: The model guy, Plasmo, Scale a ton, R-minatures, Night shift (must follow if you like armour or weathering!), Erbroins minatures, MM Scale models, Ziggys Desk, Sprue therapy and last but not least: Nandemo-seisaku TV (Kenji's Plamodel diary)
I literally spent hours watching different channels to get back that "feel" and to learn better techniques and unlearn bad ones (no clear coat, and decal silvering anyone?...i wondered why??) hahah give them a looksee if your at all interested, some do armour, others dioramas, real OEM minatures, F1/Bikes, the works really.
If you know of any channels that are a must watch feel free to comment below.
 

 

Watch out on this 1/72 version as the canopy doesnt sit flush in the fuselage once together, pays to preasemble the two halves and dry-fit as the rear sits proud of the fuselage. Needless to say, i didnt so over the primed frame i fitted the canopy and what do you know...nadda! my mistake, but other than that the kit went together like dream minus a seam needed filling underneath.

Very well done there Tamiya considering the scale!

Unfortunately the next kit is a 1/72 A7M Reppu "Sam"from a 2000's fine molds kit. After the tamiya experience im rather deflated from my lofty expectations getting back to what the kits used to be like (stay tuned for the next post)

FYI all the panel lines were chiseled as best as possible with a .1mm bit from Dspiae, worth the money, well made and a joy to use. recommended!!

 

 

Needing some putty on the side to fill in the gap from the canopy i created above
Below is masking off for the coloured tail section

White painted for better colour display for the yellow to work off

 

 

Getting warmer!!
Below is mounted a .38mm bar to hold the antenna in place in the middle of the fuselage between frames 4&5, correct rigging does it for me.

 

 

 

Stop everything its decal time! No seriously they needed a ton of work. Set was from Parc models, and were a bloody pain, large transfer, fragile, doesnt adhere, god awful silvering, but the slight fading worked for me as i was going for a weathered sun bleached display anyway.
 

Home stretch at 2am christmas eve to get it done...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little rough i know but do comment! also the rigging wire, does it look like the correct thickness?
Anyway, enjoy the pics.
Till next time 
Darius

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

8 hours ago, Cuppa_joe said:

Watch out on this 1/72 version as the canopy doesnt sit flush in the fuselage once together, pays to preasemble the two halves and dry-fit as the rear sits proud of the fuselage.

Nice a Romanian 109, its always good to see alternative markings on any aircraft. You’ll find if you ever build a 1/48 Eduard 109 G series, that those canopies all have the same problems. I always wind up grinding them on a sanding pad to remove excess plastic until they fit. 

[Cuppa_joe]

Yes! Exactly that's what needed to happen, unfortunately that was done at a later stage rather than during a dry fit that never happened...lesson learned! 

[EMP]

Nice job Joe! The Romanian livery is a really interesting change up from the Luftwaffe variations I’ve started to build. They liked to decal up their aircraft by the looks.

 

Who do you use to host your images? I’d like to post up and share my first few builds after a 35+ year break but not sure how to go about it. Not sure I could bear the laughter either haha.

Do you know the backstory to how Romania came to be equipped with the 109?

 

Cheers

Nick

[Cuppa_joe]

It is quite colourful and adds to the already dizzying array of colours available to the 109 for better or worse, hey even in captured allied colours! Look up az model for that.

I use Flickr, then found that i just cut and paste the link to the image from the browser to post into the body of text on your post. ( The insert image url function doesn't work for me)

 

As for the how and why BF's ended up in Romania, alongside being built in  Germany, they were also built in a Romany city of Brașov, as well as other european countries. They were delivered in 1940, as they were pro German fighting against the Russians until 1944 where the king overthrew the standing government to align with the Allies therefore doing a backflip on their once friendly forces. I just found out that 12 MK1 Hawker Hurricanes were in Romanian service too very early in the 40's but phased out due to parts restrictions as well as the BF109 filling their roles as well as the locally made and designed IAR 80/81 taking up the rest of the slack.

Suss out this link for more details:

https://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/11/stuff_eng_profile_farr.htm

Cheers

Darius

[opus999]

Hey, only a month late, but I finally got to see this! It looks terrific and the simple diorama is really effective!  I recently did a Tamiya 109E-3 in Romanian markings myself, but a dull coat malfunction made it turn out not quite right.  Yours looks beautiful!

 

Did you make an RFI for it?

[Cuppa_joe]

7 minutes ago, opus999 said:

Hey, only a month late, but I finally got to see this! It looks terrific and the simple diorama is really effective!  I recently did a Tamiya 109E-3 in Romanian markings myself, but a dull coat malfunction made it turn out not quite right.  Yours looks beautiful!

 

Did you make an RFI for it?

Hey cheers! I remember your build as i searched and yours came up prior to my joining Brit modeller, and in fact was a source I used for reference, so i think a thank you is in order!

No yours came out fine, these birds were exposed to sunlight and weather, and I'm sure with some playful weathering and oils you can convince others that yours had the same treatment. No RFI. Need to bring out the better lighting environment for that, something i don't have at home. With time though I will!

[opus999]

2 hours ago, Cuppa_joe said:

Hey cheers! I remember your build as i searched and yours came up prior to my joining Brit modeller, and in fact was a source I used for reference, so i think a thank you is in order!

Gosh! Really?  Well, I hope I helped in some small way!

 

On 12/28/2020 at 1:51 AM, Cuppa_joe said:

Unfortunately the next kit is a 1/72 A7M Reppu "Sam"from a 2000's fine molds kit.

I will be interested to follow this!  The A7M fascinates me and I bought an MPM kit of it in the '90s that is still languishing in the stash.  I suspect that your Fine Molds kit will be better than the MPM!

[Cuppa_joe]

Yes indeed it helped! Well executed and finished model sans the clear issue! I did indeed like it!

[Cuppa_joe]

Better late than never i guess: