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As my participation in the Between the Wars GB from last year was a bit of a letdown, I like to have another go this year building a 1/32 scale kit. I choose the Cyber Hobby Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 kit in the markings of the 21st Squadron (Fliegerkompanie 21) of the Swiss Air Force (Schweizer Fliegertruppe). The picture was taken during Summer 1940 at Emmen Air Base. J-377 has the large fuselage Swiss cross introduced in April 1940, but still the roundels under the wings from when the aircraft was delivered (J-313 behind it has the square underwing wakings introduced at the same time as the fuselage markings). J-377 was taken off charge on 28 December 1949 together with all the other remaining Me 109 DBs. Before you get stuck into me about the title, which you think should be Bf 109 E-3, the Emil was known in Switzerland as Me 109 DB and was so mentioned in official documents! And the Doras purchased at the same time were Me 109 Jumo ... Switzerland was the largest export customer of the Emil with a purchase of 80 aircraft, purchased in two lots of 30 and 50 aircraft between Mai 1939 and April 1940, produced at the "Werk Regensburg" (and an additional 9 built from spare parts later). I always wanted to build a Swiss 109 E, but never thought doing it in the large scale. Should be a straight forward build I thought, but reading Georg Hoch's excellent book on the Swiss Messerschmitt 109s (also published in English by Schiffer) made it clear that it will be far from a straight forward build! Why you may ask. well the Swiss purchased the Emils without any weapons and radios! The idea behind that was to fit locally manufactured weapons and radios. In addition, the gun sight was a Revi 3c , the fitted control stick was a KG 11 which was similar to British control sticks and the seat Harness was attached in a different way for whatever reason as well... In a 1/72 scale model. these details are hardly noticeable, but not so in 1/32. The story on the purchase of the Messerschmitt fighters is fascinating and I highly recommend to read Georg Hoch's book which is a great read filled with anecdotes on the Me 109 operation in Switzerland. The following information is from this book: When purchasing the DBs, it was undecided what weapon configuration to use on the unarmed aircraft. At the end it was decided to use two 7.45 mm Fl MG 29 with 960 rounds above the engine and one 20 mm FF-K Oerlikon with 60 rounds in each wing. Compared to the armament installed in German Bf 109E-3 consisting of two 7.92 mm MG 17 with 2000 rounds and one 20mm MG FF in each wing, the Swiss weapons have to be seen as a step back. They also needed several modifications on the airframe to be fitted and had to be loaded manually and not electro-pneumatic as was the case with the German weapons. The Fl MG 29 had been mounted without any off-set and closer together (300 mm compared to 340 mm) which needed modifications of the engine cover and a new ammunition storage and feed which resulted in reduced ammunition by over half compared to the German arrangement. In regards to the radio equipment, it was planed to fit a French radio produced under license in Switzerland. But production got delayed due to France being occupied by Germany. The radio became finally available in limited quantities by the end of 1941, but its performance was poor. Three Flieger Kompannien received the new Me 109 DB in 1939 and Fliegerkompanie 21 was one of them. Originally no special markings had been painted onto the new aircraft. During the war in France, it became o common occurrence that German aircraft flew into Swiss airspace, resulting in several aerial combats with Swiss aircraft including the 109s. The first German aircraft, a Heinkel He 111 was shot down on 10th of May and several more followed until early June. Under the pressure from the German government, the Swiss Air Force stoped attacking intruding aircraft there after. This resulted in very low spirit of the Swiss flying personnel. To lift the spirit, it was decided that it is now acceptable that the Fliegerkompanien are decorating their aircraft with the squadron markings - which was a sharkmouth for Fliegerkompanie 21. Enough about history - So lets commence my build. I chosen the Cyber Hobby kit as it is apparently the most accurate 109 E in 1/32. As I love accessories I got a few too. My plan is to build the model with the engine covered, but incorporating all the modifications the Swiss aircraft had at the time the picture was taken in Summer 1940. But first some riveting was in place as the Cyber Hobby cit looks a bit bare when it comes to rivets - strangely there are some on the kit here and there. I used some drawings to mark where the rivets go. Some pictures are helpful too. Rosie the Riveter does most of the work. And it does make a difference - braking down the monotony of the large surface. The fuselage was next. And several days later, It is all done. Strangely, Cyber Hobby has positive rivets at several places where there shouldn't be. The cockpit of the Swiss 109 E has some noticeable differences of which most are on the Instrument panel Most of the changes circled in red are for the weapons - Top to bottom, two pulleys to arm the two Fl MG 29. Don't know what the handle is at the right. Below is the FF-K cannon selection switch and the ammunition counter. Also note the KG 11 control stick I wanted to incorporate these changes on this build which needed a bit of scratch building. And all together. That is where I am at the moment. Any comments are appreciated. Cheers, Peter