Bf109 E-4/B "Yellow 6" Oblt. Otto Hintze 3./ Erpr.Gr210 1940

[nmayhew]

Hello gentlemen,

 

With my Dora close to completion I feel abit more comfortable starting my next project!

 

My build will try to replicate Bf109 E-4/BW.Nr.2024 "Yellow 6" of 3./ Erpr.Gr.210 flown by Oberleutnant Otto Hintze.

 

Hintze was shot down on 29th October 1940,his aircraft coming down at Sheerland Farm, Pluckley, Kent, which is just over10 miles from where I live. This point, combined with the fact that i havealways been interested in the Luftwaffe's early "jabo" operations,mean i have been itching to a Erpr.Gr.210 aircraft for a while.

 

I have referred to John Vasco's book "Messerschmitt Bf 110 Bombsights Over England -- Erprobungsgruppe 210 in the Battle of Britain" (Schiffer Publishing) extensively in my researching this project:

 

[Moderator's comment by Charles Metz -- November 24, 2020 2010: I've added the Amazon link immediately above at Nick's request.]

 

John himself has been kind enough toanswer a number of specific questions I had about this plane and others ofErpr.Gr.210, so thank you John!!

 

Some notes about Hintze:

He was shot down on his 53rd Battle ofBritain mission, taking fire first by Flying Officer Thomas of 222 Sqn and thenSergeant Burgess, also of 222 Sqn. However, I have found John Vasco alsostating that Hintze himself is convinced his own wingman was the first to fireat him, being over zealous on first sighting the enemy! Ah, the fog of war!

 

It should be noted that Hintze bailed outwhen his aircraft was travelling at over 248mph (400kmh), when the recommendedspeed for such action was 155mph (250kmh) - no wonder he dislocated hisshoulder! Hintze survived the jump, spent the war in Canada, and i think lived on untilthe late 1990s.

 

Here is the man himself (pics from JohnVasco's book unless stated otherwise)...

 

 

and celebrating his birthday ( a veryevocative Battle of Britain pic from the "other" point of view ithink) - he is at the back just to the left of the chap serving...

 

 

I don't have a picture of Hintze'sspecific mount, but here is Horst Marx's aircraft, which was in similar camo:

 

 

 

Sadly no cool Erpr.Gr.210 logo, but therewill be some nice criss-cross mottle for me to airbrush, as well as the 250kgbomb slung beneath, which I awlways think looks cool on a little 190!

 

So what about the kit: well, it will be mysecond Eduard 109, and I hope to make the construction and final painting anddecalling a bit better than my first effort, which looks "ok" but themore i stare at it, the more i see things i did wrong, rather than things i ampleased with.

 

So, it's the E-4 boxing, but i havecorrected canopy so don't worry! I also have the following aftermarketstuff (if you need reference numbers etc then just ask):

 

Aires resin cockpit

Quickboost resin exhaust

Eagle Editions resin wheels

Quickboost Revi gunsight (may not use asAires give you one with the cockpit)

Eduard photo etch (pretty redundant forthe most part, but i'll use a few bits and bobs, notable the intake grill onthe side of the cowling)

Montex masks and barrrels

Eduard bomb rack and bombs

Scale Aircraft metal landing gear

i have not figured out how i will do the"6" yet - either buy an Eagle Cals set which has the right font(small!!!) etc, or buy some Warpigs masks, but no-one has them over here, andshipping from US is ridiculous for basically a sheet of paper - we will seeabout that one down the line i guess.

 

Here are the various bits and bobs:

 

 

So there we are!

I hope to post a few pics later today ofmy intitial progress.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick

 

PS Although I suppose strictly speaking it should be in the Battle of Britain Group Build, I have put it here in the general Works In Progress because firstly, I'm not sure I will complete it before the deadline, and secondly because when I looked last night, the BoB forum had been untouched for nearly a month apart from one build. I will be honest in saying that I don't want to stick my build where no-one is doing anything presently, and where few people are "popping in" - otherwise I might as well save myself the trouble and not post at all!

 

Moderators, I hope you understand.

[LSP_Kevin]

Hi Nick,

 

Looks like pasting your info in from a Word document has really mangled your post! Any chance you could edit it and take out all the joined words?

 

As for posting here versus the BoB GB, you're free to post it wherever you like; there's no obligation to join a GB, even if the subject fits.

 

Kev

[dodgem37]

'celebrating his birthday'

I'm currently reading The Blond Knight of Germany, a biography of Erich Hartmann, originally written in 1970 by Raymond Toliver and Trevor Constable. In the book there is mention of a fiery crash landing by Walter Krupinsky, who escapes with relatively minor injuries, if any at all, witnessed by Hartmann and JG52 wing commander Col. Dietrich Hrabak. Apparently, after living thru such death defying acts, other than actual combat, I suppose, the Gruppe has a 'Birthday Party', 'because he's born again.'

 

This may be a photo of a birth day party thrown for him, or it may be a 'Birthday Party' thrown for him for surviving a death defying ordeal. I mention this definition only because, had I not read about this in the book, I would have thought they were having a birth day party for him.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[nmayhew]

'celebrating his birthday'

I'm currently reading The Blond Knight of Germany, a biography of Erich Hartmann, originally written in 1970 by Raymond Toliver and Trevor Constable. In the book there is mention of a fiery crash landing by Walter Krupinsky, who escapes with relatively minor injuries, if any at all, witnessed by Hartmann and JG52 wing commander Col. Dietrich Hrabak. Apparently, after living thru such death defying acts, other than actual combat, I suppose, the Gruppe has a 'Birthday Party', 'because he's born again.'

 

This may be a photo of a birth day party thrown for him, or it may be a 'Birthday Party' thrown for him for surviving a death defying ordeal. I mention this definition only because, had I not read about this in the book, I would have thought they were having a birth day party for him.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

Hi Mark

 

that's news to me as well, and very interesting

 

the pic though is actually Hintze's "proper" birthday i believe...

 

cheers

 

Nick

[nmayhew]

after spraying everything with mr surfacer 1200 (rattle can) then gunze rlm66, i added a few pieces of brass tube to the aires cockpit side walls, and some small PE pieces as directed by their instructions...

 

 

 

and the wheelie thingy to the tub -i should have really used the etch bits for the ratchet bit sticking up, but only realised too late - the first boo-boo (of many no doubt!) of the build but hey ho

 

 

 

and some paint...

 

 

 

cockpit is 66 because apparently they changed somehwere between E-3 and E-4 from 02 to 66, and hintze's "yellow 6" was a relacement aircraft, so i went for 66

 

now the thing is that i have pretty much guessed at the colours of the wiring and stuff

 

as great as the aires set is, they do not give colour call outs, and there is nothing to help you in either eduard's PE instructions or the kit, and i do not have any good colour refs for the pit

 

if anything is definitely off can someone please tell me now?!

 

cheers

 

Nick

[John Vasco]

Nick,

 

You'll get me shot! First of all, Hintze's 109 was not hit by his wingman on 29th October 1940. He believed his wingman had fired at approaching enemy aircraft way out of range on 1st June 1940 and hit him, when he was forced to bail out of his 109 while with 4./186.

 

Secondly, in the second photo from my book, the birthday shot at Denain on 9th October 1940, Hintze is definitely not in the photo.

 

Thirdly, Hintze's 'Yellow 6' was most likely not a replacement aircraft, in the sense of being new to the Staffel. His own 'Yellow 1' was out of commission for checks/servicing as it had completed a certain number of flying hours, so Hintze flew 'Yellow 6' instead. It is likely, but by no means certain, that 'Yellow 6' was simply just another aircraft of the Staffel.

 

Apart from that, Nick,

 

Edit: Charles, good to see you here. But you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, mate! 2020!

Edited December 2, 2010 by John Vasco

[nmayhew]

Nick,

 

You'll get me shot! First of all, Hintze's 109 was not hit by his wingman on 29th October 1940. He believed his wingman had fired at approaching enemy aircraft way out of range on 1st June 1940 and hit him, when he was forced to bail out of his 109 while with 4./186.

 

Secondly, in the second photo from my book, the birthday shot at Denain on 9th October 1940, Hintze is definitely not in the photo.

 

Thirdly, Hintze's 'Yellow 6' was most likely not a replacement aircraft, in the sense of being new to the Staffel. His own 'Yellow 1' was out of commission for checks/servicing as it had completed a certain number of flying hours, so Hintze flew 'Yellow 6' instead. It is likely, but by no means certain, that 'Yellow 6' was simply just another aircraft of the Staffel.

 

Apart from that, Nick,

 

Edit: Charles, good to see you here. But you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, mate! 2020!

 

John,

 

i have tried to edit the original post to correct the errors i have made (and to save you from the firing squad! ) but for some reason a tech issue will not let me...

 

i will contact the Mods and get it sorted

 

cheers for popping in and sorry for the confusion i created

 

nick

[CharlesMetz]

Edit: Charles, good to see you here. But you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, mate! 2020!

Oops:

 

Thanks for your heads-up, John; that typo, at least, is fixed now.

 

Charles Metz

[nmayhew]

ok back to the modelling!

 

although the eduard kit is pleasing in shape and some aspects of its detailing, the fit is poor and the mating of parts cannot be taken for granted

 

as such i used some plasticard cut into strips to give the fuselage halves something to "grip" on

 

 

i then trimmed it down after some test fitting...this is not an exact science, but does reap nice rewards, AND you can;t really bugger it up, which is always a bonus!

 

 

i added some pieces of plasticard to the sides of the chin intake, as eduard molded this incorrectly - a shame as it would have been no more difficult to mold with straight sides as in the real thing; hey ho...

 

 

then after gloss coat, Mig dark wash and some silver dry brushing (old humbrol enamels i have had for years do the trick nicely), i added the side panels to the fuselage sides; the fit is pretty spot on

 

 

more in a mo...

[nmayhew]

some more stuff got done yesterday and today, in between making sure our animals are all ok in this weather (sheep and chickens)...

 

quick piccie of our house i took this afternoon...

 

 

and four of our girls coming out to play!!

 

 

anyways, i attached the grills using gator glue:

before, looks all gooey

 

 

and once it dries, the residue has pretty much disappeared

 

 

(yes i know it's the other end, but trust me!)

 

then added the bulkhead which is pretty straight forward

 

 

more soon...

 

 

 

[nmayhew]

it proved very troublesome to get the fit right for the lower instrument panel, mainly because the aires instructions are vague and have the classic arrow pointing to where you should attach the part, except it;s at the back of the part, so you can't see where it should go

i glued it and ripped it off about 3 times, which i admit is crap modelling, but the instructions are also poor for such a basic piece of construction

 

 

this panel also proved troublesome in test fitting once the fuselage pieces were taped together - the panel is basically too wide, apart from being inaccurate compared to technical drawings and pictures of the real thing but that's another story...

 

as a result, i had to cut away some of the pipe work which aires have you install, and had to grind away a part of the side wall

 

 

none of this is difficult but it is tedious and it is a shame because you try to replicate the actual aircraft and then find that the engineering stops you

so for all those people who criticize Zoukei - Moura saying they want a model kit not an aircraft in miniature, this is the downside of that; it is also why there are issues with the engine and gun deck not fitting inside the cowling...

 

so, rant over, i set about the seatbelts...

 

 

pieces were attached using gator glue

 

 

ok that's it for tonight

 

cheers guys

[DougN]

Looking good Nick, are you finding it easier to build this kit than your first Eduard 109E?

 

Nice looking house as well, I don't recall England having that much snow when I lived there

 

Cheers,

 

Doug

Edited December 3, 2010 by DougN

[nmayhew]

Looking good Nick, are you finding it easier to build this kit than your first Eduard 109E?

 

Nice looking house as well, I don't recall England having that much snow when I lived there

 

Cheers,

 

Doug

 

cheers Doug

 

re the kit, not easier as such, but when you know to tread carefully in the first place, you make less mistakes.

i treated the first one as if it was Tamiya or Hassy, and it just does not fall together like most (not all!) of their kits do

being more careful now, with lots of test fitting, so hopefully it will turn out ok

 

main thing for me is actually the gunze paints i now use - i am much more confident and look forward to painting rather than dreading it as before!

 

as to the snow, this is the coldest november on record - it was -10 C when i was outside about half an ago; nothing by eastern european or maybe north / middle american standards, but still pretty chilly; oh and the country is soooo poorly prepared, it pretty much stops when anything like this happens!

 

Nick

 

PS i should be getting the brassin engine for this build if the postman can ever get through to me (no post for 3 or 4 days now)

[mattlow]

Hey Nick. Coming along nicely there.

 

I still need to find a couple of photos/diagrams for you. I'll have a look this weekend.

 

Pit looks rather good, though I'm trying to 'wean' myself off too much more resin detail and force myself (like Dodgem37) to home build more of it.

 

Anyhow, looking forward to seeing more. Keep an eye on your inbox.

 

Matt

[nmayhew]

ok, now that i have recovered from a) the shock of the B-17 announcement and the frustration at having missed all the juicy bits on the now canned 152 thread, we come back to modelling earth with a bit of thud!

 

i added the seat to the pit and used some pigments to simulate a bit of dirt around the floor - not sure it is the right shade for Calais dirt (Mig don't do that shade yet apparently! ), but i do like the contrast with the bare metal effect on the pedals

 

 

 

i wanted to fit the fuselage halves together and then insert the cockpit from underneath but in test fitting it was a bit of a squeeze and didn't want to risk damaging some of the detail in forcing it

 

so here we have the cockpit attached to one side, and now i wait for the postman to deliver my brassin engine!!

 

 

 

ok that's it for now

 

cheers

 

Nick