Hobby 2000 Messerschmitt BF-109E-3 - Finished

[Dpgsbody55]

My next project will be another Messerschmitt 109, this time an E-3.  I plan on painting it as a Battle of France machine, using the kit decals.  Here's the obligatory box shot.

 

 

I'll also be adding to the detail with a Quinta Studios 3D decal set, but I think this will be the only add on.

 

 

Very little progress so far.  All I've done is attach the cockpit rear wall to the floor, and assemble what I think is a tank that sits behind the instrument panel.  This is only in place as there's four parts to this, so it's placed only for alignment while drying.

 

 

Then the whole lot is placed in the fuselage halves, again for alignment.

 

 

Looking at the parts and instructions, this looks like it will build up into a nice model.  It seems well molded, though lacking in rivet detail.  One nice touch is that the each fuselage half has matching tabs and slots to aid alignment when gluing each half together.

 

More soon, I hope, which may include getting to grips with 3D decals - a new experience.  Tips welcome here.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[J.J.]

I don't know if Hobby 2000 have corrected the instructions, but if not, the wing root bulges are incorrectly shown as being attached to the underside of the cockpit floor. They are supposed to be fitted on the small rectangular depressions in the wing roots.

 

Jens

[Dpgsbody55]

19 hours ago, J.J. said:

I don't know if Hobby 2000 have corrected the instructions, but if not, the wing root bulges are incorrectly shown as being attached to the underside of the cockpit floor. They are supposed to be fitted on the small rectangular depressions in the wing roots.

 

Jens

 

Thanks for the tip, Jens.  I've made a note of it on the instruction sheet.  In fact, now that I've started this project, I'm finding that the instructions are less than clear in some areas.  There are two small pieces that I think go on each side of the cockpit floor, just near the bigger of the two spars molded into the floor, but for the life of me, I can't see how they fit.

 

 

The bottom one is for the left side and the bit at the right of that cutout is supposed to fit below a fuselage frame above the longer spar on the floor.  Or, at least, that's how I'm interpreting the rather small picture.  But I can't see how it fits any which way.  These might get quietly forgotten.

 

I've been doing a little more work, building up the cockpit floor some more prior to painting as much as possible in the one colour, before adding more detail.  Starting with the rudder pedals, the kit has two nice looking pedals so I started here, drilling out all the lightening holes in each piece with a 0.3 and 0.7mm drill.

 

 

Next was to mount them on the rudder bar and install them on the floor, followed by the pilot's seat support and two fuselage braces.  Doesn't sound like much, but it was an hours work just on that.  Other pieces will be glued together soon as appropriate before I start painting.

 

 

However, I've run into one major problem, namely a missing part.  Taping bits together last night, I could not find the fuselage gun cover which sits immediately in front of the windscreen.  Later on, I was able to track down the manufuacturer's website (Arma Hobby in Poland) and submitted a request to send me the missing part.  I've received an acknowledgment of my request, so hopefully in the next week I'll get the response I'm looking for.  If not, this model could find itself consigned to an ignominous fate which will be very disappointing as I was really looking forward to see how this one turns out.

 

Digits crossed.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited May 20, 2022 by Dpgsbody55

[MikeMaben]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about those 2 odd floor parts Mike,  there's very little of them visible when all together anyway.

[Dpgsbody55]

20 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Yeah I wouldn't worry about those 2 odd floor parts Mike,  there's very little of them visible when all together anyway.

 

I'm beginning to think that these two parts are what Jens was talking about.  So I've wrapped them up and will see if they fit in the area that Jens suggests.

 

Started working on the engine last night.  Given the missing cowling, this kit faces an uncertain future, but whatever happens to it, I will be completing the engine, either to display or add later to another project.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited May 22, 2022 by Dpgsbody55

[scvrobeson]

Nice start on the build!  Keep it up!

 

 

 

Matt 

[J.J.]

14 hours ago, Dpgsbody55 said:

 

I'm beginning to think that these two parts are what Jens was talking about.  So I've wrapped them up and will see if they fit in the area that Jens suggests.

 

Started working on the engine last night.  Given the missing cowling, this kit faces an uncertain future, but whatever happens to it, I will be completing the engine, either to display or add later to another project.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

They are not the same parts. The parts I was talking about are teardrop-shaped. You can see them installed here:

 

 

And the notches marked by the arrow:

 

 

And here (no arrow but below the vertical panel line):

 

 

I did a lot of test-fitting the cockpit floor/sidewall parts in your photo. I finally found out how to install them. One can be seen here:

 

 

 

You can see my first build here: https://www.danskemodelbyggere.dk/forum/index.php?topic=1667.0

 

Jens

[Dpgsbody55]

9 hours ago, J.J. said:

 

They are not the same parts. The parts I was talking about are teardrop-shaped. You can see them installed here:

 

 

And the notches marked by the arrow:

 

 

And here (no arrow but below the vertical panel line):

 

 

I did a lot of test-fitting the cockpit floor/sidewall parts in your photo. I finally found out how to install them. One can be seen here:

 

 

 

You can see my first build here: https://www.danskemodelbyggere.dk/forum/index.php?topic=1667.0

 

Jens

  Thank you, Jens.  You've been a great help with those pictures.  Your E-4 turned out very well.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[MikeMaben]

There it is ...

 

 

[Dpgsbody55]

19 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

There it is ...

 

 

 

Sneaky little suckers....

[J.J.]

On 5/23/2022 at 7:08 AM, Dpgsbody55 said:

  Thank you, Jens.  You've been a great help with those pictures.  Your E-4 turned out very well.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

Thanks Michael. It was a joy to build, paint and weather. So much that I bought several more of them.

Jens

[Dpgsbody55]

On 5/27/2022 at 5:10 PM, J.J. said:

 

Thanks Michael. It was a joy to build, paint and weather. So much that I bought several more of them.

Jens

 

I agree it's a nice kit, and I'd like to be able to say I'll build more, but at the moment, I still haven't had any word from Hobby 2000 about replacing the missing part in my kit.  If I haven't heard from them by Monday, I think I'll send them another little "billet-doux", as our French friends might say.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

Thanks to the above mentioned missing part, I've done very little on this model since my last update.  All the work has been in relation to the engine. 

 

Having built up the basic motor, I sprayed the whole thing in Gunze rattle can matt black.  After that, I painted on the ignition system, then added some decals from the Quinta Studios set I bought for this project.  I've never used these before, but they went on well with the help of a little PVA.  I added the engine serial number and the Daimler Benz logo.

 

 

 

Next, I painted the fuel distributor mounted in the V between the cylinder banks, then added the magnetos and supercharger, followed by the inlet plenum/manifold and coolant lines then oil radiator.

 

 

 

 

There's still a little work on the engine to go, but that will require me getting out the airbrush and painting lots of bits in RLM02 Grau, which I'll do tonight.

 

As to how I'm going to finish this build, given that I'm missing the fuselage gun cowling, then assuming I don't here back from Hobby 2000 about this, I'll be wrecking a very old Hasegawa 109E I built back in the dark ages. 

 

 

This will be the fate of a few older builds soon anyway and the missing part will come from this after having the paint stripped and a little adjustment.  It's not ideal as the part is not up to the rest of this kit, but it's the best I can do.  Also, the engine may come in useful for another project I have in mind.

 

That's all for now.  On with some painting and back to the cockpit.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

 

 

[scvrobeson]

Whose plastic is in the Hobby 2000 box? Is this a Dragon rebox, Hasegawa, or Trumpeter?  Might have missed if that was mentioned somewhere.

 

 

Matt 

[Dpgsbody55]

9 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

Whose plastic is in the Hobby 2000 box? Is this a Dragon rebox, Hasegawa, or Trumpeter?  Might have missed if that was mentioned somewhere.

 

 

Matt 

 

I believe it's a re-box of the Cyber Hobby/Dragon kit.  The plane I'm looking at wrecking is the old Hasegawa kit I did about 30 years ago, and not a patch on my present build.  I do have a Trumpy 109E-7 in my stash, which I think is better than the old Hasegawa kit, but not as good as the Hobby 2000/Cyber Hobby/Dragon kit.

 

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Michael