Hobby2000 Bf109e4 - 8/JG54 black 5

[Sepp]

This started life as Eduard's Adlerangriff boxing waaaay back in November 2021; I'd barely got started when life got in the way (I was the victim of a street robbery that left me with a head injury, meaning I was pretty much completely out of play until March 22).  By then, the Hobby2000 kits had landed, and when I finally got back to the bench, I decided to change horses.  Unfortunately, my injury came back to me soon after with a (thankfully, tiny) bleed on the brain and I was unable to do anything complicated for the next few months... damnedest thing is, I no longer had any concept of the number 9 in Russian, which was very odd - English, French, no problem but talking to my Russian ex, anything with 9 in it was gone, so I've been back to school.  Therefore, no build thread for this one apart from the "statement of intent" for the Eduard iteration.

 

My bird is 8/Jg54 black 5, but the camouflage is based on a pic of 7/JG54 white 2 - so please view it as an interpretation, rather than a depiction.

 

A great kit, hampered mainly by me - I've another 4 and a 3 in the stash, I'll definitely be coming back to them.  Mainly oob, with Barracuda wheels, Yahu panel, Uschi antenna line and HGW belts. Paint is Vallejo.  I added the aerial terminator to the fuselage with a squished Albion tube offcut, nav lights are small blobs of CA plus Tamiya clear colours, and it's my first go at what the kind-hearted might call weathering.  I'm happy with the exhaust stains and I can live with the underside dirt, I'm much less happy with the gun staining.  The phone's camera makes the wheel "tracks" look much more orange than they are, for some reason.  Apologies for the really crap photos .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Sepp

[ivanmoe]

Beautiful model!

 

Can you share your experience assembling the forward part of the fuselage and engine compartment?

 

I ask because it seems a lot of modelers struggle with that aspect of building the kit.

[nmayhew]

Always good to see these built!

 

On a construction note for your future efforts, the wheels should not be near vertical but rather be pretty much in line with the angle of the landing gear legs.

 

Hope this helps

Nick

[Sepp]

@ivanmoe

 

The cowling went together OK, but if you use the entire engine, it won't fit.  I butchered my engine thus:

 

 

The front part definitely got used, as it can be seen through the vents on top of the cowling... tbh, due aforementioned head injury, I can't remember if I used the longer part or not - I do remember there being an issue with the rocker covers fouling the cowling, so prolly not.  All the pipework and engine mounts went in the bin. Then I assembled per instructions. 

 

The lower cowling parts were fiddly to line up, but went together without much grief.  iirc, the rear of the cowling when assembled doesn't match the profile of the fuselage everywhere.  I matched the lower to the fuselage, and then more or less successfully played with the upper to try to get the gap that 109s exhibit.  For my money, the MGs sit a tad too far back (or at least the "rear" one does; it disappears into the opening, and the kit doesn't include the blast tubes.

 

There was an issue with part A1 (the fuselage fwd of the cockpit). I think I had to adjust it to get it to fit, but it doesn't seem to have been too much problem, because I didn't take a pic of it.

 

What was an issue, was that both the included wheel bay gaiters were for the same side:

 

 

Fortunately, one of my other 109s had the same problem, but for the other side, so crisis averted.  The other two kits in my stash have the correct parts.  The grey one is from a Trumpy 109, and will fit in the wing of this kit.

 

Thinking of other issues... looking through pics I took, not many come to what's left ( ) of my mind.  The rudder hinge plate (part MA10) wanted to fit one way better than the other, and I cut off the flat pe rudder acutator rods and attached the remaining linkage to Albion wire.

 

 

@nmayhew 

 

Thanks, Nick - I realised my goof after the wheels had set up, but by then it was too late to fix.  Sadly, there's still a lot going on in my head that I know I have to do, that doesn't always get translated into what actually happens.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Sepp

Edited May 25, 2023 by Sepp

[Sepp]

@ivanmoe

 

Further to my last, I found a pic and zoomed in a bit (so pls forgive pixellation), which better shows the fit of the forward fusealge/cowling. 

 

 

Overall, it's not a million miles away from this:

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Sepp

[Gazzas]

Well done!

[Scale32]

Nice build.  These kits get a bit of a bad rap by some but I've built a couple myself and think they're terrific, yours came out wonderful. 

 

The camo demarcation on the above photo looks to be soft edge rather than hard. Interesting considering its an early 109.

 

Cheers Bevan 

[John Stambaugh]

Very nice model indeed. I agree that these Dragon/H2k kits are excellent in spite of the cowling issues. 

 Would really like to see them bring these out in the Frederick.

[LSP_Ray]

On 5/24/2023 at 2:11 AM, Sepp said:

This started life as Eduard's Adlerangriff boxing waaaay back in November 2021; I'd barely got started when life got in the way (I was the victim of a street robbery that left me with a head injury, meaning I was pretty much completely out of play until March 22).  By then, the Hobby2000 kits had landed, and when I finally got back to the bench, I decided to change horses.  Unfortunately, my injury came back to me soon after with a (thankfully, tiny) bleed on the brain and I was unable to do anything complicated for the next few months... damnedest thing is, I no longer had any concept of the number 9 in Russian, which was very odd - English, French, no problem but talking to my Russian ex, anything with 9 in it was gone, so I've been back to school.  Therefore, no build thread for this one apart from the "statement of intent" for the Eduard iteration.

 

My bird is 8/Jg54 black 5, but the camouflage is based on a pic of 7/JG54 white 2 - so please view it as an interpretation, rather than a depiction.

 

A great kit, hampered mainly by me - I've another 4 and a 3 in the stash, I'll definitely be coming back to them.  Mainly oob, with Barracuda wheels, Yahu panel, Uschi antenna line and HGW belts. Paint is Vallejo.  I added the aerial terminator to the fuselage with a squished Albion tube offcut, nav lights are small blobs of CA plus Tamiya clear colours, and it's my first go at what the kind-hearted might call weathering.  I'm happy with the exhaust stains and I can live with the underside dirt, I'm much less happy with the gun staining.  The phone's camera makes the wheel "tracks" look much more orange than they are, for some reason.  Apologies for the really crap photos .

 

Nice work, Sepp!

May I post it on the website?

[MikeMaben]

  Nice work Sepp 

[Sepp]

8 hours ago, LSP_Ray said:

Nice work, Sepp!

May I post it on the website?

Blimey - yes, of course.  Wish I'd taken better pictures, now

[Sepp]

20 hours ago, John Stambaugh said:

Very nice model indeed. I agree that these Dragon/H2k kits are excellent in spite of the cowling issues. 

 Would really like to see them bring these out in the Frederick.

Yes, an F would be grand!

[Jboldt007]

great work and perseverance - inspiring. Early 109s don't often get their due - but the E's are the most elegant german plane of the era in my opinion plus they come in great livery schemes...

[LSP_Ray]

On 5/28/2023 at 4:10 AM, Sepp said:

Blimey - yes, of course.  Wish I'd taken better pictures, now

Article is Posted!

Great job!