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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Match Box Bf109 E-3


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085_zps72942c64.jpg086_zps1d96ea40.jpgth_079_zps2fb51e9c.jpg Welcome Back!!! Not sure where I left off at, but I'll pick up from here... Finished with the build now but I'll break it up over about 3 or 4 piucture  downloads. Again, Welcome back!

 

OK,Gotta get used to this, Well to start, I had not yet built a Tropical verson, and I looked around the places I could think of but couldnt find an early trop filter, So... I had to make one, I found some pictures and went to work with some strip and sheet styrene. I think it came out pretty good. The build is done now as I said earlier and I'll post more soon! Thanks loads,

Doug

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Few more pictures... Man this canopy fit was TERRIBLE!!! Tried the part supplied with kit and the rear section was either a 16th to high or low, pickede up a vac-u-formed piece at the LHS and it was worse, I had to build up the canopy area (everything you see in white) with styrene strip then trim so as to get close. Finally got a good allingment and was able to procede.

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Welcome Back !! 

 

Wow, I'm having a whale of a time getting through the tidal-wave of build threads reappearing !

 

Nice Job on the trop filter Mr Dog.. really nice.

 

Grant

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Thanks all! Handi, Kojo Owl, (Love that Avatar!) Grant... Dont do that again! (grin) we were going into DTs and Withdrawl! Just kidding, Glad your all back and I can catch up on all the great work going on here, Man, What talent! I love going through the builds and am never dissapointed by some beautiful builds being done here! Take care all... More soon!

Doug

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OK moving right along, Preping to paint, masking, washing with alclhol,093_zps193014dd.jpg094_zpsc6f74aed.jpg097_zps7bcc3419.jpg098_zps3eabd68d.jpg099_zps05fdc53f.jpg buffing w/fine Scotch Brite pad, priming, pre-shading.The old girl is starting to look like a 109 finally, Honestly I'm very happy so far but for one thing, and that was the canopy fit, Not sure what happened, maybe a drunk engineer, designer or tool maker or all three but the fit was not at all right. One other thing later that was a trial, but for now here she be...

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Agreed, nice pre-shading Doug. Having the plane all one colour (plus pre-shading) gives it a whole new dimension doesn't it? much better than the diff coloured plastic. I can see a great looking Emil much better now.

 

PS: I want KoJo's Jagdflieger Signature - so cool (hmm -seen that 109E picture somewhere before :)).... but my signature is getting seriously out of hand as it is !

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Do we continue posting pictures here? Well I'm going to go ahead and finish up and will post finished pictures  elsewhere later... By the way Grant, AGREED! The multi colorted plastic was starting to get on my nerves! (LOL) Finally its all one color! 101_zpsc68b312f.jpg103_zps9a4cb420.jpg104_zpse1676848.jpg100_zps0d9bb4b2.jpg107_zps5e4e0e7b.jpg10862_zpscb2fa526.jpg109_zps24300780.jpg

 

OK, Ive got the Sand Gelb and RLM 76 underside on , added the white Campaign stripe to the Fuselage , and Got the yellow on the nose section. Gloss coat has been applied and it REALLY darkened up the "Sand yellow" and the panel lines are a bit darker then I want, but I will try to "fade" in later steps, Next pics will be the decal start and the fading and weathering.  Thanks for looking!

Doug

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Alright... Applied decals in the usual manor, Gloss top coat,  used micro sol to get them to conform to the body lines and rivets etc.. micro set to seal,. As always they shined like polished lacquer, so what I tried to do was weather along with the top coat of the finish. I mixed a few drops of pale grey acrylic flat, with a double thinned amount of lacquer thinner and went over the decal very lightly until they started to appear fadded. Dry with a hair drier to speed the process and touch up again as required. Next I again over thimmed with lacquer thinner some Sand yellow and a few drops of pale grey to lighten, and started hitting the edges and sun affected areas (leaving the body lines barely touched) to simmulate fade and use. Painted the tires Flat White around outer edges to try to reflect the harsh Africal sun and keep them from over inflating and popping.

Next I added gun powder residue and exhaust stains along fuselage and leading edges of wing and barrell channels of cowling, Lastly top coated with Dull Cote and misted with straight from the bottle Isopropol Rubbing Alcohol, which I found makes a nice flattening agent to get paint nice and dull.

Start work on the base to mount to next.

Thanks

Doug

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Wow ! talk about a huge leap forward !!

 

Looks fabulous Doug.  I'd not thought of the Ispp .. Isopro ... neat rubbing alcohol as a flattening agent. I just use it to erase my mistakes (I've got a big bottle)

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LOL... I buy it by the Gallon! LOL Thanks guys.. Lovin this site more and more! Great people and great looking models! Soon as I can, I'll start a second build, not sure what yet... I'll think on it for a bit.

Doug

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No limit on the number of entries Doug, what do you fancy ? another Emil, a Friedrich, a Gustav or maybe a Bf110?

 

Whichever, there's plenty of time and we'll look forward to what ever you choose.

 

Grant.

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Thanks guys, I'm trying to narrow it down now... I do so love the 109's (any variant) But till then here are the finished photos...135_zps87e647d9.jpg134_zps3c85012a.jpg133_zps88c6988a.jpg132_zps2730060a.jpg131_zps05c0310c.jpg129_zps962e3a06.jpg

 

 

 OK friends. These are my finished photos of the Me 109 E-3 Flown by Major Ludwig "Zirkus" Franzisket , Lybia , North Africa , 1941. I attempted to be as close to the research as I could, but as I think we've all found out at times, The more you research the more confused we can become. This time I was able to find some good info and pictures to start with and it made the choises easy to make.

 Major Franzisekt survived the war but only after being shot down 3 times, twice suffering serious injuries. After the war, he became a Professor at Munich University (I believe) until his death of natural causes in 1988. He was said to be a stoic, no nonsense kind of person.

th_IL2-IM-Bf-109E7Trop-IJG27--Franzisketth_5-Luftwaffe-pilot-I_JG27-Ludwig-Zirkuth_Bf-109E7Trop-I_JG27-ferry-flight-Sici

 Now to the kit.... I LOVED building this venerable old kit... so much so that I found 2 more on Ebay and ordered them for stash! This kit went together (with only 2 exceptions I will bring up later) without a hitch and was a pleasure to work with. The Big Ed detail kit which contained both interior and exterior detail and masks, though not designed for this kit, was all it needed to top off a very well designed and executed kit. Alot of detail I didn't expect from MatchBox, and some little details missing (but easily added) like the small slots for the rudder cables of the "E" model were easily dealt with. Both Model Master and Tamiya acrylics went on well and brought her to life.                            OK, that being said, Please... let me warn you of the shortcomings...minor, the decals are sadly lacking and should be replaced with a good aftermarket set,and the instructions can be a bit confusing so dry fit befor gluing. Major problems , again only 2 that I run into, Both can be described in 3 words....The canory...WTF??? It will NOT fit without major adjustments, I had to add in styrene strips to get the right fit from the rear section,along the fuselage of the center section and some trimming of the front wind screen part.

 The second problem is with the landing struts, WEAK,WEAKER,WEAKEST!!!  PLEASE, re-enforce befor assy, after assy, your problems will be greatly multiplied. I assymbled and glued, and after curing time, set her down on the struts and they promptly splayed out and collapsed. She looked like a 109 sphynx at that point.  My choise at that point to beef up struts, was to use some HFT fast set clear epoxy. After reassy of the struts, I mixed the epoxy and tried to get in and around the strut mounting area while still liquid and able to run without making too much mess. I lucked out and it worked fine.

 Well thats about all I have and I want to thank those who offered suggestions that helped me to build a better model. As always, I am open to constructive suggestions and appreciate your interest and will be open to any questions and discussions. Again I have tried to build this kit as close as possible to the research I was able to do, and could only hope that "Zirkus" would approve of my attempt to bring this Bf109 he flew to life one more time.

Thanks

Doug

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By the by... Someone had asked if paint had peeled or flaked on fuselage around canopy, and canopy being slightly lighter in color. I guess I had forgot to explain that, I had done that thinking perhaps that the canopy had been replaced at one time and that "touch up" painting had been required. I've tried so hard to just do pristine clean new looking aircraft, but I just can't. They are beautiful and all, but I just like the "worn and war weary" look myself. Thanks...

Doug

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Thanks Kojo,,,, Very much appreciated! Exhaust stains aren't to hard to do, the mistake many people make is having them too heavy and solid black. Exhaust staining is neither. I found it easiest to do with a gravity fed air brush, double up the thinner, and sweep the wing line pulling back slightly at the flap edge. If you dont have a gravity fed gun, a color cup will do nicely. Next add a bit of brown, like a bark brown or burnt sienna lightly over the black and possibly some (just a hint) of light grey. Tamiya makes a "SMOKE" paint but to me its too glossy to be exhaust soot. Works well when weathering engines though. As far as pristein, Your spot on in your technique.

Thats the one thing I like about these forums, I have learned much from others over the years and hope I may have helped some along the way. Still looking for something for the next build and anxiously await more pictures from you and some of the others. As I said earlier, What a talanted group this is! More soon! Till then...Take care,

Doug

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

imatt 88...

What I've read is that due to the composition of the tire material, and the intense heat, the tires were prone to blowout or popping during take off. The tires were "white washed " to attempt to reflect the suns rays and avoid pre-mature dry rot and over pressure failures. Again , that was the info I was able to find and if there is further reason or more to add, please do.

Thanks!

Doug

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imatt 88...

What I've read is that due to the composition of the tire material, and the intense heat, the tires were prone to blowout or popping during take off. The tires were "white washed " to attempt to reflect the suns rays and avoid pre-mature dry rot and over pressure failures. Again , that was the info I was able to find and if there is further reason or more to add, please do.

Thanks!

Doug

 

Interesting! didn't know that. Thanks for sharing.

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