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1/32 Matchbox
Messerschmitt Bf-109 E-3 by Rick
Reinbott This is my Matchbox 1/32 Me-109 E-3 built
essentially out of the box. I would definitely include this kit in
the category of "oldie but goodie," as it builds into a
very nice replica of an early 109. Construction
There are a few fit problems, which include the oil cooler cover (had to carve a lot of plastic out of the inside to get it to fit flush over the oil cooler), engine mounting tab into the slot in the firewall, and getting the cowl MG 17 machine guns to fit into the supporting "brackets". The brackets are also molded such that, when the machine guns are attached to them and then attached to the engine assembly, the guns somewhat point down toward the top front of the engine and slightly to port. Be careful here. Also, I found that the two pieces making up the lower cowl cover were not wide enough at the top to be glued together. To remedy this, I taped the two halves flush on each side of the fuselage and measured the space between them. I then cut a corresponding width and length of plastic card, applied Crazy Glue to the edge of each cover half, and gently placed and fitted the piece of plastic card in the space between the halves. Once the glue dried, I removed the tape and the resulting "one piece" cover from the model. I then kept applying layers of filler over the strip and kept sanding until the correct curvature to the top of the cover was reached.
I scratchbuilt a few items, which included
the aerial wire, shoulder harness, canopy wire, and drilling out the
gun barrels. The aerial and canopy wires were made from stretched
sprue, with the aerial insulators made from Elmer's Glue painted white.
The hooks for the canopy wire were made from copper wire. The shoulder
harness is made from drafting tape with Eduard buckles. Other areas
of the model that could use some scratchbuilding include the wheel
wells (totally open on the kit) and brake lines on the landing struts.
Also, the instrument panel dials are represented as pins that come
through the instrument panel. Since I finished the model (about 3
years ago), Cutting Edge has released a cockpit set (CEC32088) for
the Hasegawa kit that I would think could be worked to fit this kit
as well. Other than the instrument dials and the gunsight, the kit-supplied
cockpit isn't bad at all. Painting For painting the model, I used Model Master
Enamels. The camouflage scheme is the standard RLM 70 Black Green
and 71 Dark Green over RLM 65 Light Blue. I achieved the "hard
yet soft" edge to the colors by using a paper mask attached to
the surface using double-backed drafting tape. This way the paper
was lifted off the surface just enough so that when the paint was
sprayed on, the result was a soft edge. The pattern on the fuselage
sides (RLM 71 over 65) was achieved by using a coarse, short-bristled
brush dipped into the paint and then dabbing it onto the sides. Don't
use an expensive brush to do this, as the brush I used was totally
destroyed when I was finished. A picture in the Squadron In Action
book says that the paint was sponged on, rather than sprayed on.
The panel lines, engine, guns, tires, and
underside were all given a wash using Polly S Midnight Black. Drybrushing
was done by using the respective base colors mixed with a little bit
of white. Fuel stains were done by using Gunze Sangyo Oil mixed with
a little brown thinned with water. As old as the kit decals were,
they weren't too bad and I decided to use them, although the wavy
line on the rear fuselage side is a little large compared to photographs. References: Messerschmitt Bf 109 in action Part 1,
Squadron/Signal Publications Aircraft No. 44 (1980) Aerodata International Fighters of World
War II, Squadron/Signal Publications (1980) © Rick Reinbott 2004 |
