Bf109E-3 "WEISSE 5" Obfw. Jakob Arnoldy, Mandal 1940 (Tamiya 1/72)

06th August 2018

Hi all

This is my next project. The kit is the Tamiya Bf109E-3.

My intention is to make one of the decal options for the aircraft flown by Obfw. Jakob Arnoldy. He was attached to 4./JG77 based on Mandal - Norway, in 1940. During that time he was flying the "Weisse 5"which was a Bf109E-3 WNr.1276. The painting scheme is RLM71, RLM02 over RLM65 which was characteristic of the period.

Bf109E-3 "Weisse 5" Wnr. 1276, Obfw Jakob Arnoldy, Mandal September 1940

Here is a shot of his another "White 5" being also the E-3 type. It seems to be the kite he was shot down. Believing the caption it's Bf 109E3, 4.JG77, WNr 5277 shot down by RAF 33 Sqn, John Mackie, on the15th April 1941.

The kit:

This kit is quite simple and inside the box you'll find one grey sprue with all major parts for assembly, one clear sprue with the canopy parts, decals and instructions sheet.

I quickly started by painting the interior with RLM02. In this case I have used Gunze RLM02.

Next I started brush painting the cockpit details using Tamiya acrylics.

16th August 2018

Some progress done on the cockpit.

Firstly I painted the floor with GUNZE acrylic H70 RLM02 and weathered using water colours pencil silver and Tamiya Panel Accent BLACK.

Following I worked on the firewall, basic painting to pick up the details using Tamiya XF-63 German Grey for the cannon butt, GUNZE acrylics H8 SILVER for the pedals and GUNZE acrylic H70 RLM02 and weathered using water colours pencil silver and Tamiya Panel Accent BLACK. I added a piece of lead foil for the pedal straps and painted it GUNZE H66 RLM79 to simulate leather.

 Next I drilled the seat belt aperture and added the seat belts, fiber material seat belts from KAMIZUKURI (870-0906). I'm not sure about the colour though, I'll probably need to paint it. I also weathered it using water colour pencil silver.

The instruments panel was painted Tamiya XF-63 German Grey and than I used the supplied decals. I did added the filter pump control lever made of a piece of photo etch scrap.

21st August 2018

Finally re-painted the seat belts, they look better now.

Here is how the cockpit is looking at the moment.

Here is how it looks now, attached to the fuselage

06th September 2018

Continuing with the building I decided to make an improvement to the kit by cutting off the wing slats. This is the first time I'm doing this, so bear with me.

1st attempt. I had to re-do it. The slats locations were wrong. See photo reference below.

This drawing (thanks Eduardo Brettas for the help) shows exactly where the slats are positioned.

Here is the real deal. The slat is fully extended in the photo above.

After discovering I had made a mistake with the slats positioning I scrapped it and started again. Here I used a tip I got from a fellow modeller Luftwaffe esperten Mr Brettas (you can find his fine works here: Harpias e Águias da Luftwaffe by E. Brettas ). He told me to glue a piece of fine plastic in the overall extension of the slat, then drill the a hole for positioning the slats openings and cut the excess with a sharp hobby knife. So that's what I have tried to do.

I also worked on the main landing gears, I made the hydraulic brake line out of thin copper wire, it was then painted Gunze RLM02 and Silver. The propeller is very good and it was painted using Gunze RLM70 and Aluminium. I t still needs to be properly weathered..

One annoying thing about this Tamiya kit is the closed canopy as the only option. After working the beautiful interior it would be insane to keep it closed. So I decided to carefully cut it open. I than polish it and gave a bath of FUTURE to restore the clear.

Getting ready for painting!

Starting the painting adventure, I decided to show a step by step of my (not so conventional) painting method.
It may seen odd, but I don't prime my model, I apply a coat of silver instead. In this case I used GUNZE acrylic H8 Silver, thinned with MLT (1H*:2MLT+retarder) and 3 drops of Mr retarder mild, air pressure at 20psi. I applied it overall and set it to dry overnight.

After allowing it to dry completely I inspect the model for any imperfections requiring to be fixed. In the photo below you can observe that I sanded on starboard top wing. I than start to pre-shade. Some people say pre-shading is not worth the working. However, I do like it and think it's worth the extra time. Basically I spray very thinned XF1 Black (1XF1:4X20A+retarder) at low air pressure (8psi) in thin lines and in areas I want it to be shadowed. I don't worry about little over spray and not so straight lines since I can correct them later.

With the pre-shade complete you can start your painting straight away if you wish so.
In this case I'm using Gunze acrylic H67 RLM65 (1H67:3MLT + 3 drops Retarder). The idea is to work by panels, starting with the panel centre and expand it to cover all, controlling the coats to not cover the pre-shade completely.

Patient is the key here. Don't try to do the whole kit at once. I usually load smaller amounts of paint at a time, that would allow me to do a wing, for example. Then I have to stop, clean the airbrush, re-mix the paint etc to stat over again. This allows to paint to dry and show off the effect, this way you don't over-do it and loose the effect (better control)

RLM02 (Gunze H70) and RLM71 (Gunze H71)thinned with MLT.

 I than gave an overall coat of Tamiya X-22 Clear thinned with Mr Levelling Thinner (MLT) at ratio 1 paint: 3 MLT, 15psi.

Decals in place, using the Micro Sol / Set solutions. Tamiya decals are very thick but conform pretty well with Micro Sol.

I didn't use the original Baukenkreuz since the it was different from my references (see first photo on this post). I used one set from FCM decals instead.

Another coat of Tamiya X-22 Clear thinned with MLT (1:3,15psi) was applied and the kit set aside to completely dry before starting with the weathering.

What's the spinner colour? I was pondering about this question for a while. According to the Tamiya instructions I should paint it RLM70 entirely. However, looking to the first photo of this article, you will notice a spinner in lighter colour. 

The photo cropped and enlarged, observe the spinner colour

I was searching around in different forums and finally got a decisive answer. Please see the photos below of various JG77 on the same period.

Observe the aircraft parked in the background

The colour of the spinner is very clear for the both aircraft

A Bf109E-3 for the JG77 clearly showing the spinner in WHITE while the backplate is RLM70

So the colours were set to be RLM70 for the bad plate and RLM21 White for the spinner.

Continuing with this building. Some weathering has been done using washes and some watercolour pencils. A coat of Gunze H20 Flat Clear has been sprayed overall to allow for some pigments to be applied.

Panel lines

Panel lines

The Me109 were notorious for the oil leaks and overall dusty

Port side view showing overall weathering and exhausting stain

Starboard side view showing overall weathering and exhausting stain

Slats in place

The slats added a nice touch to the model

Small parts details being added.

The propeller and spinner in place. Please note the propeller shaft  showing. The antenna mast on the right

Landing wheels finished. Some Aluminium scratches made with Quilt pencil and some red tags made with watercolour pencil

Landing gear in place

Note the brake fluid line loop characteristic of the Bf109

Tail wheel

An important discovery by my friend Mr Eduardo Brettas (a Messerschimitt experten) was to observe that there were 3 (three) victory bars painted on the rudder close to the Hakenkreuz.
So I added this to my model.

Please note the kill markings barely seen through this zoomed photo (see the arrows). They are there!

A small setback. When I did take out the windshield masking tape I've noticed some flat clear leaked into the windshield's side panels (sorry! No photos).
I'm trying to fix it up by polishing with Tamiya compound putty.

Problem solved. Apologies for not having the photo of the damaged windshield but here it is fixed. I've polished it with Tamiya compound putty medium and fine until removed (or most of it), I then gave it a bath on Future Clear and left to dry overnight.

Sorry about the bad photography but the arrow shows what was left of the stain

Same as previous photography remarks

Continuing with the building I glued the parts on the fuselage using white glue.

Now is time to paint the frames.

For the frames I used clear decal film painted. First painted RLM02 and then RLM71.
I cut 1mm stripes to approximate length of the section. apply as per usual decal methods.
After completing, use Micro Sol to make it conform to the part.

Cut decal stripes of about 1mm and to desired length 

Here you van see the inside colour showing through on the middle frame

It is a little bit of a work perhaps, but heaps better than to cut out masks for those complicated canopy frames. The final result is, by far, better than masking.

I'm now reaching the final steps of this building. Most probably the next photos will show the completed model.

Well! I call it done.

After finishing the small details and adding the missing parts . I finally got it finished.

Here are a few photos. More detailed and better quality photos to come.

Finally, as promised, here are the photos of the finished model. I'd say it was a pleasure to build this kit. Any set back I had was self inflicted and nothing to do with the kit quality.
The canopy is pretty decent out of of the box. I only added a set of harnesses and some scratch built details to the panel. All the parts fit together very well and little putty was used.
There were some mistakes regarding the painting scheme but I only noticed it because was checking my references (i.e. spinner colour).

That's it! Thanks for following this building.

Cheers

Paulo