1/72 Special Hobby – Bf 109E3, Stab/Jg 77, Deta, April 1941. Brown One

On the 6. of april 1941. Geramn Reich attacked Yugoslavia, Serbia in particular, without declaration of war. Gravely outnumbered by invaders Serbia capitulated.

I did many planes flew by Royal Yugoslav Air Force. So, this time it is opposing plane.

I got Special Hobby Bf109E3 in 1/72nd scale, bought some Lift Here decals for April War, and again read excellent book “Messerschmitt Bf109, Yugoslav story”.

I decided to do Stab/Jg 77, Deta, April 1941. Brown One.

Details on this very little model are superb. All the rivets, panels, cockpit details, decals… Almost like for 1/78th scale. The only problem, which is done by myself, was with engine cover, it was a little bit shorter so I put a little bit of putty.

The whole build process is easy and fantastic. Everything clicks into place without problems. Just be carefull with canopy. I had to trim it just a little bit and to add some Krystal to make it plausable. I closed the engine cover because I wanted to achieve take off moment with plane. In fact, the engine details are also great!

After building process I took Revell's pilot, painted it and put it into the cockpit. I decided to do the model in seconds before take off, so the pilot was a must!

After assembly I primed the model with very thinned Mr. Black primer. Again, like in the build with Stuka, I used the Vallejo acrylics. Why, I dont know, but they behaved excellent! I gave them excellent shake while they were attached to the jigsaw tool. They sprayed fantastic.

Then went the ultra gloss varnish and decals. I mixed decals. Main decals and stencils were used from Special Hooby, and they are superb! After curing You can pill of the carrier film and You will achieve painted on markings!

For plane and unit markings I used Serbian made decals from Lift Here made for April war markings, not excellent, not bad. Just be careful when adding them on.

I did all the weathering with paneliners, postshadin and modulations with Abteilung 502 oils. After that I sprayed matte coat. And did some more post shading with thinned RLM 02 via the airbrush.

So, Special Hobby did excellent job with this model. Highly recommend for modellers a little bit more exirienced. Not for newcomers to hobby because of some more complex building process and because of scale. The model is very little and demands carefull build and paint process. But the outcome is pleasnat.

10 additional images. Click to enlarge.