What a surprise

I finally settled on a 109 for this great groupbuild

No – really, I DO have other Japanese aircraft in my stash, but they are all “taken” – not that I might consider going there too, but for now, it is an export 109.

In my humble opinion 109 E-3’s for export all were Me 109’s, and the export version differed in some ways from the Luftwaffe planes. They were, as far as I am concerned all named with a suffix “a” for Ausland, thus we end at Me 109 E-3a for this build. I do know the jury is still out in the matter, but until I see the fact to tell me otherwise on a piece of paper that is it. (Hmmm sounds more bombastic than intended. . . )

Now, before we begin a good wash is needed

And with that taken care of, it is time to start. . time to start. . . come on now . . .

Oh – it is not a kit, just a set of “overtrees” – no instructions whatsoever. . .

OK – will pay eduard a visit one of these days to print out a basic manual.

Nothing will happen till then – but feel free to comment on the ME versus BF – and how you think the Japanese 109’s were equipped and how the cockpit was laid out – I shall suck it all up for consideration for this build – be safe out there, and remember it has to be built away!

That's a nice choice Erik. Bring it on!

Hi Erik! I would do the LW with the whitebordered hinomarus; cause it would standout more. The other would be somehow Ki-61ish. Again, it's personal.
Keep up @airbum!

Erik, @airbum
Welcome aboard !
You did a fantastic job picking the Emil as your subject. There are some good pictures in the link that was provided by George. This is going to be a very cool looking bird when completed... and I can't say that I have ever seen a model of one built in these markings.

Whaddayouknow

• commencing the build, I had a look at the plastic, then the few pictures, then back and forth a few times. It is NOT an E-3a. If it is, then it has a replacement hood! Most likely it is an E-4 or E-7 instead, and thus the title has now been changed, and I will have to consider if another kit is to be pressed into service.

I do not have any eduard E-4/7 in my stash (even I am surprised!) There are a few Tamiya E-4/7, but I really wanted to get my hands on an eduard 109E as I have built a few Tamiya 109E's.

Well - as the only difference on the trees are the clear sprue, I will press on with the eduard, and wash up a Tamiya, and see what happens.

Hopefully some pictures soon as pure text may be a bit boring - please feel free to comment on the issue above!

What a difference

Tamiya racing ahead as eduard struggles with too many details!

The Tamiya 109 races through assembly here at HalfWorks as both are OOB apart from markings and later on a lack of wing guns.

The Tamiya kit is quite simple, the eduard not so – you have to assemble almost the entire engine and all just to get it closed.

Now, it is not a bad thing – if you want to display an open enginebay, and the details are great. However, it would have been great if there were something like the part in the Ki-61 kit that allows you to assemble the plane without assembling the entire engine.

with the speed of the Tamiya kit it will soon be ready for paint – and I haven’t even ordered a spare kit for the correct windows on ed’s 109

Perfect progress @airbum! What I love the most is all this "surveying journey" to understand in depth the exact subject you are modeling. After this understanding, you plan your way. This, for me, is one of the many magic aspects of modeling!

Keeping up?

Having spent some more time on the eduard kit, they are more or less equally distance to the finishline

I struggled a bit to get the ed built, and all I can say is; read the instructions. . .

Having fought the machineguns for many minutes, I read the instructions as they were a terrible fit. Turned out they are not to be used if you build the cowling closed – just the barrelends on a nice flat mounting. Super easy and nice when closed!

The Tamiya has not been touched since last post, but lets have it again:

The machineguns are just an easy block, and that’s it – will be added later.

And now both of them together:

They switch places in the two pictures as the angle may show one longer that the other.

Now, I have to get moving on the glass for the ed – and source some decals!

Most likely some wings next – stay tuned