Inspired by a colour profile in Richard A. Franks "The Messerschmitt Bf 109 Early Series" my next Bf 109 will be finished as black N+8 from 10.(Nacht)/JG77. It was based at one of the two air bases in Aalborg in July 1940. As regards Bf 109 I have never built anything but Eduard's 109 - now it's time for something else. I have choosen AMG's Bf 109C (AMG48721) for this build.

What makes Aalborg interesting to me? Aalborg is my hometown and my dad was raised at the gates of Fliegerhorst West, nowadays Transport Wing Aalborg. During WW2 german and auxillary troops were living in barracks in my grandparents backyard and some of them often drove my dad in his stroller. An Austrian soldier kept in touch with my grandparents and they kept visiting each other until the 80's.

H-models have released a set of decals including black N+8 (HMD48023), however based at Oslo-Fornebu. I persume it is the same aircraft as in Aalborg as the Luftwaffe used Aalborg as a stepping stone to Norway.

However there is a confusion between the book and the decal set wether it is a C or D model. I choose to believe it is a D model based solely on the number produced, 58 C's in contrary to 647 D's.

Stay tuned, the cockpit coming next...

Does the kit comes with that PE sheet you shown in the picture? Being a luftwaffe subject and a 109 from a maker I have not seen in the box so far I’ll be following your build.
PS- believe I also have that same (and well known) early night fighter 109 at an old decal sheet, a MSAP sheet, long defunct brand

For sure I am going to follow this thread as well.
109's are my one of favorites.
The box content looks great so I'm looking forward to your build.

Great choice, Klavs (@klavs1972). I really like the early model 109s and am looking forward to your build.

Klavs (@klavs1972), no, you are not wrong, but not correct either - to the best of my knowledge they both had the small stub-exhausts, and even some B models did have them (page 155 in "German Eagles in Spanish Skies shows 109B 6O44 with exhauststubs) and in "Die 109" from 2008 there is a 109 C-2 on page 31 with stubs too).

The hatches for the wing-mounted MG were also a feature of the C, as they had the enginemounted MG deleted, keeping the two in the cowl and had two installed in the wings. I will have to double-check if there is a difference to how they look, but some C-1's were re-engined and were referred to as D-1's after that.

In the german-language "Die 109" from Motor Buch Verlag, there are pictures of 109C with and without, and even some with mid-war school 109C's with E-like exhaustshrouds.

I will get back to the armchair and Coffee and check some of the LiF magazines by "Start", and if something conclusive turns up I will let you know. Hope this helps - no matter what you are well off by calling N+8 a D-1, so lets see more of this great choice my friend!

Looks like a fantastic project! And when it comes to 109's, you and Eric @airbum should become rather good friends, while you leave me in the dust of 109 minutiae... (although I am learning a lot! I'm sure it'll come in handy when I ever get around to some 109 builds.)

My pleasure Klavs (@klavs1972) - someone has to drink all the coffee. I found a picture in another book stating the plane in the picture was a B-model, but with the late shrouded D exhausts. Either the picturetext writer is way off, or as they say, anything goes. (In the same book "Your" 109 was depicted as a drawing, but with MG barrels protruding from the wing and no unit-badge, claiming it to be a C). Looking forward to the next post on this interesting build.

The fuselage

Turn the fuselage into a Dora

One of the external features of the fuselage that distinguish Bf 109A/B from C/D are the ventilation outlets on the engine cowling. The kit offer a fuselage that is a mix of the A to D model, i.e. almost possible positions of the outlets on the cowling. To make a correct early Bf 109 from the AMG kit good references and some filling is needed.

The two pictures below from David Johnson's book German eagles in Spanish skies show the position of the ventilation outlets on a Bf 109D.

To add more realism to the model the fuselage was thinned from the inside with a rotary tool and the ventilation outlets was opened.

Another external feature that distinguish the C/ D model from the earlier A/B model are the hatches for the oxygen filler and external power socket on the starboard side of the fuselage. On the A and B model are the hatches under the cockpit, but on the C and D model are they further aft of the cockpit. The picture of Mölders Bf 109D 6 o 79 from David Johnson's book German eagles in Spanish skies show the position of the two hatches.

The hatches from the A and B model was filled with putty and new hatches scribed in the correct position. One ventilation outlet had to be filled and a new opened further aft to be a correct Bf 109D engine cowling.

Now back to the cockpit