comparing plastic

With three 109D from AMG in progress, I’ll throw in the Modelsvit rework

Essentially it is the same basic kit, but Modelsvit has made some very modified molds.

The wingroot and the vents on the AMG 109D

More pictures of the vents earlier in the topic. The cover for the mainspar is too short – should have continued almost to the top of the fairing. This will be a bit challenging to remedy.

The re-worked Modelsvit, left side

The vents are correct, and the starterhandle coupling is protruding as it should be.

The right side also sports the correctly shaped cover for the mainsparbolt.

AND it has the corrected location of air and power couplings – and as a first: the hatch for the used cartridges for the flaregun. It is present on a lot of early 109’s, but this is the first time I have noticed it in a kit.

Of course I shall open the vents and drill the openings for compressed aircouplings, but all in all had I known the Modelsvit 109D before I bought a lot of the AMG kits, it would have been a different stash of early 109’s at my place.

next up I continue the work on the productionline

Oh yes - and a schematic of the three link collector cases and the store for the fresh rounds, should you wish to superdetail a B model (or a C or D that had them - not all did)

Copyright by Luftfahrt-Archiv Hafner

Erik, @airbum
Thank you for the insight as far as the differences with Udet's plane, and the generous offer for decals.
I might just take you up on the offer. As far as someone making an Udet conversion set, you have my wheels in motion and I have started doing some things to see just how hard this might be. You might not have to look much farther... as I have done some online research and found some good photos showing the various things that were different, such as the landing gear doors, air intake, radiators and the exhausts as you were so kind enough to explain to me in a PM.

Tonight I made several sets of 1/48 Tamiya F4U-1 "birdcage" wind screens using some clear plastic sheeting. I was an experiment more than anything else, just to see how hard it would be to make my own clear parts in the future. I used various pieces of plastic that I had saved from packaging. I'm going to write a mini "how to" in a few minutes...

Making a conversion set for the Udet plane, using the 1/48 scale Tamiya E-3 to start with doesn't look to be too hard...my famous last words. I'm sure there will be more things I find out about the differences once this project gets going... and I think I will find out once we start the Luftwaffe group build in the future. I'm seriously considering making some molds for the various parts, and asking our friend Jim Harley if we would consider pouring these for us, or if he has any pointers with how to make resin parts. I have tried pouring resin in the past, but I always seemed to get air bubbles in the final product.

Jim's parts look to be very nice. It's not as easy at it sounds... It is also great to hear that the decals for both V-13 and V-14 are again available.

Thank you for posting your thoughts on the Modelsvit and the AMG kits. Having seen what your thoughts are, I am happy that I chose the Modelsvit offering when I purchased both a C and a D version. We are so lucky that we have choices now. Not so long ago this wouldn't have been possible, as all that was available was the old Hobbycraft kit that had some serious problems with it, and the Classic Airframes kit, that was ultra expensive.

Happy New Year ! 🙂

Fuselages ready for assembly

But that can not happen before the cockpits are ready too!

First up, the fuselages has been mated so that the level of detail to the vents matches up on the two sides

As I just took all three kits and started at one end there is no telling wich ones belong in what box, and after all there are no final desicions on the markings on any of these yet.

The interior can – just like Eduards Profipack 109’s (no comparison apart from that funfact) – be made with different degrees of finish.

You have a choice of plastic or PE on some parts, but for the majority it will be necessary to add PE if you want any detail at all.


The throttle is one of the things you can choose to have in either plastic or PE, I made one of each. As can be seen there are some differences to their appearance, and actually the plastic option is closest to the real thing! Both need the third handle that adjust the Höhengas (mixture). I will have to dig into that before committing further.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that the chains for the coolers and flaps are to be made a bit different than in the instructions – check the 3rd picture for a small comment on that.

I will have to commit to colors soon, and when that happens these small ones will leave the kindergarten and get their own topic, as there are some minor differencies to the interior depending on the version you want – stay tuned for that

I think your Messerschmitt Werke are very similar to the real ones! Willy would be very pleased to see this, only the scale is different from the real thing @airbum ! Kudos!

Spiros (@fiveten), Michel (@michel-verschuere) and John (@JohnB), thank you for the kind words gentlemen. The 1:1 will probably take up a bit more space in the house than I have available. . . Now while we are waiting on the individual colors the cockpits get a bit of attention;

Office furniture

Time to get some bits and pieces into the office

The PE details do need a bit of feddling, as does the plastic.

The first chain will be bent if you do not trim the end. And to make room for it along the wall, a cut needs to be made

It is not really a problem, as the chain does go through the spar in real life (through holes, but that will be a bit difficult

You cannot just make the hole higher, as the chain will then interfere with the gearhousing.

Next I put the first trimwheel in place

Followed by the next chain. That one needs a back-plate, and I CA’ed it too close to the outside wall. Will adjust the next two ones.

Now, these trimwheels are both marked as “15”, but they are different!

The inner one needs to have the spike to enable no 2 chain to fit, and then the outer wheel plops in place. (the pictures with the no 2 chain above are without glue, so better fit came when glue was added)
This is getting a bit long – apologies! Hope you are still here. . . lets have a last picture of where I got to now;

Now, next they are about to depart the kindergarten, as some sort of decision has been made. One will most likely be a B-1 – and they were all the same color, so no real need to decide the excact plane yet. The other two will be Doras, and both will be Legion Condor, but nothing firm yet on wich two, probably a camo wing and light color fuselage and a all grey one – the swiss will come at a later date, but that will be the modelsvit kit as it has the correct fairings for the cowlguns

Exceptional detailing, Erik.
First time I've seen these kind of chains being used in cockpits, maybe because I'm only recently back into the modelling.
You did a great job here.

Thank you again for kind words my friends. If you will bare with me, one more update is coming up in a few minutes!

Louis (@lgardner), indeed it is a lot easier to make a bunch, even though at some point I have to break mine up in individual ones in order to keep track of all the details needed for the individual plane, as I like to position rudders and such, and to make that work for me I also have to move the stick and pedals accordingly. The V-13 speed plane is actually available from Falcon, but in a large set that also contains many out-of-production kits. Anyway, it is a lot more fun to be able to make them at home, right 🙂

John (@JohnB), the details are more or less in the kit, but a bit timeconsuming to make. Chains are actually used in the Cessnas and stuff we fly in today!. Simple and reliable. Thank you again.

Spiros (@fiveten), happy to amaze 😉

Now, the last post on the "three as one" coming up in a few minutes.