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Messerschmitt Me109 E-3a, Swiss, Tamiya, AM parts and homebrew, 1/48

Started by Erik Gjørup · 31 ≡ · ↻ 2 weeks ago · 109, 109E-3, airbum, Bf109, Bf109E-3a, me109, Me109E-3a, swiss

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Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 8 months ago:
Another one is ready to leave 109Werke!

Yet another E-3a leaves to get its own topic.

Builds usually starts with the cockpit, but this time we start with inspecting some nice wheels
1. HUGE difference between original and AM parts.
1. One of the major complaints of the Tamiya kit is the tailwheel

2. ResKit needs a minor modification to the hole in the kit, but is spot-on compared to the real thing.
They are from Ukrainian ResKit, and are no doubt some of the best I’ve seen.

Work then starts with the wings, making a block to mount the MG’s
1. Hole to be drilled
These will be brass barrels made for Japanese Zero’s as these were licensed copies of the Orlikons used in Swiss and Romanian E-3a’s

next up some mods to the cockpit
Pedro L. Rocha said 1 year, 8 months ago:

Very nice additions Erik @airbum
You know that an eventual comparison of your Swiss Emil with the newest offer from Wingsy is bound to happen 😉
Looking forward for new steps
Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 8 months ago:

Those wheels look amazing, my friend @airbum! Solid progress!
John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 8 months ago:

The wheels are a huge improvement, Erik @airbum
Those MG's will look great as well.
Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 8 months ago:

Thanks Pedro @holzhamer. Indeed I wanted to get mine going before the wingsy kit arrives - gonna be a treat to get the correct interior, seatbelts, radios and all as seen on their preliminary drawings.

Indeed the wheels will make a huge difference Spiros @fiveten and John @johnb, and the MG's I suppost will be very noticeable to those who look closely 🙂
Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 8 months ago:
IP and cockpit

The instrument panel gets some mods as do the cockpit

The swiss DB’s had two leather knobs on the panel to charge the guns up front.
1. Magneto panel improved

2. knobs to charge front guns

3. MG counter panel

4. Morsekey panel
Another modification was a counter for the Orlikons in the wings, and a morse-key for the morse radio.

The propeller adjustment was moved from the panel to the throttle, wich was made square to hold the components.
1. SBS seat - a must for any early 109!

2. Square throttle
Another prominent change was moving the fuelprimer/pump to the left wall to make room for the radio on the right.

Another important change has been made to the heading of this topic, as the swiss order were made before the RLM ordered the Bf designation, and the swiss referred to their planes as Me 109E-3a DB’s, og rather more often when in service just as “DB”, the 109D’s were called “Jumo’s” deriving form the engines of the respective versions (The later 109G were just “Gustav’s”). All is described in the fantastic book on 109’s in swiss service.

next up some more mods?
John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 8 months ago:

Great attention to detail on this interior, Eric @airbum
I thought all communication was done by radio at that time so I'm surprised by the presence of the morse equipment.
Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 8 months ago:

@johnb, radios in the late 30's were not very reliable and had short range. This resulted in early fighters having some large antennas. Usually the one on the back had extra lengths running from the "mast" to one or both tailplanes. The Swiss had about 190 radios early in 1940, 56 of these being operational at one point! Apart from morse a system also used were light flares, and most aircraft had flareguns. Again the swiss used their own method, having a battery in the aft fuselage with three different colored flares that could be fired individually by a switchboard in the cockpit. In between the wars almost all civil had morse as primary means of communication with the ground, but that is a story for another day 🙂
John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 8 months ago:

Thanks a lot for the explanation, Erik @airbum
Another learningful day.
George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 8 months ago:

The changes you have made to the interior are pretty amazing, Erik (@airbum). I always thought that the Swiss 109s were identical to the German 109s...shows how little I know. Looking forward to more cool info.
Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 8 months ago:

Superb modifications, my friend @airbum!
Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 2 months ago:

5 months has passed! What can I say? Dayjob takes too much of my build-time. Anyway, @johnb, @gblair and @fiveten, here is a very short update, as progress have been made – only just, but still progress. . .

TAPE

Having detail-painted the interior, it was time to assemble the fuselage

And I am sorry – no pictures during the paint-session, so just the tape-mess to show!

Well – there Is still time to show the interior as I need to add seatbelts, and again the Ea versions seem to have all been with the extra strap mounted in the back of the cockpit (only wingsy have added these to their PE fret).

next up, I hope to have caught up with the camera
John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Looking forward to those interior pictures once the seatbelts are in place, Erik @airbum
Progressing nicely.
George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Hi, Erik (@airbum). Glad to see the 109 King is working again on this model. We have all been in that place in our lives that doesn't allow a lot of time to build, so hope your job allows some more time to model in the future.
Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Thanks @johnb, seatbelts need to be sourced. @gblair, glorious title – hope to be able to fill those shoes, but alas, I just read a lot, so my knowledge is limited to written sources (prefer books to the internet)

Tailfeathers

Wings on, tailfeathers on

Right after the last picture was taken the wings were glued in place. No pictures – just the usual stuff with tape ensuring the correct angle and no gaps at the roots.

And so it was time today to mount the tailfeathers.

The Tamiya kit has a very bad mount for the struts on the horizontal stabilizer.

Some fettling and using Revell Contacta as it hardens as a clump, the job ended being a relative success.

and while the glue hardens a look at the cockpit as it is right now.

With this I have caught up with the work and state of assembly as it is today.

next up – who knows?

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Work in Progress – Aircraft

Messerschmitt Me109 E-3a, Swiss, Tamiya, AM parts and homebrew, 1/48

Another one is ready to leave 109Werke!

IP and cockpit

TAPE

Tailfeathers