I can't believe that I actually finished two kits in a seven day period. First, the Hasegawa 1/72 P-47D Thunderbolt, and then this Tamiya 1/48 Bf 109E-3. This turned out better than the Thunderbolt, but still has a few flaws.

The exterior is all Tamiya. I used a custom mix for the RLM 02 in the cockpit. I followed Tamiya's recommendation of one part XF-22 RLM Grey to one part XF-49 Khaki, but also added one part XF-2 Flat White to lighten it up a bit. I used the same mixture for the RLM 02 part of the camouflage. For the RLM 65, I used the Tamiya mix of one part XF-23 Light Blue to one part XF-2 Flat White. I actually think it is a little too light, perhaps being closer to RLM 76 than RLM 65. I used XF-61 Dark Green straight from the jar for the RLM 71.

I used XF-63 German Grey for the tires, and Model Master Acryl Flat Black for the wheels. The guns are all Floquil Graphite. The propellor spinner is Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, and the blade are mostly Floquil Brunswick Green. The bare metal parts of the blades are Floquil Bright Silver.

I used an airbrush purchased from the now-defunct pleasedshop.com to paint the mottling. This airbrush has a 0.2mm needle, the smallest I've used. I had tried a Chinese airbrush before, and was not happy with it, but this one was only about $20. I used Tamiya paint, thinned down about four parts thinner to one part paint, and very low pressure. The result is my best mottling job. The only thing I would have done differently would be to make it darker. It has been my experience that the gloss clear coat darkens the colors, so I thought the mottling would be fine, but the clear coat didn't affect it. I suppose I should be happy.

The decals are from the kit. According to the instructions, it represents a plane from II/JG54 in France some time in 1940. I chose this option because I wanted to try the mottling. The only stencil I applied was the fuel octane indicator, on the upper part of the port fuselage. I tried to apply the red walk area marker on the port wing, but the decal came apart, so I stopped. For the first time, I used Mr. Setter. It worked very well - there was no silvering at all.

In addition to the decal mishap, a few other things went wrong. I forgot to paint the front of the engine (actually just a block of plastic). It shows - very slightly - through the slots in front of the cowling machine guns. I also forgot to paint the grill on the front of the supercharger air intake. I unmasked the cockpit before I applied the clear coats, and the clear flat got on the instrument panel. I lost the gunsight. I had cut it off the sprue, and was attempting to file it a bit, when it sprung out of the tweezers into never-never land. The middle section of the canopy is almost falling off the plane. I used foam-safe superglue, and held it in place for what I thought was long enough. I took my hand off, and it stayed in place where it was supposed to. I left the room for a while. When I came back, it had fallen down to its current position. On the plus side, it is glued very well - I wanted to see if I could fix it, but it did not budge. The front section of the canopy does not sit snugly up against the fuselage - I'll have to remember to test fit and sand it if needed, before I paint it. After the frustration with the canopy, I did not bother to put on the armored glass in front of the windscreen.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.