A Quick Build of Tamiya’s 1/72 Bf 109E
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
What to do, what to do…
A while back I picked up Eduard’s 1/72 Adlerangriff dual combo of the Bf 109E, which is packed with a load of interesting color schemes. Trying to decide on which two schemes to go with is not easy (I still haven’t narrowed it down much), but the kits themselves have a lot of options and details (including a separate engine). Combining all of that together had me wanting to build a Bf 109E but unable to really narrow down the decision that this kit offered, so I decided to pivot and build a completely different Bf 109E kit, the Tamiya one, while using the decals for one of the schemes from the Eduard kit. This would get me a finished model quickly and reduce the choices in the Eduard kit, so truly the best of both worlds.
The Build
The Tamiya Bf 109E kit is simple yet accurate and decently detailed, so it finishes up into a good looking model without much effort. This is immediately apparent with the cockpit, which has just six parts but plenty of detail that paints up nicely. Since the kit comes with only a closed canopy, this level of detail is more than sufficient and is a pretty relaxing interior to build up.
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With the cockpit done up, the build can begin in earnest, and here is where being the Tamiya kit really pays off. Still going with minimal parts, they just fit so everything goes together with no real filler needed. This means the model gets to the painting stage really fast after just a bit of sanding along the seams. So speaking of painting, the choice I picked from the Adlerangriff kit was that of Oblt Franz von Warra’s Bf 109E from II./JG 3, where he served as the Gruppenadjutant while at Wierre-au-Bois, France in September 1940. This plane was camouflaged in an RLM 02/71 splinter scheme over RLM 65 with a high fuselage demarcation. An interesting tidbit on this specific plane was a lighter-colored cowling and white wingtips and rudder, so there was a lot of masking on this build.
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Speaking of the decals, these are well printed and went on fairly well, from the large crosses to the small details. The only spot I had an issue with was with one of the fuselage chevrons, which ended up folding over on itself multiple times. Since it was impossible to unwrap that one, I went back to the Tamiya decals and used a couple from that sheet as replacements. Other than that little hiccup, the decals went down well, so after some light weathering I turned to the next problem: a missing gun barrel. That was a simple one to scratch up, I just found a piece of styrene rod the right diameter, chucked it in my mototool, and shaped the barrel to match the kit one. With that finished, this 109 was done.
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Conclusion
This was a fun and relaxing build that has me ready to build up the pair of Eduard 109s in the Adlerangriff box, so the Tamiya kit did exactly what I hoped it would. With this one done, I've now got a plan for the two other 109Es and, as long as I'm in this mood, I'll probably throw the Eduard Bf 109F and G kits I have in the closet as well.
