It is Hasegawa’s Bulgarian Air Force Messerschmitt BF109E with Aero Master Decal. If I thought that an ordinary German military decal was also included, it was only the marking of the Bulgarian Air Force. The color of the Aeromaster decal has not dulled even after years. By the way, this decal sheet also allows you to select Romanian Air Force marking.
The painting of the cockpit panel was designated as engine gray of Creos #339. Unfortunately, I didn’t have it, so the German gray seemed similar, and I used it.
I built a cockpit and did not move forward unless I joined the left and right parts. I will correct it later if there is a gap. As usual, the hand-drawn cockpit panel is a little troublesome. My eyes are hurting.
Metal mesh parts are used for air intake under the body. I used the parts of the metal mesh for these air intakes. After setting the parts, we cannot see the parts of the precise mesh well. I wonder if this model of Messerschmitt has air intakes at the base of the main wing.
(16-January-2018)
I had adhered to propellers easily in the past, so this time, I made a little progress. I examined the common point between the propeller and the spinner, and when I displayed it, I pushed it with a finger and worked. In the past propeller and the propeller spinner bonded, gluing the backside of the spinner to the shaft passing from behind. A small amount of epoxy putty is packed on the backside of the spinner to strengthen the adhesion.
Easy additional work, expressing brake pipes with copper wire. I think that self-satisfaction is high when I understand the working point from the front view.
I could fit the canopy tentatively. It fitted perfectly. The angled frame canopy is the first model in the Bf109 series. It seems challenging to install the photo-etched parts of the bulletproof board.
A seat belt was molded on the seat, quite simply. Attaching a seat belt with additional work, I tried more detail three-dimensionally. The photo-etched bulletproof board seemed dirty when attached to the canopy, so I fixed it on the seat rim.
(18-January-2018)
Because there are many yellow marking areas, I painted a white base first to improve the coloring.
I painted the RLM04 yellow areas.
There was a masking sample in the aero master indication. Since this sharp marking is one of the features of Bulgarian Bf109 marking, I want to work on it carefully.
While watching the Grand Sumo Tournament of January season and pasting decals simultaneously, finally, the last three decals for propeller remaining when starting the last five matches, the strongest wrestler games began, I stopped my hand and looked at the games. After that, I forgot the decal soaked in the small dish and let it flow to the sink, and maybe it’s like, “It is no use crying over spilled milk”….. It is pretty shocking. Returning to myself, “No, I took it from the mount sheet, but it cannot have been soaked!” There is no chance of finding those decals. I have a memory of soaking them in the water.
There are not many examples that Bf109 marks a propeller. Finishing this model without sticking to what I should have pasted is somewhat not a good feeling. It is a white triangle, and small black letters were written horizontally downwards, but I do not remember much because I cared about Sumo Wrestling. Even if I saw the decals of other Bf 109 stocks, there seemed to be no propeller decal in that model (Airfix). There is no choice, so cut off the white stock decals and paste them with a similar shape and look… It is really stupid.
(20-January-2018)
I changed my mood and looked for drains again in the morning at a brighter time. I was able to rescue all three lost decals. Lucky!
Bulgaria participated in the Axis side in March 1941, and 10 German Bf109E-4 were provided from Germany then. The air force became over 600 during a short period. After that, Bulgaria invaded Yugoslavia and Greece with Germany.
The coloring of the Bulgarian Air Force is very similar to the Luftwaffe, with yellow accents on the nose and tail wing. The “X” mark on a white background is the nationality mark of the Bulgarian Air Force.
The panel line was roughly carved before painting. It makes me feel better because it flows smoothly inking.
The color of the white decal is slightly transparent. I tried painting white thickly with a brush painting, but the background was left a little.
As for weathering, it is only a light inking and the exhaust pipe dirt on both sides of the nose. There is no stain on the machine gun muzzle. The yellow nose is still beautiful.
The Bf109E-4 has two 7.92mm MG17 machine guns in the nose, and both wings are equipped with 20mm MGFF/M machine guns.
After inking on the panel lines, the fuselage looks very sharp.
I was wondering about the weathering of the white decals. It is finished beautifully without any dirt this time.
In this kit, the coloring of the box painting and the actual finished color of the image are too different. Although it looks like silver and orange in the box painting, it is yellow and dark green.
Even on a 1/48 scale, the Bf109 is a small size. It seems that the movement is agile because the turning is good. It seems to have high mobility. In addition to Germany and Italy, the Empire of Japan, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Thailand, etc., I participated as an Axis country. The aircraft marking of these countries is also very interesting.
(23-January-2018)
