Junior Modeling in 1/72 scale
Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3

by Geoffrey Matheson

Tamiya's 1/72 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 is available online from Squadron

14 year old Geoffrey Matheson describes his award winning Tamiya Bf 109:

This is my Tamiya Bf-109 E-3 in 1/72 scale. It was completed earlier in 2005, around April, and showed up at CAMS in New Brunswick where it took Best of Show in Juniors, and the IPMS Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia, coming in 2nd place in Juniors.

Summing the kit up in a paragraph shouldn’t be too hard - it was a typical Tamiya kit. The fit was better than excellent.

The usual construction methods were used, but no filler was needed for the most part, a tiny bit under the nose to correct a mistake on my part was all that was needed. I tried to make it a little better than the rest by re-scribing a few panel lines that lost definition due to some sanding, mostly on the fuselage, and a fine line was scribed down the "backbone" area to represent the seam line I hear is present on 109s.

As far as painting goes, I used all Tamiya acrylics. A little white was used to prime the areas that will be sprayed yellow next, then I masked off the appropriate areas and sprayed the undersides and fuselage XF-23 lightened down a little bit, then Tamiya’s equivalent to RLM 02 and RLM 71. The demarcation lines came out perfectly, and I liked how the paints sprayed. I had pretty good luck spraying the mottling and that turned out to be my favorite detail on the plane. Decaling and weathering went as usual, and to top it off, I added a human hair aerial.

Dad made the base for me and I think it adds a nice touch.

The build went smoothly, and painting was pretty well painless. I couldn’t have spent more than 15 hours on the whole thing, and it was very enjoyable all in all.

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by James Fahey
Page Created 22 December, 2005
Last Updated 25 December, 2005

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