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For me, this is deja vu all over again. It is the second time that I've built this kit. One may ask why bother to do it twice. Well the answers are that the last build was so easy that I figured I could plop one out in a pretty short time. The other is that I had a decal sheet that was begging to be used (if you listen to your decal collection, you can also hear them calling out in a little tiny voice.....'use me, use me').

Actually, that is only partially true. I started on a Tamiya 1/72 Bf-109E-4 kit. When it came time to glue together the fuselage halves, I couldn't find one of the halves. I searched for it mightily with no luck. Interrogating my cats came up with nothing (though I suspected them both of not fully cooperating). Having no real choice, I opened up a 109E-3 kit and used that fuselage half. No sooner did I get that half painted and mated with the other side than I found the original 'missing' half in a very open place. Now did the cats have a guilt attack and sneak it in so I could find it?  Were the carpet gnomes responsible for this? I'll never know but since I had 'started' on the E-3 kit, I figured I may as well finish it. And now you know the rest of the story.

Construction started with the cockpit (not very original, but there it is). I like to glue together as many parts together prior to painting as I can. In this case it was basically the seat and control stick. The tub as well as forward bulkhead and cockpit sidewalls were painted RLM 02 grey as was normal with these early 109s. I used Xtracolor to do this. Next the instrument panel was painted RLM 66 and when dry, the panel decals were placed over it. A touch of Champ after it was pretty well set allowed it to snuggle down. Then the sidewalls were painted various colors according to the instructions and dry brushed. A decal harness is provided and that was put in place.

Meanwhile, the wings were glued together after I opened the holes for the drop tank or bomb rack. In this case it would be the bomb rack. Then the mating surfaces were cleaned up. The cockpit was glued into the fuselage and the wings glued on. Fit is really very good with only a touch of filler needed at the rear wing/fuselage join. Next the tail planes were attached, but not the braces. The canopy and windscreen were masked and the windscreen glued in place. The gunsight was next and when dry, the canopy tacked in place. The lower cowling was then next to be assembled, but not glued in place.

With all that done, the kit was returned to the work area to have its landing gear installed. After it had dried, the model was sprayed with clear acrylic gloss and ready for the decals. I used Aeromaster 72-003 and picked another JG 53 Battle of Britain scheme. This one was well documented in the latest Jagdwaffe book, which did help as the Aeromaster painting scheme was not totally correct. Again, I found the Aeromaster decals to be a bit on the thick side and not very responsive to setting solutions. The common markings were from the Tamiya sheet. With all the decals in place, the model was sprayed with a clear matte and it was time to finish adding pieces to it.

With all the pieces on, I removed the tape from the canopy, glued it in place and installed the radio mast. Then I got out the pastels for some exhaust stains. The prop was stuck on, a radio antenna was made from hair and the model was finished. I rushed to the photo shop to take pictures before I broke anything!