Airfix Club Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 WIP #1

I have mentioned this project during the Diamond T postings, but didn't get around to start the WIP posts of it here. This is just a quick (in my terms) build straight OOB, which will be a few months. This version is the aircraft which was captured after mistakenly landing in France and evaluated by the RAF at Boscombe Down.

Progress has been straight forward without any problems. Cockpit detail was basic, unlike some of the other new kits from Airfix in this scale. But overall, the general detail of the tooling and construction has been okay. The first two photos are when I started to paint the camouflage, doing the brown first in the rough pattern. Next the brown got masked off and the green colour was painted. This was done using the newer formula Humbrol enamels, which does not like to be thinned with any other manufacturers thinners I discovered.

The upper surfaces were next masked up and the underside with trainer yellow and once this had been left to dry, the model received a couple of coats of gloss clear ready for decal application. But this is where it has gone wrong. By my mistake, I decided to use an old tin of trainer yellow instead of the new one I had. This has reacted with the clear and bubbled up in a few patches on the main wing underside. I have now got to carefully sand this down and respray the patches with the newer tin of yellow. I was hoping to have the decals done of the 109 by Monday night, but this plan has been put back a little now.