Airfix Club Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 Finished

I wish I had done some more WIP posting of this build before this final one, but time has the issue as with most of my builds. By the time I get the call from "SWMBO" to go downstairs to spend some of the evening with her, I just don't get around to doing an update on here, then time goes by and you keep forgetting to do it. So here is what happened during the last couple of weeks with the 109.

After a little rub down of the bad areas on the underside, I resprayed the yellow using the new tin of paint and this did not have any reaction this time when I used the clear on it. But to play safe, I used the Xtracrlix gloss clear over the whole model. Work could now start of applying the decals to the model.

Once the decals were done, a couple of coats of matt clear was blown over the model to seal the decals. Again, I used the Xtracrylix clear for this. Now the detail paint could be started on the undercarriage bays, doors, canopy sections and the engine bay area. On the weathering side of this model, I did not want to go overboard with it. I had already weathered up the cockpit interior before fixing it inside the fuselage, but on the rest of the model I only did the undercarriage bays, gear, doors, wheels and engine bay. My plan for this project is that it had just come out of the paintshop after being handed over to the RAF. For the general weathering, I used Citadel's Nuln Oil wash which I just brushed onto the areas required around the cockpit, undercarriage, engine bay, wheels and propeller. To finish off the propeller, I did some chipped damage on the leading edges using some aluminium paint and an old paintbrush.

Once all of the painting and weathering was done, final assembly was carried out and a length of invisible thread was used to make the aerial wire between the tail and cockpit. In general, the kit built up without any issues and problems that you sometimes get with aircraft kits. Airfix produced a great kit when they retooled the 109 and I will enjoy building the other retooled Airfix kits I have in my stash. But they will have to wait for a while until I finish off some of the other models I have in different stages of build. First the F-15C is priority on the bench and the Revell Ardo Ar-240C which I have just started.