Mission Messerschmitt Me109 Completed

        It took a bit of grind but I got he  whole half-dozen done this morning. Three BF-109b/c models and three BF-109e. I painted them in a mix of schemes between the Spanish Civil War and the 1940 campaign in France. This is a particularly bothersome period to paint for as the Luftwaffe was experimenting with many different ideas regarding camouflage and often left the final scheme up to the ground crews. I did the best that I could while keeping in mind that I am building toys for wargaming not a model for an IPMS grand championship. As usual I build these straight out of the box with no alteration of the models aside from leaving off some fragile bits that would just get broken off during play. Here is the whole crowd together:

 

back to front , right to left; 

three Heller BF-109b, leftmost painted for Spain, the center and right for Poland 1939 

two Airfix/MPC BF-109e, rightmost Heller BF-109e all painted for France 1940

 

is this my better side?

the BF-109e had a much sleeker look due to the change in engine

 

 

 

Heller model of the BF-109b as served in the Spanish Civil War

 

I like the simple paint-job and austere markings

 

 

 another Heller kit, this time for Poland in 1939

 

squadron-mate of the previous aircraft

 

 

apparently they were very worried about friendly AA mistaking them for the enemy

look at the size of those crosses

 

top view of the same kit

Airfix kit of the BF-109e painted for France 1940/ Battle of Britain

 

 

the underwing crosses have grown smaller

 

the screaming yellow nose makes the whole idea of camo a but superfluous 

 

 

another Airfix kit, this one was molded in the USA under the MPC label

 

 

 

and finally a Heller BF-109e also ready for Adler Tag

 

        My apologies to purists if I have mis-marked anything. These are built straight out of the box and I am relying on the manufacturer to get the decals right (I do find the E.U. horror of the swastika infantile and annoying, hey guys, everyone knows what it looks like and what it means! Putting one on the tail of a model isn't going to start a new Beer Hall Putsch!). I will try to dig through my spares box to find some more swastika tail markings to get those blank tails taken care of.