¹⁄48

Messerscmitt Bf 110E

Here is my Messerschmitt Bf 110E from Eduard in 1:48. The reason I built a Bf 110 in a desert scheme is because it's very unusual to see this model in these colours.

Here I have to say, that this is not a typical desert aircraft, because any filters for the tropical version are missing. It seems that the Luftwaffe had to react quickly to the Allied attacks on Axis transport ships for the Afrika Korps.

I also used photo-etched parts from Eduard (49385) and MG 17, exhausts, pilots stick, rear gun and Revi gunsight from Quickboost, plus a MG 15 from Aires to build this Zerstörer.

Construction

The interior sections were painted, as usual, in RLM02 and washed with dark oilcolors. The sticks, buttons and other areas were coloured like original pictures.

The fit of the fuselage and engine cowls to the wings was awful! I had more than one mm gap and had to use a lot of sheet and putty to fill these gaps. Of course I had to engrave any details again!

The Bf 110E had not only a heating flap on the nose, also on starboard behind the gunner. Also there was a plate on the starboard engine to be sure that there comes no exhaust to the air intake. Neither are included in this model, although it should be an 'E variant… Also, the pilot's armour was not included which I scratch-built from sheet.

Painting

As always, I began with pre-shading the model in a dark grey. After that I brushed the basic colors RLM 78/79 from Gunze on the upper and underside. On a single-coloured airplane like this one, you have to shade all the details to avoid a boring coloured model. After decaling, the complete model was filtered to give a lightly weathered look to the decals.

Concluding the details, brake lines and exhausts stains were added to the finished Model.