Thanks for your comments Joel and Mal!

@ Joel - With the realization that I have only a limited time to build an overwhelming number of kits, I decided some time ago to only put effort into enhancements that will actually be seen when the model is completed. So, I look for little things like the aluminium tube that deliver big impact for little effort. I'm glad you like the aluminum tube

@ Mal - The kit part is actually pretty good, and you would only need to get the right size drill and deepen the hole a little and it should look very nice.

On to the update!

I decided to attach the front/rear canopy sections before attaching the wings (for ease of access). So, I started by painting the inner framework on the rear part.

Eduard got this wrong in their kit, as they have the framing on the outside for the 3 horizontal frames, when in actuality for the E3 style canopy they are all internal. Fortunately CH got this right and have provided raised frames on the inside which I simply masked and painted:



I attached the gunsight (and wire power cord to the IP that I added) and then attached the front windscreen:



I used the Eduard mask set for this build, and while the fit is good, there are issues with it. Mainly, Eduard has left gaps for framing where there is none in reality. I already mentioned the rear canopy section where Eduard have the 3 internal frames as external on their kit, and this carries over to the mask set (even though it is for the CH kit) and these gaps need to be filled in. Additionally, the same issue is present on the center section. The center section has sliding front sections and where they meet there is a "line" created by the overlap of the two plexiglass parts. The kit part has a line molded there which is perfect to represent this and this line should not be a frame or painted. So, again, the gap needs to be filled in. Finally, on the side windows of the front canopy there is the same two pieces of plexi that join, represented on the kit part by a line, and again this line should not be painted, so the gap needs to be covered. You can see in this pic all the covered gaps mentioned above:



Although not really difficult to do, it would be even easier if the mask was cut properly

That's it for now, wings on next!

Thanks for looking, as always, comments/questions/critique welcomed!

Doug

Very nice and informative build.
I actually had this kit in my hands a few days back but did not buy it.
Now i start to regret it.
BTW are there plastic alternatives to the small pe parts that hold the flaps?

Tony

Nice one Doug, I never realised that those frames were internal, so thanks for that. I did know about the sliding part though but I have masked them as frames before. The canopy items look like the fit very well though?

Thanks for the comments!

@ Tony - to me, the PE parts are more "decorative" than required. Unfortunately there are no plastic replacements but it would look like most other kits without the PE parts anyway. You can simply glue the flaps and ailerons right to the wing (which is what I do). I add them because they are actually pretty easy to put on if you take them one at a time and I think they really do help give the model a more detailed look (as is the intention of most PE).

@ Mal - yes, the canopies fit great. I'm glad the info about the E3 canopy framing is useful, often the model companies don't get it right so I wanted to point out the correct configuration for others should they be interested

Thanks again!

Doug

Small, but significant update today. Got the wings on. Great fit! I'll let them dry then we start painting. I'll leave the nose off until the airframe is painted.







Photos taken in my modified photo tent

Thanks for looking, comments/questions/critique always welcomed!

Doug

Update for those still checking in!

The kit exhaust parts are very well done, and even have a mold line that replicates the weld beads on the exhaust. Unfortunately, there are two sprue attachment points on the exhaust, and it is hard to remove them and keep the mold line. So, I just sanded them all off, and added some stretched sprue to create the weld beads:



I the attached them to the engine, painted them flat black and then drybrushed them with MM exhaust:



I also painted the airframe, but before I did that, I had to add the two wing bolt covers (A12/13) to the wingroot (not shown in the instructions - they are erroneously shown going to the inside of the bottom of the fuselage in step 3)



I used Mr Color paints (love them) to paint the main airframe:







Next up is the hard part of the build, getting the nose/engine attached to the main airframe.

Thanks for looking, comments/questions/critique appreciated!

Doug

Doug,

Thanks for your answer to my question.

Painting looks really good so far.

Keep those pics coming, as i like this one a lot.

Tony

Doug, paint looking good so far. Your treatment of the engine exhaust headers with the stretch sprue looks spot on perfect.

Joel

Thanks guys

Time for le grand update! After delaying as much as possible, it was time to attach the engine/cowl assembly to the main airframe

The last time I built this kit, I ended up cutting off everything from the rear of the engine and putting some tabs on the fuselage and just gluing it on that way. Having seen other builds where the builder seems to have been able to attach the engine/cowl following the kit instructions (more or less), I wanted to try that with this build.

The problem with the first build seemed to be that I could not get the engine bearer arms to seat properly in the fuselage mounts, so as seen above, I attached them early on during the build. The idea was that I would add the engine to the mounts, then the lower cowl, and then the upper cowl.

One of the first things to do in preparation is to thin the top rear edge of the upper cowl.



Engine and lower cowl ready for placement:



When I tried to dry fit everything together, I found that the oil tank that attaches to the front of the engine (made from B12/B25) was not fitting correctly and did not allow the engine to sit far enough forward. So, I took it off the engine and attached it directly to the lower cowl.

Since there is room, I decided to add some styrene tabs to aid in a stronger attachement:



Further dry fitting made me abandon my plan to use the engine bearers, so I pulled them off. I also added tge brass MG parts and painted the tabs black so they would not be seen through any cowl gaps:



At that point, I just decided to do what I did on my first build, and just glue the engine cowls to the tabs I put on the fuselage. To me, I guess that is the easiest way to do it. Here it is with my fancy device to keep everything in place while the glue drys:



On both my builds (and even on my Eduard 1/32 109E), I ended up with a gap at the top of the cowl (which is why I thinned it earlier):





This is actually a good thing, as it is very common to see this on operational "E" series 109's, and I think it gives a little animation to the model. Here are a few examples (posted under "fair use" terms):









That's all for now, thanks for looking! Comments/questions/critique welcomed!

Doug

Wow, over 1,000 views since the last update and no comments/critique/questions at all. You guys are a really tough crowd...

Moving along, I masked off and painted the red walkway stripes:



I then put the decals on. Fortunately there were not too many to put on:





Still plenty to do before it's finished, but at least now it looks pretty close to what the finished model will look like!

Doug

Doug,

Vey nice painting overall.
It sure gives a nice change of color to the "109"


Tony

Doug, interesting solution to the upper cowl. The thinning gave you the exact look in all those photos, well done. Detail painting and decaling looks spot on.
Looking forward to your next update.

Joel

Time for an update!

Things have been busy but nothing worth posting photos of. After applying Radu's (RB Productions) Romanian 109E Pt 3 decals, I discovered that the fuselage numbers did not lay down well and had lots of silvering. The lower wing roundels were the same. So, of course I applied more decal softener, but that just made things worse and the colors started bleeding.

I emailed Radu to ask how he applied these decals and explained the problem. He was kind enough to explain his process and sent another sheet to me at no charge.

Talking with another friend, he suggested it might be the Future/Kleer I used, as it will often look shiny but still have a rough surface. It tursn out that was the culprit as once I polised out the Future/Kleer finish with sanding/polishing sticks to a glass-like smoothness, the decals went on great and even with the large clear film area around the fuselage numbers I had absolutley no silvering.

So after this build I'll be switching over to Mr Color Super Clear III for my clearcoats to get a smoother finish.

Speaking of decal film, even without silvering the edges can often be visible. One way to minimize this problem is to put a heavy coat of clear (I used Floquil Crystal Cote because it is very tough) over the decals:





And then take some 0000 steel wool and buff them down so that the film line disappears. I then used a sanding/polishing stick to smooth things out a bit in preparation for the final clear coat:





Right now I am just waiting for things to warm up a bit in my unheated basement workshop. I have a space heater, but that makes things a bit too dry to get a nice smooth finish with the clear coat.

Thanks for looking! Comments/questions/critique all welcomed!

Doug

Dough, you've found out the hard way that all Future products applied with a airbrush, don't leave a really smooth finish. I've gone to a few light coats, then a few heavier final coats that seems to help. I've also decreased the PSI to around 15 psi or so. Seems to help some as well.

The other issue is that using Matt paint, it dries with "nooks & Crannies" which gives the matt finish. Gloss paint dries with a smooth surface. So you need to fill in those nooks & crannies with a few light coats, the a few heavier coats to build up a smooth surface.

Your decaling looks just like paint, so I'd say your solution works perfectly. I will have to try the steel wool technique, as I always seem to have that ridge around the thicker decals.

Joel

Doug,

Decals look spot on.
Really coming together nicely.


Tony

Hello Doug!
I just read through your build and what a good and interesting presentation. I built the Eduard kit a few years back and I must say that this one looks better in many ways. Your work and painting also look terrific!

The gap between the cowlings was interesting news to me. I've always strived for a flush finish in that area - maybe not the next time...
/Fred

Nice work Doug, the *****(I can't say that word, its like blaspheme to me )look great, but a lot of work to make them (look) painted on (sorry I couldn't resist )The finishing is looking spot on, I'm looking forward to seeing the end result

Great build Doug! I have this kit in my stash and I plan to build it when I am finished with the 1//32 Ju88 A-1 that is my current project. Your tips and hints will be a great help when I start my project. Both your construction and painting are absolutely first rate!

Sincerely,
Ernest

Thanks for the comments guys!

Been working on the finishing touches to wrap this one up.

Rather than fiddle around with the small kit-supplied wingtip lights, I just drilled out the holes where they go, stretched out some clear sprue to the right diameter, and painted them with clear red and blue:



I also spent a little time and assembled and attached the 11 parts that make up the aerial:





I also added some thin stainless steel wire I have for the control cables that attach to the rudder:



That was enough to finish this one off. For the final finish, I covered everything with some Mr Color Super Clear III and then gave it a coat of Mr Color Flat/Semi Gloss Clear mix. Photos of this (and it's sister aircraft) show them to be quite clean, and have a semi-gloss sheen.

One thing I tried to replicate, which is hard to see in the finished photos is the paint on the top of the wings. It seems that the wings on this airframe were given a thin overcoat of RLM 71, such that the painted out crosses and earlier camo were slightly visible underneath. Here is a photo that shows it in better detail:



Up next, a few photos of the finished model!

Doug

Doug, the aerial looks fantastic. I can only see a slight variation of color on the wing, but my eyesight is pretty poor. Really looking forward to your finished pictures.
Joel

Thanks Joel. It is a bit hard to see in photos as it is hard for the camera to capture I think

The model is now finished, and has taken up residence in my display case Here are a few photos:











Look for more photos in an upcoming feature article.

Final thoughts:

I really like this kit, as the 109E is one of my favorites. I've built two CyberHobby 109E kits and one Eduard 109E kit to date.

Comparing the two, I think overall the CyberHobby kit builds a little easier, but both have issues around attaching the nose if you want everything closed up (and something visible inside the open slots/holes). I do prefer the surface detail of the Eduard kit (with its finer detail and rivets) to the CyberHobby kit, but then again I like the shape of the CyberHobby kit a bit more than the Eduard kit.

This kit builds very well without the need for aftermarket. If you like to add aftermarket, some instrument decals or an Eduard set would be helpful, unless you are really good at painting them I used the very nice Master 109E barrel set, and while the kit parts to look very good, these, by their nature, have finer detail.

I have several more CyberHobby 1/32 109E kits on the shelf and look forward to building them, as well!

Thanks for following along, and I hope you enjoyed the build!

Doug

Doug, I really enjoyed every update post from start to finish.
Joel

Doug,

The FARR Emil is a beauty! I am very happy you posted the pix of the gap in the cowl - proof that we don't have to sweat every little misalignment.

Thanks for the build.

I wonder why Marina, Lili or Margo didn't stop by for a visit? Chuk must be keeping them busy with the IAR-81.

Hi Doug
Great job from start to finish! Some of the final touches like the aerial are superb.

All the best

Rowan