4 Qs

I can answer 1 and 2 for you:

Photo etching is, as the name suggests, a light exposure method of etching something. In the case of modeler's photo etched parts, a sheet of metal is given a light sensitive coating and a negative film image of the wanted components are placed over it. Its then exposed to light for a short period of time. Once the exposure is complete the metal is put in a chemical bath and the areas that had direct exposure to the light are disolved and whats left is the components that were wanted.

To feather an engine is to adjust the blades of a propeller so that they will not spin in an airflow. Feathering is usually done on parked aircraft so the wind wont spin the prop and cause premature engine component wear. It is also done in flight if an engine is having problems and they don't want the problem to get worse from the prop "windmilling" in the airstream.

Hope that answers your first couple of questions well enough

i guess i will take a shot at #4.
i am assuming (ho, ho), that you don't want real smoke.

not sure what scale smoke you need :-)
you could try pulling some fibers from a cotton ball or Q-Tip.
maybe use hairspray or something like that to stiffen them up if they don't form up the way you want them.
should be pretty easy to dirty it up if the white is too light colored.
probably look best from a reasonable distance, but it would be simple to experiment with.

(i'll have to look for the piece you mention in #3. i am not sure what you mean)

ed.

back again.
#3
depending on location, it is quite possibly the hand crank for the starter.
i can't find a picture, but a combat story i just read confims there is such a piece.

ed.

QUOTE: Feathering is usually done on parked aircraft so the wind wont spin the prop and cause premature engine component wear. It is also done in flight if an engine is having problems and they don't want the problem to get worse from the prop "windmilling" in the airstream.

To add to this a windmillimg propeller can break it's shaft causing damage to the airframe and a feathered propeller produces less drag than a windmilling one.

109s and most other ww2 fighters had a hand cranked inertial starter for emergencys.

this is the starting handle i mentioned


thanks
masu

Q3. Yes it would appear you are looking at the hand crank, which would be wizzed round by some poor ground crewman, which in turn would then spin a fly wheel on to which the pilot would engage a clutch which would then throw the engine, hopefully enough to start it.
I am led to believe that this was no easy task.

Sav.