World at War 1939-1940 Group Build

Looks good check, don't often see these very early 109 schemes.

Thanks, Bish.  I liked this scheme ever since I saw it on the kit box.  

It was so fiddly, I spent five hours doing the masking.  Don't think I'll be doing another one like it in the near future.

Ye, that splinter scheme isn't as easy as it looks is it. After the Stuka and this I guess a break from it is a god idea.

Painted last night and pulled off the tape today.  Came out pretty well--only a couple of spots that require touch-ups.  Color looks a little off.  Must be the flash and overhead lighting.  The paint is standard Testors MM.

And, actually, the 109 was tougher than the Stuka.

Camera flash was running out of juice and wouldn't work, so the photos are on the dark side.

Added a pin wash to the panel lines:

thinned black acrylic for the top

thinned dark blue for the bottom

Then I'll apply a clear coat , let it dry and add the decals.

There is some fine modeling going on. The work you guys are doing is truly amazing.

Got all the large decals on with Solvaset to melt them down over all those rivets and panel details. There are a few tiny decals to go on then the washes and weathering.

Great looking finish, pj.  That's impressive decal work you've done.  Things must have been pretty tough to have to bring out the Solvaset.  

It's quite an appealing scheme.  

Thanks check. I was afraid to use Solvaset on those old Hasegawa decals but I only had Micro Set and was out of the Sol. As it turned out, the Solvaset did an excellent job on the decals. You are right, the scheme is very colorful and unique.

Bf 109E-1 from JG 26, flown by Oberleutnant Eduard “Edu” Neumann, at Werl, Germany, in September, 1939.

Born on 5 June, 1911 in Molodia, Bukovina, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was orphaned by the age of three.  Raised by a grandmother, the family moved to Germany after World War I.

Like many German aviators, Edu involved himself with glider-flying in the 1920’s, and in 1934 joined the resurgent Luftwaffe.  He served with the “Condor Legion” during the Spanish Civil War, and is credited with two victories.

He was appointed Gruppenkommandeur with 4./JG 26, based in Duesseldorf during the Polish invasion of 1939, until he was transferred to JG 27 in 1940.

Neumann achieved his first World War II victory on 20 July, 1940, when he shot down an RAF Blenheim near Cherbourg.

Transferred to North Africa, he became Geschwaderkommandeur of JG 27 there, until he was moved to the staff of General der Jagdflieger.  He received the German Cross in Gold on 11 May, 1942, and finished the war with the rank of Oberst (colonel), in command of German fighter forces in northern Italy.

After the war, Neumann started an engineering company, served as a technical advisor for the film “The Star of Africa,” a bio-pic about Hans-Joachim Marseille.  (The photo above shows him with Marseille during their time together in Afrika.)  He continued to be an active private pilot.  He died on 9 August, 2004—age 93—after a lengthy illness.

His final tally of victories during World War II stands at 13.

Some internet sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Neumann

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=6367

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/32/2/2

http://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=690

Thanks for looking.

CMking02 - great job on this earliest of the Emils, and I love the Adamson staffel emblem! 

regards,

Jack

Thanks, Jack.  And Adamson--is that the name of the character?  I never ran across anything about it while researching Neumann.

You are very welcome, and yes the  Adamson cartoon came up in the current 109 GB.  I put up some history there about half way down the page:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/29/t/162908.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=82

Well direct links sends to first page,  instead of page 82.  So will just cut and paste:

' ....  their symbol is from a Swedish wordless cartoon strip named Adamson,created by  Oscar Jacobsson and was based on the misadventures of this character.  It was also published in the States as Silent Sam.  The staffel was sometimes referred to as Adamsonstaffel.

Notice the resemblance to Homer Simpson?   Hmmm....  ''

regards,

Jack

Great job indeed on that early Emil Check. A rarely seen scheme and period, even at shows.

Thanks, again, very much, Jack.  This is all news to me, and it's quite interesting.  The only time I came across a photo of another plane with a similar marking, the caption indicated it was a pilot's personal marking, not a Staffel marking.

Is Simpson a Swedish name?  Maybe it's Homer's immigrant grandfather.  The resemblance is unmistakable.

Thanks for sharing your research!

Thanks, pj!  

It wasn't my first choice, since I wanted to do an E-1 from the Polish campaign.  Only one of the examples on the decal sheet could be traced specifically to Poland in '39:  Red 2 from an unnamed unit.

When I finally found that plane on the web, the original poster insisted it was an E-3, not an E-1 at all.  The camo scheme on both of them was the same, though.

Decided at that point to go with Neumann's plane, since he was a pretty well known aviator.

Thanks again!

That's a lovely looking 109 there check. I do like that scheme and a great choice of markings. Really got to get myself one of these.

Nice info jack.

Thanks, Bish.  The Germans were certainly creative with their camouflage..

More progress on my Nate. I did a light wash of Burnt Umber Oil paint and thinner to dirty up the recessed details. They operated off unpaved strips so a lot of dust and dirt was kicked up. The walkway was masked and sprayed with Floquil Engine Black.

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I used some Burnt Umber oil paint to pick up some spots to streak out some stains.

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Just need to paint the wheels, add a couple of small parts, do some chipping here and there and she will be done.

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checkmateking02

Thanks, Bish.  The Germans were certainly creative with their camouflage..

Ye, I think that's one of the reason I am drawn to German stuff so much.

That Nate is looking really good PJ. Some nice weathering.

Bish

checkmateking02

Thanks, Bish.  The Germans were certainly creative with their camouflage..

Ye, I think that's one of the reason I am drawn to German stuff so much.

The Ki-27 is finally completed. Exhaust stains were done with the airbrush and enhanced with MMP weathering powders.

The kit included resin weighed tires. The spats got some MMP earth powder since they operated on unpaved strips.

Most Ki-27 pilots removed the sliding canopy for better visibility and this particular Nate had no radio so no mast or aerial wire was used. The pilot only had lap belts as a restraint. Eduard lap belts were used.

The prop was painted in Humbrol silver and the back side of the blades got Floquil red brown. The tip stripes were hand painted with Testor's red and a 18/0 brush.

That boxy thing on top of the wing is actually a wing camera that was mounted on some Nates. I drilled out the lens part and used a drop of clear parts cement for the lens.

The Ki-27 was  rated as a very effective fighter in the very early war years and was eventually retired by 1940 by better and more modern aircraft. The twin 7.7 guns were located on the cockpit floor and shot out between the bottom cylinders synchronized thru the propeller blades as in WW1 aircraft.  

Something happened with the FSM format with the pit picture so here it is:

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That's nice PJ, really nice. I do like the colour and the weathering looks great. Nice to see something like this on here. Good work.

Outstanding, pj!  Exceptional work on the weathering and paint-chipping.  Subtle but still effective!

Do you have a preferred photo for the front page?  I like the fourth and the sixth, but the final choice is up to you.

Thanks for participating in the GB.  It is a pleasure to see your work.

PJ - great job on this representative of the very early war years!

The fine rivet detail is quite impressive for 1/72, so good on you for taking full advantage of that. 

regards,

Jack

Bish

Thanks and glad you like how the Nate came out.

Check

Thanks for letting me partake in this GB. You can post which ever picture you like.

Jack

Thanks for the positive words. The Nate is 1/48 scale. I know it looks tiny next to my 1/48 Stuka so it can be mistaken for a 1/72 scale ship.

Front page is updated with your Nate, pj.  Again, fine work.  Thanks for your contribution to the GB!

You are welcome and thanks again Check.