1:48 Messerschmitt Bf-109 E-1/3/7/TROP Splinter Scheme Paint Mask - Variation 2 (for Airfix 05122 kit)

Why one pattern is not enough

Besides the parent factory in Regensburg, the E series machines were also built by Erla in Leipzig, the Lower Austrian Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke, Fieseler in Kassel and Arado. Every plant worked to the same specification, but each read the detailed run of the edges a little its own way, and so the angular pattern differed noticeably between the individual batches. A modeler who wants to build a particular machine from a photograph therefore needs more than one stencil, and that is exactly why the series of numbered variants came about, in which this set is the second.

What is inside

Cut shapes of pliable film cover the upper camouflage surfaces of the model in 1:48 scale and are cut to the parts of one particular Airfix kit. They are usable for the E-1, E-3 and E-7 versions as well as for the tropical modification, because the outline of the wing and the fuselage does not change on them.

Before you reach for the gun

Offer all the parts up dry and check whether the edges run on across the joint of the fuselage and the wing. Fine adjustment of the position is free at this moment, and no longer so after spraying. Apply the paint lightly and rather in two passes. Once the shade is right, pull the film off at a sharp angle toward yourself. The model, the paints and the decals do not belong in the package.

While looking for a reference it is good to know that period black and white photographs hardly distinguish the two greens at all, because they merge into a single tone on film. The pattern can be recognized rather by where the edges cross the panel lines and where they end at the wing root. That is precisely why the numbered patterns cover several documented layouts for you to choose between.