1/48 Revell Helmut Wick’s Me-109 E4/7

by Christian Curec - aka Chris Cat

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The young Kommodore is smiling while he looks at the bright sky. It was beautiful weather for the end of November and probably one of the last days of the year suitable for flying.

He has all the reasons in the world to smile. Two years ago he was nobody. And now he finally did it. He won his place in history.

After months and months of fighting, always shadowed by Molders and Galland he is now on top of the world - Top ace of Germany - and he shot down 24 Spitfires, a hard record to beat.

Early in the morning his technician told him that he must delay his start because the life saving kit was not installed on board of his airplane. Wick replied “Lassen wir mal das!” – let’s forget about that.  He was eager to take off and pick a fight with the British RAF, and good he was right – he shot down two other planes.

In order to secure his lead he must catch the second mission of the day, a – “Freiejagd” – free hunt over the Isle of Wright and if the gods will smile on him he will probably be able to shot down another one or two airplanes. 

Wick takes a last look at his plane. Parked near the trees that surrounded the airfield, masked with a green net and tree branches his faithful “Emil” was awaiting another flight over the skies of England.

He already ordered the repainting of his plane, due to take place on the first day of bad weather. He was really angry as they hastily applied a set of new markings and covered by mistake the head of his bird and they also left an ugly spot on place of the old markings. He also dislikes the visible smoke stains from the wings of his plane - mute witness of the early fighting of the day.

This plane was made for him; it was like a giant glove. The beautiful combination between a pair of 20mm cannons, machineguns and his powerful engine enabled a skilled pilot to make a vertical dogfight.  Spit’s and Hurries were no match for this new type of war.

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This is my second model from a series dedicated to WWII aces and I have chosen Majors Helmut Wick’s Messerschmit 109, as it was on the moment of his death. 

Helmut Wick

Credited with 56 victories (all on the western front), I found amazing that on his list are 24 Spitfire’s.

On 28 November 1940, the day of his death, Wick achieved his 55th victory during an early sortie and become the leading fighter ace in the world. He died in the same day.

Being the youngest Major in the Wehrmacht, Wick was appointed Kommodore of JG-2 on 20 October 1940, a month before his death.

On a cold November day, during a “free hunt” battle over the Isle of Wright, Wick’s 109 was hit by machineguns from a 609 Squadron Spitfire.  Wick dived and escaped for a short time being caught and shot down by another Spitfire from the 609 Squadron, piloted by John Dundas (a British ace).  Dundas was himself shot down a few moments later by Hauptmann ‘Rudi’ Pflanz, Wick’s colleague.     

Wick was seen by his colleague when he bailed out in the cold water. His body was never found. After a week of search he was officially declared dead by Wermacht.

He died during the last big clash of the “Battle for England” campaign.  In the morning of the same day Goering issued an order forbidding Wick to fly.  Sadly, this order arrived too late to save Wick’s life. 

Wick’s Me-109

There are not too many photos of his last airplane.  At the end of October 1940, only a few days before Wick’s death the plane was partially repainted according to Wick new grade.

I have chosen this plane for the particularity of camouflage - a heavy mottling of fuselage combined with a strange mottling on the rudder.

The mottling seems to be done with a sponge, leaving spots of light blue paint between areas of dark green.

I have chosen a different color for the mottling of the rudder as this seems to be a strange result of color interaction and not a human hand made mottling.

 Studying the last pictures I have also noticed that Wick’s plane has the bullet proof glass not installed.

The Kit:

Parts used:

  • Revell 1/48  Me-109 E 4/7;
  • Eduard photoetched parts:
  • Eduard 1/35 camouflage net.

I used an Eduard photoetched detail set, but my main goal was to obtain a very good finish of the model. 

I made a lot of corrections in order to obtain the desired result:

  • cut the movable parts of the rudder and reposition them in order to break the straight lines of the model;
  • rescribe the panel lines as the original seemed to be not deep enough;
  • added details on the surface of wings and fuselage (bolts, aso…)
  • guns and machineguns from syringe tubes (different diameter)
  • rudder mast made from a needle
  • hydraulic lines made from sprue
  • pitot tube made from a syringe needle

I have painted the cockpit in RLM 66 (a dark grey) as all of the late Me -109 E were painted from factory – at least so it seem from the pictures.

The model was primed and preshaded, with different colors, in order to obtain a more natural result. I started the painting process with yellow (nose and stabilizer) then the light blue form the bottom side. The painting continued with the dark green on the side of the fuselage and with the overspray of mottling.

Painting was a little bit tricky, especially the heavy mottling from the fuselage. In order to obtain the desired spots I used a paper mask, with a lot of small holes. The last corrections were made with a toothpick.

In order to obtain an uneven result I have shadowed some areas of the mottling with dark green and light blue, using a diluted paint (80% white spirit).

The gloss coat was made with Klir / Future (first airbrushed and then brushed) and the panel wash was made with oil paints. It is the last time that I will apply Future with airbrush.  From now on I will use only a brush.

I have applied the decals using Solva-Set and Solva-Sol without any problems.  I overpainted some parts of the decals in order to give them a more natural look.

The last coat was a 95% diluted yellow color, to simulate the effect of the sun.

Due to the fact that Wick's plane was in a very good condition I applied only a light drybrushing.  

Due to the fact that this plane was on the front line, I gave it a final matt coat. On all the pictures I have seen of this plane, it had a matt finish.

Smoke stains were airbrushed, using masks and Tamiya Smoke. I do like Tamiya smoke a lot but I have found that it has an unrealistic shine. I covered the area with another matt coat to obtain the surface that I wanted.

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Diorama

I used a picture frame, glue and pieces of balsa tree. The camouflage net and the wooden structure were made from an old picture.

Normally the structure must be higher than that, but I thought that it would crush the model under its size. Finally I have chosen a smaller size in order to balance the diorama.

Branches are made from stretched sprue, painted in brown. 

It took almost 5 months to build this model (mostly a few hours in weekend) and I enjoyed every moment of it. 

Happy Modelling

Christian - Romania

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Photos and text © by Christian Curec