Battle of Britain 109 and spit

My next project is gonna be some 1/72 kits, the 109 and spitfire, and possibly a huricane and bf 110. Im basing this project off the battle of Britain, so i need to know a few thigns:

  1. what versions of the aircraft were used in the BoB (mark 1, Emil, etc.
  2. what would be the best kits for these aircraft
    3.would AM parts work for kits there not designed to go on?

*this is off topic, but are their any models of the ships teh german troops would be on before the invasion, like when they were waiting for teh Luftwaffe to wipe out the RAF

thanks for the help,
Jordan

Jordan, check out this site for all your answers: www.battleofbritain.net Click on the Fighter Command link on the left & scroll down till you see the aircraft section.

Jordan, here’s a list I compiled for last years Battle of Britain group build, it should help you out.

As for the kits you didn’t say what scale so I’ll assume 1/48th. In my opinion for the Spitfire go for the Tamiya kit which can be easily converted to other early marks, for the Hurricane go Hasegawa, for the 109 you can use either Hasegawa or Tamiya and for the 110 go with the Fujimi kit.

Cheers

RAF Fighter Command / Fleet Air Arm
Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, IIa
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Ia, Ib, II, IIa
Bristol Beaufighter Mk.I
Fairey Fulmar Mk.I
Westland Lysander
Bristol Blenheim Mk.I
Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I, II
F4F Martlet Mk.I
Avro Anson
Gloster Gladiator Mk.II
Gloster Sea Gladiator

Luftwaffe
Heinkel He 111 H, H-2, 3, 4, P-2
Heinkel He 59 C-2, D-1
Heinkel 115
Dornier Do 17 P, M, U, Z-1, 2, 3
Dornier Do 215 B
Dornier Do 18 D, G
Dornier Do 24
Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1, 3, 4, 7, F-1
Messerschmitt Bf 110 C-2, 4, 5, 6, D-0
Junkers Ju 87 B, 1, 2, R
Junkers Ju 88 A-1, 5, C-5
Focke Wulf Fw 200 C
Arado Ar 96

Regia Aeronautica
Fiat Br20 M
Fiat Cr.42
Fiat G.50
Cant Z1007.BIS

wow, thanks for the great list. I did say i was building 1/72, but anyway, thanks for the great info.

For 1/72:

For the Bf-109E: Tamiya makes an E-3 and E-4 which are excellent kits. ICM also makes a very nice kit which is cheaper than Tamiya but not readily available in the US. The E-1 was also used in the BoB and can be made by some simple mods to the E-3.

For the Bf-110: Fujimi and Italeri both make a Bf-110C/D. I prefer the Fujimi, engraved panel lines vs. raised for the Iatlaeri. The Italeri isn’t too bad though.

Spitfire: Tamiya makes a Mk. I, some people say the nose isn’t entirely accurate, but it’s still a very nice kit.

Hurricane: No idea, Academy or Hasegawa probably are your best bets.

HTH- Mike

In regards to the Bf-109, the E-7 and the F-1 were not produced until early 1941, unless I’m mistaken. The Battle of Britain was pretty much over by the end of October 1940. I would stick to the E-3 and E-4 models if you want to be historically correct. The RAF had both the Spitfire Mk I and II at the time, as stated.

Jordan sorry about the scale issue, that’ll teach me to read the entire post properly before posting.

In the future if you are looking for a good resource on which is a better kit for a particular project have a look at

http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/home.htm

During the latter stages of the battle the Bf 109E-7 was fully operational with II(S)/LG 2 although the E-7 was not routinely used until after the battle.

As to the Bf 109F-1 while TryintoModel is correct that full service entry did not take place until March 1941, a handful of F-1s were delivered to Stab/JG 51 for combat evaluation purposes and these were flown in action.

Cheers

Upon further review, darson is correct, the E-7 was present in limited numbers during the battle. The E-7 was an E-4 with the capability of having a drop tank and the spinner didn’t have the hole for the 20mm nose cannon (even though they rarely used the nose cannon because they weren’t reliable at that time).

Although the F series was being evaluated in late 1940, after the Battle of Britain, I can’t find where it was used operationally until 1941.

I love WWII aircraft history and research, but I never assume I’m right, thanks for the correction darson.

I’m with you TryintoModel, I love the history and the research part of modeling, it’s one of the things I look forward too when doing a build.

By the by if you are interested in the Battle of Britain I will be running the 2006 Battle of Britain group build in a few months, so feel free to join in.

Cheers

Honestly, I have never participated in a Group Build, but I do have a Tamiya Bf-109E-4/7 in my little stash that I have been dying to have an excuse to build. I would love to join your Group Build, I think it would be fun and be a prod for me to get something built. :slight_smile:

Jordan Airfix/Heller make a Hurricane Mk1 in 1/72 not to bad, Eduardes makes a photoEtch set for the Hurricane it’s not for the Airfix/Heller kits however with a little bit of tweeking it works fine also add a squadron vacUform canopy and you have a rather nice kit. I’m presently building one for the canadian aircraft group build of an aircraft operated by #1/401 Squadron RCAF. Hope this helps.

Cheers

Bear

this was actually not intended as a group build, but it could certainly be turned into one. I’ve never done one, so im not sure how thats all setup.

Im considering going with cheaper kits amd superdetailing them, so i don’t think i will be buying a tamiya kit unless i get it real cheap. (airfix, ICM)

As for the German aircraft, i have no idea how i would do the camoflauge, with the dots and all the different colors and what not.

thanks everyone for the help. Any one have any info on the ship?

thanks again, Jordan

Tryintomodel and Jordan, you should join the 2006 Battle of Britain GB that Darren will be hosting. I joined Darren’s 2005 BoB GB as my first GB and have been invovled in 6 or 7 others since! (You can get kind of hooked) The group of modelers in those GB’s are an excellent resource, and fun to hang out with. We even get a few models built![(-D]

BTW Superbear, I’m still waiting for pics of your hurricane![;)]

Jordan, after trying what you plan, I’m kind of going the other way and getting some better kits and going OOB. I’ve built a few cheaper kits (like the Airfix Beaufighter) and have found that while I can spend a lot of time detailing and adding stuff, if I had got the Tamiya Beuafighter I would have also had a good looking model without all the extra effort (and rather frustrating at times). It took me almost four months to build the Airfix Beaufighter, I scratched the cockpit, radio operators compartment, the nonexistent wheel wells, the landing gear and added resin engines. Good luck!

The Germans had planned to use barges to land their troops. One reference calls them Rhine barges.

I did find a website with 20mm barges that should work. 20mm is almost exactly 72nd scale. It is a Wargame site so the detail may be a little lacking (no pics).

http://www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/20ww2.html

Jay I should be posting some updated pics by the end of the weekend[:D] if I don’t get bothered by work or my feerless leader[}:)]

Jay’s right the groupe builds are great place to hang out and the folks you meet there are great. The Canadian Aircraft groupe build is my first and i’ve signed up for 2 more it’s also a good way to keep some focus on your build I had a tendancy to start many & finish even less.

Cheers

Bear

If you do decide to go for the Fujimi bf-110, which is the only 1/72 kit for the BoB bf-110, I’ll be happy to offer my thoughts on the build (which, sadly, remains almost, but not quite, finished, as I’ve lost bits…). It’s not a bad kit, but the interor is rather sparce. Even the photo-etch can’t really improve it that much. A bit of scratch-building is really needed, especially for the rear seat, and the space between pilot and gunner. It just looks so artifically bare. Just don’t make my error and lose the machine gun…!

Airfix do a not to bad little BF 109E very good value for money…as for shipping the plan for operation Sea Lion (invasion of Britain) was to move troops in barges.