Greetings,
I suspect this has been asked and answered, so apologies if I’m reliving past history. How much difference is there between the 109e-3 and the e-4? I ask because I just ordered the Tamiya e-3, but didn’t realize the decals I’d ordered a while back were for the e-4 Battle of Britain birds. Will I be inexcusably wrong if I use those decals on the e-3?
One major difference is the canopy. The framing is different. I don’t have a pic to show you at the moment, i am sure someone will. But basically, on the 3 the top pain curves round to form a part of the sides. On the 4 the frameing is at the top, so no curve. And the front is different as well. Its hard to explain with pics. But i reckon you could get a replacement canopy. The engine gun was removed on the 4, by that i mean the gun mounted in the engine, not the guns on top. But i think some 4’s still carried the spinner with the aperture in it. And the wing guns were changed for a slightly difefrent version, but i am not sure if there is a visual difference.
The main one is the canopy.
I may be mistaken, but I believe the Tamiya kit has both canopy options, as well as spinner options.
Thats a good point, it may well have both. What scale kit is it stoutfella?
It’s the 1/48th scale.
Ok, afraid i only have the 72nd kit. I assume you don’t have it yet. When it arrives, you may well find its as fermis says, with the right parts to build either.
On second thought, it may have been the Hase kit that had the canopy option???
Guess you’ll find out soon enough! The Tamiya kit is better than the Hase though…IMO
Anyway, even if it doesn’t have the proper canopy to go with the markings you want, not many are gonna know if you don’t point it out!
I built the Tamiya 109 and it did have the different options for the 3 or 4…which kit #?? if its 61063 then is should have the parts for both
No, it’s 61050. I’ve found a couple of references indicating that kit doesn’t have parts options for the e-4. At any rate, the kit will be at least third in line on my build list, so I might just pick up some other decals for the e-3, then build an e-4 down the road. I think there are those on this forum who would say ya’ can’t have enough Messerschmitts. [;)]
guilty as charged [A]
There was also some additional head-armor fitted to the E-4…many E-4’s were simply upgraded E-3’s, as there was not really a whole difference between the two and the upgrade could be done in the forward areas…
[dto:]
I personally like the look of the square canopy, even over the “Galland hood”.
The Tamiya 1/48 E-4 was my first “serious” kit (probably my 10th actual build, just the first time I was actually going for realism) and I can say that it is a gem. The E-3 canopy is not included. I am not sure where I heard this, but I could have sworn that I heard that there were a few minor tweaks to the Tamiya 109 that made the E-4 kit more accurate over the E-3. I cannot remember where I read this, so I cannot say what the difference might be, but I say this just as a possible heads up. The E-4 kit is awesome, and while the new Eduard one has more detail and I feel looks better when given patience, I still think the Tamiya kit may be my favorite kit, if not just for sentimental reasons.
Have fun building whichever kit you end up with!
Well, I’ll do the E-3 first, as it’s arriving Friday and I went ahead and ordered an Aeromaster sheet (48-515) for that one. Down the road, I’ll pick up the E-4 and build it with the decals I already had on hand (Aeromaster 48-590, I think). So I’ll end up enjoying them both. [:D]
Good move, any excuse for another kit.
Yes, I recall similar questions being posted in the recent past. I had brought up Tamiya’s E-3 incorrect cowl shape at the nose. Only initial kits had this mistake and have since been corrected.
Outwardly, the canopy is the main difference between the two variants in question. Gun change in the wings was internal as it was the firing mechanism that was altered. The pilot armour introduced with the E-4 was also easily added to the E-3.
The nose cannon never had the bugs ironed out till the F series came along. Vibration caused it to jam often, so only a few E-3’s were built this way, and most pilots quickly had this weapon removed. The open nose cone though continued to be used on both.
regards,
Jack