Scale Aviation Modeller International – September 2019

Messerschmitt Me 209 V1

Robert Podkoński reviews the 1/72 Special Hobby Messerschmitt Me 209 V1

MESSERSCHMITT ME 209 V1

MANUFACTURER: Special Hobby

SCALE: 1/72

KIT TYPE: Injection moulded plastic

KIT NUMBER: SH72138

DECAL OPTIONS: 2

T

his kit of the Me 209

produced recently by

Special Hobby, is a

much improved version when

compared to the long defunct

Huma ofering. The panel lines

are thin and shallow, and the

cockpit and undercarriage

bays are full of detail. Special

Hobby have provided h two

boxings of the Me 209, one

covering its record breaking

incarnation, the other being

the ‘Propaganda Jägers’, with

an attractive paint scheme

featuring a red and white

‘snake’ on the both sides of

the fuselage. The Editor was

kind enough to ofer me the

irst of the mentioned kits.

Inside the box there are two

dark gray sprues, and one

small sprue with transparent

canopy, a decal sheet and

instructions booklet in full

colour. Parts are moulded

cleanly with only minimal

lash here and there, easy to

remove. The decals are perfecly

printed, and the canopy anopy

is thin and crystal clear, with

delicately moulded framing.

CONSTRUCTION

Nothing unusual there,

construction began with the

cockpit. I painted the

walls, loor and other

parts RLM 66, creating

only some shadows

with light gray wash.

The pilot’s seat was painted

RLM 02 and I added the decals

representing the safety belts

from my ‘spares-box’. There

is a decal for the instrument

panel, but I just painted the

faces black. Installing the pilot’s

seat is a bit tricky, as the B27

part interferes with the seat

preventing it from glueing it

in the middle of the cockpit

opening. In fact I suggest to not

install the B27 part at all, and

glue the seat after closing the

fuselage parts and correcting

the canopy opening. Also the

exhausts (irst suggested stages

of the construction) can be

easily glued into appropriate

openings later. After closing the

fuselage the undercarriage bay

insert is installed, that needs

some iling and test itting,

being a bit to wide compared to

the fuselage opening. I painted

the undercarriage bays and

legs RLM 02 and created some

shadows with diluted Tamiya

Smoke, applied liberally.

Instructions tell you to glue

the undercarriage leg supports

(parts B24 and B25) after closing

the upper and lower wing parts,

but it is much better to install

them beforehand – fortunately

their location is clearly marked

insides. The lower wing is full

span, while the upper parts

are separate. The it is almost

perfect and these are easily

aligned, but the trailing edge

must be carefully thinned.

There are two diferent vertical

empennages to choose from,

the smaller for the natural

metal machine, and the bigger

for the dark blue plane. These

are, however, a bit too thick

and need some careful sanding

and puttying to it lush with

the fuselage – I recommend

reinforcing the joint with short

pieces of the thin wire here.

On the positive side, this was

the only step in constructing

this model where putty was

needed. The it of the remaining

parts is simply perfect...save

the canopy. The corresponding

opening in the fuselage must be

carefully deepened, otherwise

the back of the canopy would

stand proud of fuselage,

while on the real aircraft it

was perfectly streamlined.

PAINTING AND

DECALS

In order to make my life

simplier I used the pre-cut

masks from Peewit. dedicated to

this kit for the transparencies.

Next, I primed the whole

airframe light grey and after the

primer was dry, I restored the

panel lines. After the next coat

of the same primer I masked

some sections and painted

others with a black primer as a

preparation and pre-shading for

the natural metal inish. I know

that for the sake of the review

I should have constructed the

dark blue painted machine,

but I chose the natural metal

one. Firstly, because I believe

that the real plane remained

unpainted during its record run.

Once all was dry, I polished the

entire airframe thoroughly,

and painted it with AK Extreme

Metal Polished AluminiumI

then added a Gloss coat ready

for the decals. There are not

52 SEPTEMBER 2019 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

KIT REVIEWS