1:72
with materials to decorate the results.
Forward planning done, materials to hand,
coffee made, I could begin work. I had
planned to spend around ten hours on
the build, beginning at around 8am; as it
turned out I needed a little longer, but still
managed to complete the model ready to
be photographed within a single day. The
following images were all taken during that
day and chart my progress to completion -
almost. Let’s begin then! ■Issue 170 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 35FINAL VERDICT
This kit was a lot of fun to build and paint and although there were issues with some aspects of it, the
resulting model is a pleasing addition to my collection of Bf 109s. Did I enjoy the day I spent on the kit?
Most defi nitely! It reminded me of days-past, when I would spend pocket money on a kit and then build it in
a day; it reminded me of why I started to build models in the fi rst place; it reminded me that this hobby at
it’s most pure, is just great fun!
Thanks to Revell for the sample built this month.
Sat on a homemade base, the fi nished model looks rather
pleasing I think. Being so small, I kept the weathering to a
minimum, using simple washes and then neat oil paints to
bring out the panel lines and then add defi nition to structural
members and the like, under the paintwork. Paint chips around
the wing roots were added with a silver Prismacolor pencil, the
exhaust stains being the fi nal step in painting, being painted
on with Raw Umber and black oils, blended-in with a soft fl at
brush. A little aerial wire strung from the fi n to the tiny post
above the copy, fi nished the job and my challenge. It was now
8.30pm, so in total, I’d spent twelve hours on my build - a little
over my planned time, but well-within the day that I had planned
for this kit. Job done!With the clock ticking down, I really didn’t have much
time to take step-by step pictures of the model being
decalled and weathered, so here it is complete! That
said, it may well be worth discussing some of the issues
that I experienced at this point. Decals; these were really
poor in this kit, being incomplete in terms of markings,
matt fi nished and seemingly unwilling to settle properly
without a lot of work with setting solutions and my
hairdryer. As mentioned, the tail’s swastikas are missing,
so need to be added using aftermarket or spares’ box
decals. Canopy; there is no getting away from the fact
that this is also rather poor, being thick, in one piece
in my case, rather patchy in terms of clarity and mould
quality. I initially considered splitting it to show it open,
but its quality didn’t really allow that, so it was simply
dropped in place, its rather hit and miss fi t, being dealt
with as best as possible using Kristal Klear to fi ll any
unwanted gaps.