Model Airplane International – September 2019

KIT BUILD

32 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - September 2019

Revell’s reboxing of Zvezda’s Bf 109F-2 was used as

the subject of this ‘quick build’.

My ‘building’ bench all laid-out, ready to begin work.

As you can see I like to keep everything tidy - I simply

don’t know how to work with my bench looking like a

bomb-site!

offered by Revell would cut down on the time

needed to fi nish the paintwork, a modular

approach reducing masking to a very simple

yellow cowling and rudder. The decals though

would prove to be something of a trial, the

lack of Swastikas, my inability to fi nd any in

my decal collection (despite having sheets of

them!) and the rather low quality of production,

all conspiring to create a step that took rather

longer than expected...

Before beginning, I planned out the build,

looked at what I needed to use and then

arranged my ‘building’ bench with tools for

construction, and then my ‘painting’ bench

Unusually, the cockpit is

built on top of the one-piece

upper wing. This certainly

makes this part of the

model easy to deal with

and thanks to the fi t of the

wing under the fuselage,

the painting and the

demarcation between the

camoufl aged wings and pale

blue fuselage, is easy to

complete.

To show that I wasn’t cheating and that I hadn’t

preprepared my model, I dropped my phone into the

shot to reveal the time and date I began...

The inner cockpit walls are nicely detailed, so thanks to

the closed cockpit canopy, I simply painted what was

supplied by Revell.

Sub-assemblies all built ready to paint. This step took less

than 30 minutes, such is the ease with which this model goes

together.

Having decided to add rivets to the surface of the model, I

grabbed an Eduard kit to show the pattern, and then used an RB

Productions Rivet R to apply them.

The cockpit is predominantly RLM66 Schwartzgrau, so this

was airbrushed on and then the surface drybrushed lightly with

Humbrol Blue Grey to lift the detail. Vallejo acrylics added the

fi nishing touches.

Having built the cockpit on top of the wing, it could be painted

to match the inner cockpit walls. Note the fl oor detail.