Messerschmitt Bf 109-F2 Build Review, 1:48 Zvezda #### FINISHED #### Options

[Mike]

I started this last in the week, as I just liked the look of the sprues. It's a nicely detailed kit, and I've not yet built a 109, so I thought it was about time.

you can see the review here for what you get in the box, and like a good boy, I followed the instructions and built up the engine first. It's a rather nicely detailed lump, with plenty of parts making it up, and a sturdy link to the cannon bay behind it, which is also made of a number of interlocking parts. I made a bit of a goof with the cylinder heads here as the instructions made me scratch my head, so the little bumps on the overhanging end don't meet up with the pipes moulded into the end parts. Shouldn't show up in the end

The cockpit is pretty good, and builds up quickly - plenty of extra parts give the sidewalls extra depth, and I elected for the 3D Instrument Panel, which I might tart up with punched out dials from the provided decals.

I've squirted a coat of Alclad black primer over it to act as a base coat for the coming painting - the Primer is great in case you were wondering



Now comes the head scratcher - the instructions tell you to paint the cockpit Flat Sea Blue, but from what I can gather, it's either RLM02 or RLM66 Black-grey. I'm leaning toward the latter, as I read that the RLM02 option went after the Emil... can anyone confirm for me please? Also, I'm planning on painting the wheel wells RLM02 - am I right or wrong?

While I was waiting for the glue on the cockpit parts to dry, I installed the tail on the fuselage - as expected, I got a good joint by adding the tail halves to the fuselage halves before joining. I then taped up the fuselage, so that the halves lines up and didn't go banana shaped. A quick sand, and a dab of filler on some tiny sink marks there and on the cockpit outer sidewalls, and we're done. I'll have to re-scribe the panel line on the tail joint, but I'll leave that until the fuselage halves are joined, so they line up

[Mike]

Cheers Campbell