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I'm finally getting near to completing my Zvezda 72nd scale Bf109F-2 as an F-4/Trop version but have a quick question. All of the builds I've seen of this kit show the main hood having a painted frame member in the middle whereas all the references and photos just show this as vague inner line where the constituent pieces of the canopy met, presumably allowing the side forward sections to be slid backwards? I'm not 100% sure either way but I've masked the canopy such that it will not have a painted frame member in the middle so can anyone just confirm please before I finish all the paintwork? Regards Colin.

Hi all Here is a model I finished a couple of months ago, an Eduard Bf 109 F4 from the royal class boxing. one of the biggest challenges was to choose a scheme, but my choice was this one stationed in Petsamo, Finland, because I like the way it looked and Finland is a neighbor country to Norway. The Finnish role in WWII is also quite interesting, being allied to Germany, but its leaders did apparently not share the Nazi views on race. Finnish Jews did actually fight alongside the Germans against Soviet, how many other places did this happen? The build was quite enjoyable with good parts fit and lovely detail complete with minuscule photo etch and some nice resin exhausts and wheels. I did not use the resin wheels simply because the styrene ones look really good already. One thing I didn't like was the windscreen armor that had to be glued to the windscreen. I gave that up after several unsuccessful attempts and just used a spare from the Airfix Emil.It fortunately was an almost drop in replacement. Constructive criticism is welcomed Regards, Isak

Hi Fellow Modellers, Not long since my last RFI but this was half done anyway, had to wait for a part from Revell(split in main canopy), fair play they sent one no problem but had to wait 6 weeks. Top marks to Revell for customer service though, not many firms do this now. Back to the model, bit of a long story this.......................This was purchased for a song on Ebay many months ago so around May this year started on it, I was going to build it with the cowling open to reveal the engine, guns etc. Imagine my surprise when I found that the engine was missing from the sprue, along with a few other parts I assume the ebayer who sold it(no record of who) must have re-sealed the bag after filching the bits for another project. Cowling closed then. Which was abit of a sod as it engine bits are integral with the mounting of the guns and the nose area !! But I got by sort of. Then found the split in the canopy Paints are Tamiya XF-23 light blue for the U/s and Tamiya XF-59 desert yellow for topsides, some panels were lightened with Vallejo MA mixes. Vallejo MA white and Tamiya yellow (Vallejo MA yellow just does not work) . Vallejo MC 886 for the RLM02 Not my best effort but it gave me so much grief I was glad to finish it. I believe it's the old ICM mold. PS: Note to self: I must find out how to do wing nav lights, not excusable in this scale As usual all constructive criticism and hints welcome !!

Du mußt herrschen und gewinnen Oder dienen und verlieren, Leiden oder triumphieren, Amboß oder Hammer sein. [you must rule and win or serve and lose, suffer or triumph, be the anvil or the hammer.] -- Goethe, "Geh! Gehorche meinen Winken" "...Another example is the hammer and the anvil, now always used with the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about[.]" -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language" Having delayed a planned Blenheim build with an errant foot, I have decided to take upon myself an unpleasant task; I'm going to build not one, but two kits of my second-least favorite aircraft of World War II, exceeded in my dislike only by the ugly and brutish Fw190. I'm going to build two 109Fs by Fine Molds, arguably the best kit of this unpleasant-looking aircraft, the F model being probably the apex of its development. I'm going to be building a 109F-2 Trop of Hauptmann Eduard Neumann, Gruppenkommandeur of I/JG27, and a 109F-4 of Hauptmann Karl-Heinz Krahl, Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG3, both c. 1942. Eduard Neumann was born in 1914 and fought with the Condor Legion alongside Franco's Fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War, where he claimed two victories, before becoming Adjutant of JG27 shortly before the Battle of Britain. He was promoted to command of I/JG27 when his predecessor in that post was dispatched by RAF fighters over the Channel. Neumann was apparently an early sponsor of Marseille -- and I suppose there are two kinds of people who know about Marseille, those who think he was an amazing pilot with a propensity for overclaiming, and those who think he was a stupendous liar with a propensity for intermittently shooting down aircraft -- and by the time of Marseille's death, Neumann had risen to command the whole of JG27. Wikipedia diplomatically notes that "Neumann was a believer in leading his squadron from the ground", not quite the stuff of Wagnerian legend, perhaps. In any case, during Neumann's tenure in the Western Desert, JG27 went from victory after victory to being broken on the wheel of Allied airpower: Canadian ace J F Edwards killed 40-claim ace Gunter Steinhausen on 6 September 1942, and John H Curry, an American Spitfire pilot with the RCAF eliminated 59-claim ace Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt on 7 September; Marseille himself was killed in a flying accident on 30 September. These three pilots accounted for almost half of JG27's claims between April 1941 and September 1942, and the unit never really recovered from the blow. Additionally, during Neumann's tenure, there appear to have been some problems with false claims and a near total failure of the much-vaunted German claim verification system. Neumann survived the war and lived to be 93, dying in 2004. Karl-Heinz Krahl was also born in 1914, and also served with the Condor Legion, albeit as a bomber pilot. He retrained as a fighter pilot after the conclusion of the SCW, serving with JG2 in the Battles of France and then Britain, rising to command I/JG2 at the very end of the latter. He then became Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG3, flying out of Sicily against Malta, where he was killed by ground fire from the Royal Artillery on 14 April 1942 while strafing Luqa. (Krahl was the second Luftwaffe ace to be shot down over Malta within a week's time; Hermann Neuhoff was shot down either by a 185 Squadron Hurricane or a 249 Squadron Spitfire on 10 April.) I will be building both of their aircraft; I've never built a Fine Molds kit before, so this should be interesting.

Kit manufacture: Revell Scale: 1/32 Type: Bf109F Extras used: None Paints and colours used: Tamiya Black Green XF-27, Tamiya RLM Grey XF-22, Tamiya Flat Yellow, Flory Dark Dirt Wash + Xtracrylics Matt Varnish Bf109F_9 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_8 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_7 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_6 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_5 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_4 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_3 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_2 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr Bf109F_1 by jackaldesigned, on Flickr