Search the Community

The last of my three Luft ‘46 completions, and the only reason they all got completed at the same time was because they used the same paint colours and it was easy to just line them up in assembly line fashion, is the Trumpeter Messerschmitt Me 509. This is a very easy build, but it requires a lot of nose weight and there aren’t many places to put it ahead of the cockpit. As a result, the model is quite heavy. Also, Trumpeter don’t provide a positive location method for the retractable radiator if you want to install it in anything but the fully retracted configuration. I glued a piece of square plastic tube across the fuselage resting on the exhaust locators to give me something to glue the radiator to in a partially deployed configuration. I masked and painted the spinner spiral rather than using the included decal.

Story time! I went today to get my second dose of the COVID vaccine, only to be informed I had the appointment booked for the 1st of August. I then went to a cafe, and while looking at my Facebook group, I found that a hobby shop near me was selling second hand Hasegawa 1:48 kits. They also offered a 10% discount if the model was paid in cash. I promptly asked the seller to reserve me the Bf 109K-4. The kit came without the main sprue bags, but all the pieces were there. The clear parts were bagged, and the decals, though a bit yellowed, were in top shape. Once I arrived home with my new model, I checked the marking options. There're two provided, Yellow 4 of Feldwebel Strebel, and Yellow 1 of JG27 (with the green RVD band). I first selected the JG27 scheme because it had an RLM 81/82/76 camouflage, but after looking for photos for it (none showed up), I stumbled upon a Bf 109K-4 numbered 332700. This 109 is mostly anonymous, no special markings nor numbers, only a black "700" hastily painted on both fuselage halves. After practising a bit with a fine brush and some black paint, I decided to go ahead with "700," because it has plenty of RLM 81 areas. Here're the photos: Here's a photo of "332700," no wings though, so there'll be plenty of guessing with this aircraft. Maybe I'll just paint the undersides in RLM 76, because my 84 is too thin and needs several coats.

Here are the final photos of my 109G-6 from Revell in 32nd scale. Pretty good kit, with lots of parts. Now I'm eyeing the Erla Bubi Hartmann version.

When we received the new Border 1:35 Bf.109G-6 we got it reviewed PDQ so that people could have a look at this sort-of new scale venture, from a relatively young company, and you can see it here. We're used to 1:35 AFVs, and a few helicopters that have been scaled to go into AFV dioramas, but this is one of the first mainstream kits of traditional winged aircraft, and that's worth a look. Could this be the new de facto larger scale that attracts the AFV modellers so they can have everything in their cabinet in the same scale? I know that's an attractive proposition, as I seriously considered 1:48 armour when I first got interested in the genre thanks to @Dads203. I went with the de facto 1:35 for my AFVs on his advice, and stuck with 1:48 for my aircraft. 1:72 scale modellers have had that for a while now, although there's not a huge range (that I've seen) of new kits coming out in wee scale. Anyway, I'm wittering. It's my first 1:35 aircraft, and my first Border Model kit, so I was interested to see how things went. It's well-detailed, has plenty of parts, a complete engine with optional clear cowlings, some weapons, and a few goofs, which I've already outlined in the review. I'm not one to throw up my hands and scream "unbuildable", as we're all human and therefore fallible, so I just shrug my shoulders and carry on. If a thing bothers me enough, I'll see if it's fixable, or I'll leave it if it's too hard or I'm not feeling particularly adventurous. Here we go! The first item up was the engine, which goes together quite well. I've left it in a few sub-assemblies to make it easier to paint, and be aware that there are a few pins that are slightly larger than their sockets, so keep a pin-vice with a drill bit handy, and test fit everything, which is a good idea whatever you're building, be it shake-the-box or short run. The details on the top of the ancillary "block" can be put on at the wrong angle, so check the instructions carefully before you apply the glue. F23 needs to point slightly upwards, which won't happen if you put them on upside down, and D62/63 need to be set square, as there's no key on the pin. Get that right, and you'll be smiling. The little tanks on the sides of the engine block have tight pins, so adjust those accordingly (they're not in the picture). Also, the centreline gun can be put in at any orientation, but check the humps and bumps then compare them with the instructions before you glue them in. Here's a pic of the majority of the engine, surrounded by supercharger, engine mounts, cowling, pilot and so forth, all ready for priming. You might notice that there are some seams on the exhaust stacks, which I added from stretched sprue, because the perfectly servicable moulding seams that are on them at outset have to be sanded away to remove one of the sprue gates on the elbow. it didn't take long to do the job, and I know it's a bit over-scale, but I quite like the look of them. Be sure to set all the exhausts to the same angle to the engine, or you might have some issues with slotting them into the cowling later on. If you let them sag, it'll bite you in the bottom. I've also knocked up the insides of the cockpit walls after filling the ejector pin marks, only two of which are visible, as I suspect the ones at the front will be shrouded in darkness. There's a bit of filler behind some of those detail parts, so learn from my wasted effort Detail is nice in there too, so I'm looking forward to painting that little lot up. The figure is especially nice, as you could probably tell from the pics in the review, but the pic above came out a bit soft because I've focused on the IP and engine, so focus was drifting off a bit. You can see the IP coaming on the left of the pic, with the basic nose gun bay visible with a few un-filled ejector pins. Frankly, I'm ok with that, as I'm going to leave the Beule closed up and opaque. I'm not yet decided on the clear cowlings, whether to use them or not. I might. I might prop one cowling open or leave one cowling clear. Who knows? Not me. It's nice to have options though I also knocked together the wing inserts that hold the wing guns' ammo chutes, which are drawn back-to-front on the instructions with the slots for the ammo chutes in the front, and as I found the design odd and intriguing, I first nipped off those parts from the sprues while I was writing the review. It took a wee while for me to figure out what was up, but once I did it was a simple enough fix. The artist got it backwards, and also drew the cylinders in slightly the wrong place. No harm done if you read the review or this build thread before you start gluing. If you're interested, I've been giving feedback to Border on the kit via Albion to assist them with future projects, all being well. Go me! You can see how they should go together in the pic below. Since then I've been filling the ejector pin marks on the inside of the flaps and the head armour, and I've also been making up the landing gear. The main gear having movable oleos is cool, but in reality it also leaves a little bit too much "slop" in the strut, allowing the axle to twist round a few degrees each way, so I set them to minimum and flooded it with glue, which also made fitting the scissor-links easier, as there was one less moving part in the equation. Check the width between the receivers on the strut before you start gluing the oleo parts in, as I had to adjust mine with a swipe of a skinny sanding tool - one of those cool stick-on Galaxy Tools ones. We likes The wheels build up really well, and they look great once done, and I'm just waiting for the glue to fully cure before I sand off the bead of plastic I squeezed out, with a similar technique used for the drop-tank. The last sub-assembly made up so far is the prop. I got the metal blades in my goody bag, but I opted to use the styrene ones anyway, as I'm lazy. There's a bit of prep-work on the metal blades, so I left them in favour of the plastic ones. Both plastic and metal blades fit into the two halves of the boss very well, with the pins ensuring they're all at the same angle and the correct way round. I clamped them closed while the glue set, and have another tiny bead of melted plastic to remove tomorrow. I foresee some primer in my near future Don't forget to smash that like button & subcribe, as it really helps me out. No wait, that's not me. Ignore that part.

While I wait for the decals for my Ju 88C-6b from ICM to arrive (I haven't even cut plastic), I've decided to buy and build this kit. I've been looking up and down for it, and finally got it at a good price. I'll be painting it as Franz Dörr's Bf 109G-6 Late. This aircraft was stationed at Gossen in Norway until the end of WW2 in Europe in May 1945. As it's a common thing with Revell Germany models, the kit doesn't come with Swastikas, so I may have to source them from somewhere else (if I decide to put them when the decalling starts). Speaking of decals, they're printed "in Italy for Revell," so I assume that's Cartograf. I'll begin the kit tomorrow after coming back home from my Covid vaccination trip.

Build #8 - Tamiya Messerschmitt BF109 G-6. Definitely starting to become a Tamiya fanboy! this one is up there with the P51, P38 and Spit! some serious thought and engineering went into this design and it was a joy to put together (as always with Tamiya) the quality and fit are excellent as you'd expect, again no need for filler or excessive force to complete the build. Granted the engine bay isn't as detailed as using aftermarket detailing kits, but its still better than you'd expect from using stock parts, and the unique way the engine bay is constructed sets this kit apart in my opinion! As with my last build i masked off and painted in as much of the livery as possible which i prefer to using the supplied decals. The German insignias were a little tricky but i was more than happy with the result, the spiral on the nose came out better than expected too. the fuselage was my first attempt at airbrushing freehand, i had a few problems with my airbrush and couldn't seem to keep the pressure consistent which resulted in paint splattering - turns out it just needed a bloody good clean! I used Vallejo Mecha primer on this one which really helped with the yellow pigment which really doesn't like to be applied straight to plastic - I'm pleased with the final result, let me know what you think!

Hello everyone. I've been lurking here for a long time and, like many it seems, returning to aircraft modelling after a very long break ( about 30 years in my case). My plan was to kick things off with a confidence builder-build. Nothing too complicated, cheap and straight out of the box but sadly my first choice of kit had other plans as you can see ... Attempt 1: Revell 1:72 Bf109 G10 I know the marque pretty well so this seemed like a good bet. Progress was slow though, at least partly because of short-shot moulding around the exhaust areas. These had to be rebuilt and once I'd started down that road ... I attempted to add a seam to the exhaust stacks, drilled them out, added a weld to the intake, tidied up innacurate rivet detail. Already slipping down the rabbit hole ... and my efforts were a bit heavy-handed. So, cockpit. Nice and simple. Aftermarket additions would cost more than the kit so I added some masking tape seatbelts and, figuring the cockpit view would be limited by the thick transparencies provided, just painted most of the details in there. Bit odd but perfection is the enemy of done, right? My hope was that a high-contrast approach would at least be somewhat visible. Then disaster struck. Already this has become far more involved than planned for my 'first' and when the fusilage halves were married it turns out there's a distinct lack of symmetry between the canopy and nose. Picture doesn't do it justice but that will need resculpting to look anywhere close to true. I've not removed material here yet - but there is a prominent 'slump' to port when viewed from the front. For now this is headed back to the box to have a word with itself. Frankly I'm not ready to reshape the distinctive later 109 cowl. I admit I was starting to get quite dispirited and wondering if I'm cut out for this business. Very happily though Airfix came to the rescue when I decided to have another shot, this time at their Me262. Again, I know it pretty well so fingers crossed ... Attempt 2: So far it's fallen together like a dream. Within a day I have all of the main components together and it looks like an Me262. Cleanup has been really minimal with the only slight wrinkle being where the engine nacelles meet the wing leading edges - predictable and so far looking pretty easy to fix. The experience of building this kit could hardly be more different to the 109 and I'm hooked. Only addition so far is a masing tape and scrap plastic harness. So, long story short, this is what I'll try to document here, if only to keep me focused, and so far very happy with the kit. Any pointers or advice very gratefully received. Will add some details to the rear shelf here after cleanup. Perhaps a suggestion of panel wiring but I suspect invisible with the canopy on. Slightly worried about rescribing the two ports in front of the cockpit but might have a plan. First layer added here - will build these up a bit more and then shape. Wing roots are impressively tight and won't need filler. Nacelles need an extra polish to smooth out any remainign join lines but feel smoother than they look here.

Hello guys, here's a kit I built in 2020, but was finished "properly" yesterday. It's Revell's Bf 109G-10 with markings for Green 2, based at Stendal in 1945. The only thing I did to finish the kit was to add some mottling to the fuselage sides.

Bf.109G-2 ProfiPACK (82165) 1:48 Eduard The G variant of the Bf.109, colloquially known as the Gustav was one of the primary fighters available to the Luftwaffe during the closing years of WWII, alongside its supposed replacement the Fw.190, and saw extensive active service right to the end of hostilities, all the while being upgraded to combat the increasing Allied superiority in the air. Happily for the Allies, the supply of experienced pilots was fast running out, so as good as the upgrades were, they couldn't make an appreciable difference to the outcome. The G-2 differed from the initial G-1 insofar as it didn’t have the pressurised cockpit of the earlier variant, and it was sometimes fitted with different head armour for the pilot – lucky fella! The various G sub-types were a problem from a maintenance point of view, having far too many variations to be practical, so the K series, Kurt to its few friends was created, but at that late stage it wasn’t particularly well liked or very successful. Some actually considered it to be a retrograde step. The Kit The G-2 is just one of Eduard's series of Gustavs, which is now enjoying a reissue with just a minor change in parts and decal options, plus some fetching new artwork that shows the replacement decal option having just shot down an RAF P-40 in the desert, the poor pilot scrambling free from the cockpit as the wreckage burns. The ProfiPACK boxing contains a wide selection of decal options and Photo-Etch (PE) parts in Eduard’s pre-painted style with the recently implemented glossy dial faces. Given the aforementioned differences between the sub-variants, there aren’t a huge number of differences in parts between the airframes. The cockpit is adorned with most of the coloured PE to upgrade the detail, and a clear fuel line so that the clear vision section can be left unpainted to allow the pilot to see the fuel sloshing about within. The PE harnesses and rudder pedals, plus all the other detail parts on the cockpit walls make for a seriously well-detailed cockpit. With the addition of the tail-wheel in the rear, and a choice of shrouded or unshrouded exhausts in the nose, you can close up the fuselage with the cockpit trapped between the halves. The nose also receives a circular bulkhead that receives the prop later in the build. The exhausts without the moulded-in shrouds are your best choice for detail, as they have hollow tips, and you can add PE shrouds while you are installing the small PE hinges and the intake filter that is specific to the tropicalized variant, which has a pair of PE meshes that require bending to fit the cylindrical housing. It also has a pair of small stays added from the PE sheet to stabilise it in the airflow, which shows nice attention to detail. The flying surfaces are all mobile and capable of being depicted deflected, while the wingtip lights have been moulded into the wing halves, so a small mask has been included to help you cut a neat demarcation between the wing skin and the light, unless you are going to remove the styrene and replace it with clear plastic from your own stock. The gear bay walls are made up in the full-width lower wing, and two holes should be drilled for four of the decal options, plus two ammo chute inserts that drop through from inside the lower wing. With the addition of the upper wings you can join them to the fuselage, then add the leading-edge slats in the dropped position for stationary, or retracted whilst in the air once the pressure is sufficient to push them in. The radiators have PE mesh skins, as does the chin-mounted oil-cooler, the flaps consist of upper and lower elements just like the real aircraft, and there is a choice of tyres for your decal options. One option requires the removal of the majority of the captive main gear bay door, which is an unusual sight, possibly to prevent snow from building up between them and the wheels. Another choice is offered for the clear windscreen part, with a common square profile canopy and fixed rear portion with the earlier larger aerial mast, which has the usual post and PE attachment for your choice of rigging material at the tail-end. There is a canopy stay wire included with the PE, which is a great addition that adds realism, and is common throughout the G-series Profipaks IIRC. With the prop added, it's just a case of choosing whether or not to add the additional armament in the shape of underslung cannons in gondola cowlings outboard of the landing gear bays, which is what the reamed out holes were for. These are also available as a resin Brassin set if you are going for hyper-detail and perhaps want to leave open the access hatches to show off the cannon breeches and ammo magazines. Supplied on yellow kabuki tape, a sheet of pre-cut masks provide you with a full set of masks for the inside AND outside of the canopy, with half a page of instructions devoted to their installation. In addition, you get a set of hub masks for the wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. Markings As is often the case with Profipak boxings, there are five decal options included on the larger decal sheet, and a set of stencils on the other sheet, which will allow you to build one of the following: Bf.109G-2/Trop Wnr. 10533, Uffz. Horst Schlick, 1./JG, Bir-el-Abd, Egypt, Nov 1942 Bf.109G-2/R-6/Trop, W.Nr.13916, Fw. Hans Döbrich, 6./JG 5, Alakurtti, Finland Feb 1943. Bf.109G-2/R6, Lt. Walter Krupinski, 6./JG 52, Maykop, Soviet union, October 1942. Bf.109G-2/R6 W.Nr. 13949, Mjr. Hans Hahn, II./JG 54, Rjelbitzy, Soviet Union, Jan 1943. Bf.109G-2/R6, W.nr.13633, Hptm. Wolf-Dieter Huy, 7./JG 77, Tanyet Harun, Egypt, Oct 1942. The stencils are shown on a separate placement guide on the back page of the booklet, and both sheets are printed in-house, with good colour density, register and sharpness. In use these decals settle down well with a little solution, and the carrier film is closely cropped and slightly glossy. As always, there are some removable Swastikas at the corner of the main sheet, and some two-part decals that can be made into Swastikas by the modeller in territories where that's a touchy subject. Conclusion A very nice rendition of the G-2 and a welcome reboxing, with suitably disparate schemes that should appeal to many out of the box. The surface detail on these kits is by now legendary, and the addition of the PE just improves on the basic kit, which is already excellent. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Bf.109G German Pilot, Seated (F48368 for Eduard) 1:48 CMK by Special Hobby A pilot figure in an aircraft model seems to have become superfluous to requirements for a lot of modern manufacturers, which forces us to peruse the aftermarket arena for a suitable candidate when the need arises. As usual with CMK's resin sets, they arrive in the familiar clear vacformed box, with the resin parts safely inside, and the instructions sandwiched between the header card at the rear. Decals and Photo-Etch (PE) when included is separated from the resin parts by a clear piece of acetate to prevent scratching and damage during transit. This resin set provides a single pilot that has been patterned to precisely fit the recent Eduard Bf.109Gs in 1:48, and comes in four parts on two casting blocks. The pilot’s torso, arms and upper legs are moulded into one part, while the lower legs and head are separate, the former having small pegs in the tops of the boots that key into depressions in the knees of the figure. The head slots into a socket, and could easily be adjusted to look to the side with some trimming of the resin peg. The instruction sheet shows the figure assembled in the cockpit, illustrating the fact that his seat is also moulded into the figure, making the fit a lot easier, especially as the shoulder-straps are also moulded-in. next to that photo is a list of paint colours for the various parts of the figure in English and Czech. Conclusion Sculpting and casting is excellent, with loads of detail just waiting to be picked out with your best paintbrush. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Lemkits is working on a 1/32nd Messerschmitt Me P.1100/1 "Schnell Bomber" kit Source: https://www.facebook.com/andriy.lemkitscom/posts/2766797493579966 V.P.

Hello everybody, I want to show you my Me 262 C-1a. The Me 262 is one of the most beautiful aircraft designs for me. Construction: The Academy kit, released in 2007, contains a multitude of details and very interesting options, including alternative components for the Me 262 C-1a with a Walther rocket in the rear fuselage. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the nose shape failed completely, so an extensive cosmetic surgery has to be done. I also narrowed the fuselage at the top by approx. 1 mm, which means that the too wide canopy has to be exchanged for a deep-drawn one. An old canopy from a Hasegawa Me 262 served as a deep-drawing stamp. The rear fuselage is also suboptimal. Academy simply suppressed the opening for the Walther rocket and did not bulge the fuselage in this area enough. So this will be changed too. And because it is already work, I add a few details around the plane, for example extended flaps and slats. Original aircraft: My model shows the C-1a V186, as far as I know the only raketen schwalbe (rocket swallow) that has flown. In horizontal flight 934 km/h were achieved with additional thrust, making the V186 the fastest Me 262 ever flown (comparison A-1a: 870 km/h). With Heinz Bär in the cockpit, the aircraft shot down a P-47 that was flying over 8,000 m over Lechfeld airfield after about 3 minutes after start from runway. Source: asisbiz.com Painting: The paintjob was started as standard for me on an Alclad Airframe aluminum primer. After that preshading, three glazing layers per colour, painting scratches with a silver pin, intermediate finish with future, decals, washing, dust, oil paints, chalks etc. Walk around: Bottom view: Details: I hope you like my model. Criticism, notes, and comments are gladly welcome. Kai

Brengun is to release a 1/144th Messerschmitt Me-309 V-1/V-2 kit - ref. BRP144015 Source: https://www.facebook.com/HaulerBrengun/posts/1705025429656098 Box art V.P.

Me.262A-1a & P-51B Combat Set (03711) 1:72 Revell Believe it or not (most of you will), the technologically advanced Messerschmitt Me.262 and the P-51 Mustang did actually square off against each other in the skies over Germany. Not many P-51Bs would have still been in service, but even though there was a huge difference in top speed, the doughty Mustang shot down a number of these shark-like fighters, especially at the weaker points of their flight envelope during take-off and landing, where the low spool-up of the jet engines made them an easier target. This kit from Revell is in their Combat Set range, and puts together these old foes in the one box, both of them being a product of the late 90s. The 262 came out in 1997, while the Mustang was released a year later, although having been moulded in silver styrene this time around, it looks older on initial inspection. Let’s handle them separate in case there’s a (dog) fight. Me.262A-1a The shark-like profile of the Messerschmitt Me.262 Schwalbe and its almost matchless abilities at the time have given it a high profile despite its lack of practical effect on the outcome of WWII. If Der Fuhrer had been a little less prone to meddling however, the effect of its presence may have been felt more by the bomber streams than it was – thankfully! That's if they could have solved the metallurgy of the engines to obtain sufficient time before they burned themselves to destruction – 100 hours for most engines if the aircraft it hung off lasted that long. That's a lot of ifs, but if we concentrate on the actual performance of it, it's still an impressive aircraft that was superior to the British Meteor in most respects, using axial flow jet engines and swept outer wing panels together with a slippery aerodynamic shape. It first flew with a prop in the nose and dummy engines, dragging its tail along the ground until airborne, but this was changed once the engines were live, as the heat and thrust from both engines would have played havoc with their landing strips. The delays were caused partly by Hitler's insistence that the airframe should be able to carry bombs, which it eventually could under its nose, but as usual their efforts were spread too thin by trying to make the Schwalbe a jack of all trades, all of which took valuable engineers and strategic materials away from the fighters that were desperately needed in the Defence of the Reich. The huge speed differential between the Schwalbe and its bomber stream targets meant that zoom attacks were necessary, giving precious little time for the pilot to take aim due to the high rate of closure and subsequent overshoot. The aircraft were also vulnerable during take-off and landing due to the slow spooling-up of early jet engines, which the Allies took full advantage of to reduce the fleet further, with intensive maintenance whittling away at the available airframes even further. It was a case of too little too late in terms of numbers, and even with their speed advantage a few were shot down in flight by piston-engined Allied aircraft due in part to the extensive experience that the Allied crews had gained during the invasion and the comparative lack of experienced German pilots by that stage of the war. As the Allies rolled through Germany, they captured airbases and research establishments with many variants that didn't see combat found and hoovered up by US Operation Paperclip and similar operations by the other Allied governments. The kit is on four sprues of pale greenish grey styrene, with a clear sprue in a separate bag, and shared instructions and decals. Construction of the 262 begins with the two fuselage halves, which should have a few holes drilled out and another on the spine that straddles both parts. The cockpit tub is next, and this one really is a tub. The front bulkhead is partly moulded-in but has another laminated to it, while the aft one is glued in place along with seat, instrument panel and control column. The detail is pretty good for the scale, and there is also some wheel bay detail on the opposite face to the tub, as well as the inside of the fuselage halves. The tub also has a couple of ejector pin marks that will need filling if you are cutting out the bays (see later) and think the centreline bay divider won’t hide them. The fuselage can then be closed up with some nose-weight added because this is a potential tail-sitter thanks to the nose wheel. The nose has a big empty slot underneath, which is filled by an insert with the nose-gear bay slotted inside, which has some internal ribbing within. The rear of the cockpit cut-out is covered with a ‘hump’, which makes it ready for its wings. The lower wing is a full-width, and inexplicably has a pair of main gear bay roof panels moulded-in, despite it already having the correct hollow bay details already there. If it makes your mind boggle as much as mine, just cut out the inner section and make good. Sounds easy if you say it fast, doesn’t it? The lower is glued to the fuselage and joined by the two upper wing panels, then the two engines and their nacelles are made up from two side cowlings, nose cone, and rear bullet that is attached to the inside on the two horizontal stator vanes, but take care to ensure the bullet is in the centre of the exhaust before you leave the glue to dry. When you’ve dealt with the seams they should insert neatly into the underside of the wing, filling out the notches in the leading-edge with their fairings. The elevators slot into the tail in the usual tab & slot manner, then it’s on to the landing gear. You can quickly pose the gear retracted by fitting the single nose gear bay door and the two main bay doors after removing the pegs for the landed option. The bay doors are all separated for the gear-down option, then the nose wheel with separate tyre goes into the bay with the two door parts, while each main wheel strut has a separate retraction jack, two captive bay doors and separate wheel, which is rather well appointed with detail. The trapezoid inner doors are both positioned on the centreline between the bays, and if you’ve cut that bit off to see the correctly shaped interior, you need to get the styrene rod and glue out! A pitot probe is fitted to the port wingtip, with two antennae under the wing and fuselage, then a finely-moulded D/F loop behind the cockpit, and a single part canopy part is glued over the aperture, although you’re going to have to work to find some of the canopy framing lines. Again, it’s not the kit’s finest part, and it’s somewhat of a let-down compared to the rest of the kit. The aftermarket seems bereft of replacements, although I’ve been wrong before. To use those bomb-mounts that slowed the 262’s gestation too much, a pair of two-part auxiliary fuel tanks are provided that sit on short pylons under the nose. Silly Adolf. North American P-51B Mustang Originally developed to fulfil a British requirement for a new fighter aircraft, the unmistakeable North American P-51 Mustang famously went from drawing board to first flight in just 178 days. It went on to become one of the most famous and successful aircraft of the Second World War. The original Allinson engine was hopeless above 12,000ft, and was transformed by being replaced by Rolls Royce’s legendary Merlin engine. With its Achilles heel sent packing, the Mustang went from strength to strength and was eventually developed into several successively better variants. The P-51D introduced a number of improvements in response to combat experience, including a cut-down rear fuselage and bubble canopy, plus an increase in the number of 0.5 inch machine guns from four to six. Over 8,000 P-51Ds were produced, more than any other Mustang variant. As already mentioned, this is a re-release of one of Revell’s earlier kits from the late 90s. there are three sprues of silver-coloured plastic, a one-piece canopy on its own sprue (wrapped separately for protection), with the instruction and decal sheet shared between the kits. As may be expected of an older kit, the quality of mouldings is not quite up there with Revell’s latest releases. There is an amount of flash present and some fairly prominent ejector-pin marks on the upper wing and some more inside, so some cleaning up will be required, which is best done before commencing the build. Surface detail is comprised of fine engraved lines and rivets plus some raised details where appropriate, so care will have to be taken when sanding seams to avoid destroying this detail. The cockpit is made up on a floor panel, with heavy moulded-in wood effect, the rear radio gear on a pedestal and a front bulkhead, which is improved with the addition of an instrument panel with moulded-in rudder pedals, control column and seat with moulded-in belts. The sidewalls of the fuselage also have some basic internal detail moulded in, and after painting the fuselage can be closed up and left to cure, followed by some seam filling. The lower wing has a couple of holes reamed out for the drop-tanks, then it is attached to the underside of the fuselage and joined by the upper wings, with the two elevators slotted into the tail, at right-angles to the tail fin. The exhaust stacks slot into the sides of the nose, then with the airframe flipped on its back, the chin scoop lip, belly intake lip, and two cooling flaps at the rear are installed, capable of being posed open or closed if you wish. You have the option to model this Mustang with wheels up or down. With wheels up, there are just three parts and you’re done. For the wheels down option, there’s a single tail-wheel part and you chop the tail bay door piece in half then pose them splayed open. The main bay doors are cut into two sections, with the tapered part attached to the main strut along with the wheel, and the rest of the door attached to the centre divider between the bay halves under the fuselage. The prop has four separate blades on a rear boss, which are then hidden away after adding a retaining ring by the spinner cap. A clear leading-edge landing light is fitted into the cut-out in the port wing, then the other clear part, the one-piece canopy is glued into the cockpit. This part is not the best, and is a funny shape (IMHO) as well as being far from clear. It’s a shame, really as beneath the old-skool silver moulding, it’s not a bad kit, so I’d be looking for a replacement part for the Malcolm hood, and a quick search on Hannants shows one for another brand, but whether it’ll fit, I don’t know. The last parts are the two optional compressed paper fuel tanks that each mount on a short pylon with anti-sway braces on each side, fore and aft. Markings Each kit has just the one decal option as per the boxtop, and those are on the same sheet, although you’ll need some Swastikas for the tail of the 262 if you’re going to depict them. From the box you can build one of each of the following: Messerschmitt 262A-1a W.Nr. 110836* P-51B Mustang Captain Willard Millikan, 336th Fighter Squ., 4th Fighter Group, May 1945 * A misprint has slipped past the proof-reader on the instructions, with the heading over the 262 reading “Messerschmitt Bf.109G-10, Normandie, D-Day”. Even with my limited knowledge of aviation, I can tell you that’s a mistake. There’s no prop, for a start. We all make mistakes though, so let’s not go on about it. To err is human… If you don’t make mistakes, you’re either lying to yourself and everyone else, or a deity. Anyway, moving on, decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This is a re-release of two nice little kits that have disappointing canopies. The Mustang has the most work to prep the parts, and the 262 has that weird and extraneous main gear bay. They’re by no means perfect kits, but as they say forewarned is forearmed. Recommended, just read the whole review. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

A&A Models is to release in late October 2020 a 1/48th Messerschmitt Bf.109T1/T2 kit - ref. 4806 Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2171578336320123&id=1048501705294464 Kit comes with decals for 5 liveries (2 x Bf109T2/ 3 x Bf.109T1), PE sheet, adhesive masks and 2 canopies (open/closed). Box art V.P.

The model represents an airplane operated by one of my favorite Condor Legion fighters, Gothard Handrick in 1938. The model is well known to most, without any serious problems. Here's the picture.

Immediately after the end of hostilities in Europe, the allied powers scoured Germany for the remnants of their advanced technology. The American's set up 'Project LUSTY, which stood for LUftwaffe Secert TechnologY. Col Harold E Watson, a qualified test pilot was selected to head the mission. He picked a number of pilots, all combat veteran's and all Thunderbolt pilots, experienced ground crew, both American and German along with several experienced German pilots. He also carried a signed pass by Dwight D Eisenhower, stating that no senior officer or military police could impede him in his work. Two teams formed, one went after the piston engine aircraft, the other, jets. It was the jet pilots who were named the 'Watson's Wizzers' and adopted the squadron embalm of Donald Duck flying around the Earth on a Juno 004 engine. Me 262A-1a/U3 'White 30' was captured at Lechfeld. It was named Marge by the 54th ADS, and then Lady Jess IV while with the Wizzers with the aircraft being the mount of Captain Kenneth Dahlstrom. Declared surplus, it was transferred to the US Navy and designated 121443. State side, the aircraft was turned over to the Tactical Test Division at NAS Patuxent River where she was made airworthy and attempted to be flown on November 7th 1945. Failing to become airborne, it crashed into trees at the end of the runway and was subsequently written off. Because of this accident, no further attempts to fly Me 262's was made by the TTD. This is the 1/48 Dragon kit, which is the reboxing of the 1990's Trimaster kit, but this did not include any photo etch parts. The molds are still holding up well although there was some cleaning up of the lower wing required. These kits are well detailed but do require some work with the engine nacelles being a well known tricky part of this model. Test fit everything before committing glue and you shouldn't have too many problems. Decals come from Cutting Edge's Crossdressing Stormbirds and the seatbelts from Lions Roar.

Hello guys, here's my most recently completed model, Hobby Boss's Bf 109G-2 in 1:48.

Hello guys, here's my latest aircraft, a Strike Witches themed plane. This time it's Erica Hartmann's Bf 109G-14. Kit is from Hasegawa in 1:72.

Hello guys, here's my most recently completed model! It's Heinz Wolfgang Schnaufer's Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4 from Revell/Pro Modeller. I used Print Scale and Xtradecal decals to get this model finished.

Hello guys, continuing with my building spree, I'll start a Bf 109G-2 from Academy. This kit is actually the Hobbycraft one, and comes with Cartograf decals.

Me.262A BIGED Set (BIG33110) 1:32 Eduard Revell’s big Schwalbe has been out for a while and Eduard have a number of sets available for it, which they have now aggregated into this big set that arrives in a large card envelope with the various sets inside in their original flat foil packaging. Interior (32960) Two frets are included, one nickel plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass. A complete set of new layered instrument panels and side consoles are the primary parts on the painted set, with new rudder pedals; gunsight details; seat and head armour parts; rear deck details and canopy internal structure is also supplied. Seatbelts STEEL (33241) In case you don't already know, these belts are Photo-Etch (PE) steel, and because of their strength they can be etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting. Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE. There is a full set of four-point belts included with separate comfort pads under the buckles, with instructions to attach them to the seat back by small loops of wire. Exterior (32448) This larger bare brass set contains some important upgrades, such as interior surface skins for the engine cowlings that is rolled to match the shape of the removable panels; an upgrade to the detail in the nose gear strut and the main wheel bay doors; actuators and end-caps for the flying surfaces; a full set of actuators and detail panels for the gravity slats on the leading-edge slats; additional parts for the gun bay and hinges for the cowling, along with some surface enhancement panels. Masks (JX244) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks. In addition, you get a set of hub/tyre masks for all the wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. Review sample courtesy of

Bf.109G-10 Erla ProfiPACK (82164) & Upgrade Set (48006) 1:48 Eduard There must have been billions of words written on the Bf.109 over the years, which was the mainstay of the Luftwaffe's fighter arm, despite having been supposedly superseded by the Fw.190 and others during its service life. It kept coming back to prominence due partly to it being a trusted design, the manufacturer's sway with the RLM, and the type's ability to be adapted as technology advanced. The G or Gustav as it was known was one of the later variants, and is widely regarded as one of the more successful variants, with improved armament that give some variants a distinctive pair of blisters in front of the windscreen, plus mounting points for the 210mm rocket tubes used to disrupt the bomber streams in long range attacks using timed detonation. The other minor changes were targeted at defensive means, removing the mounting points and hardware for long-range tanks etc. The G-10 was fitted with the new DB605D-2 engine that was later seen on the K, and became the de facto standard Gustav once introduced, often using unfinished G-14s as the starting point, which has confused some researchers in the past. It was fitted with the sleek Erla-Haube canopy and a deeper oil cooler under the nose that sets it apart from previous issues along with some small blisters just forward and below the exhaust stacks. It also had a swept-forward installation of the radio antenna under the wing leading edge, all of which you can see on the box art. The Kit This boxing depicts airframes that were manufactured at the Erla factory, and as you can imagine, it shares some sprues with earlier variants from Eduard, most notably the G-14 that came before and overlapped its tenure. With this being a ProfiPACK issue, it arrives in the orange banded box, with four sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), a sheet of yellow kabuki-style masking medium (not pictured), two decal sheets for markings and stencils, and of course the instruction booklet. The build process will of course be familiar to anyone that has either built a 109 before, and/or owns one of Eduard's other Gustav offerings. Where it differs is in the new fuselage halves, which have all the requisite lumps and bumps mentioned above, plus a new lower wing sprue (half) that has a small hole for the isolating clear panel at the base of the antenna. The build of course begins in the cockpit, with PE and styrene parts aplenty, plus a nice clear fuel feeder pipe, which is clear so that you can mask the vision port and paint the rest. This was a lo-fi way for the pilot to quickly check whether his engine was sucking vapours, or had gone pop for some other reason. PE seatbelts are included, and a choice of PE or styrene rudder pedals, depending on how dexterous you are feeling. The instrument panel is laminated from layers of pre-painted PE, with the new glossy, slightly domed dials already present on the frets, which Eduard have slyly introduced recently with little in the way of fanfare. The sidewalls too are decorated with more painted PE parts, after which you can close up the fuselage unless you're treating yourself to a resin engine or other goodies. Don't forget to trap the tail wheel between the halves, or you'll regret it later. The backplate for the spinner and exhaust stubs are installed, and the top cowling with gun inserts is glued into place along with the intake for the engine's turbocharger, a PE hinge section on the top of the cowling, and PE flash-hiders for the exhausts, which vary between markings options. The G-10 had an extended fin, which is separate from the fuselage on this boxing, breaking at a convenient panel line to ease the way. The elevator fins are each two parts and fit using pins, with separate elevators and a choice of two rudder types. The wings are only slightly different from the norm, with the usual (but new) full-width lower, main gear sidewalls and split upper wings, and a gaggle of separate parts for the leading-edge slats (gravity deployed when stopped), ailerons, and the two-layer flaps that butt up to the back of the radiator bays, which have PE skins front and back, as does the extended chin-scoop that was ear-marks it as a G-10. A scrap diagram shows the correct positioning of the flaps when they are deployed. The main gear is the same narrow-track stuff from earlier models, with separate tyres and hubs, plus captive bay doors, socketing into the bay using nice strong parts, and with hub masks for easy painting of the wheels. A tiny square clear part is supplied for the aerial isolator and a mask is on the sheet, with a choice of styrene or PE aerial. There is a set of resin FuG16 antennae that we reviewed recently here if you are going for ultimate fidelity. Horn-balances are fitted to the ailerons, a small raised panel under the wing trailing edge is added from PE, and a circular panel on the flank of the fuselage needs to be filled for authenticity's sake. As the build draws to a conclusion, the gunsight is added from a partially painted (by you) clear part, and if you add a little translucent green/blue to the edge to simulate the thickness of the glass, it will improve the look of the finished part. The windscreen has a couple of small PE parts added to it before you can glue it to the front of the squared-off cockpit opening, and the uber-sleek Erla-Haube canopy has a windowed head armour part that will need masking from the enclosed sheet and painting before it is fitted. If you have treated yourself to a set of Tface masks that allow painting of both interior and exterior surfaces of the canopy, the additional small parts added will gel nicely with this improvement. A stubby aerial fits to the top rear of the canopy, and you have a choice of PE or styrene DF loop antenna for the spine a little way back. The canopy can be posed open by using the thin PE restraint that's included on the fret, which allows you to set the correct angle when open. The prop is a single part, which has the two-piece spinner fitted around it, after which you can either glue it in place, or leave it loose for travel and impromptu spinning if you like. A trim actuator for the rudder and a tiny aerial under the fuselage are the last parts on the PE fret, which ends the construction phase unless you have decided to fit one of the two-part drop-tanks on a four prong mount under the centre of the fuselage. Markings As is usually the case with ProfiPACK editions, there are five marking options included in the box, with a nice broad range of colour options, some of which have interesting and fairly unusual quirks to them. The main sheet contains all the national, unit, and theatre markings, while the smaller sheet is full of stencils, which are detailed on a separate page to avoid cluttering each full page set of profiles. You get spinner decals where appropriate, so you're not left wondering how on earth you're going to do them, so all you have to worry about (if you do) is the various mottle and scribble patterns that are seen on all but one of the aircraft. From the box you can build one of the following: W. Nr. 491353, flown by Cap. Ugo Drago, CO of 4a Squadriglia, 2o Gruppo Caccia, Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, Aviano, Italy, February 1945 Flown by Hptm. Erich Hartmann, CO of I./JG 52, Görlitz, Germany, April 1945 flown by Lt. Friedrich-Wilhelm Schenk, CO of 2./JG 300, Borkheide, Germany, February 1945 flown by Oblt. Alfred Seidl, CO of I./JG 3, Paderborn, Germany, late December 1944 W. Nr. 490655, flown by Lt. Antonius Wöffen, CO of 6./JG 27, Rheine-Hopsten, Germany, early March 1945 All the decals are printed in the Czech Republic with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Another great 109G kit from Eduard that has plenty of detail out of the box, and can be upgraded even further in the detail department if you're minded to add the extra resin and PE sets that are patterned for the kit and available separately. Highly recommended. Bf.109G-10 Erla Upgrade Set (481006) In order to upgrade the detail still further, this additional PE set is useful to add a removable radio bay cover with internal detail; in-scale wheel bay tunnels for the struts (one each side); chin radiator cooling-flap; external fuel tank strap; a highly detailed replacement for the flaps behind the radiator baths with lots of additional detail of the mechanism added; replacement wheel bay doors for the main gear, plus PE brake hoses, tie-downs and oleo-scissors. Review sample courtesy of

German WWII National Insignia for Bf.109G-10 & Fw.190A-8 (3 sets) 1:48 Eduard Eduard’s decal range just keeps expanding, and as with their PE sets, they arrive in resealable foil bags with instructions to the front and the decals to the rear with a sheet of translucent paper protecting the printed adhesive side. Each set has a set of profiles to assist with placement, and where there are swastikas, they are provided in two-part decals for territories where the symbol is frowned upon where the corner will be snipped off, and a dotted lined corner in one part for those where it isn’t. Bf.109G-10 MTT/WNF National Insignia (D48035) This set includes two each of three types of crosses for both upper and lower wings, along with eight fuselage crosses and four swastikas of both double decal and single or missing flavours. Fw.190A-8/R2 National Insignia (D48036) This set includes two each of the wing upper and lower, two fuselage crosses, plus four swastikas in both double decal and single or missing types. Fw.190A-8 National Insignia (D48037) On a wide sheet this set has two crosses for the upper wing, four for the lowers, and another four for the fuselage, with four swastikas in parts, plus four more if you’ve not had them nipped off the corner by the importer. Conclusion Useful sheets with very specific subjects in mind. Decals are printed in-house in good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

The somewhat stocky yet elegant lines of the B.F.W. M.20b2 passenger planes can now be shown in model form thanks to this kit in resin, released -long ago- by Planet. The kit has reasonable detail, but still a bit more can be added, and modified to better effect. Although a convincing replica in general terms, some research flaws on part of Planet show in a few places. A number of these inaccuracies are described and corrected in the step-by-step building thread that you can see here: Both decal options are flawed in some regards, as well as several details given for the depicted machines. I had to commission, as it is often the case, my own decal sheet to be able to render an accurate representation of the type. Arctic Decals came once again to the rescue and delivered a great set. Why many kit manufacturers don't bother in the least to look at photos to check their plans is beyond comprehension to me. Still, the fit of the kit parts and detail is good and in general I rate this a much better offering than their F.W. 19 Ente that I built a few months ago. Besides the need to check references to correct the above-mentioned inaccuracies, the build went on quite pleasantly. Many thanks to @CarLos for the help with research. The machine represented here, an ex Lufthansa plane, went to Varig in Brazil in 1937. It served there until well after WW2, ending its long career in the scrap yard. I posted in the building thread an interesting article that I found on the Net (translated from Portuguese) narrating the final days and adventures of PP-VKA. I had fun building this one, in spite again of the necessary corrective research and the bit of extra work needed to obtain an accurate replica, but nothing insurmountable or too laborious. I only wish manufacturers would be better checking those plans. The fact that something has a plan, doesn't mean you can blindly follow it. However, in the end, we do have a BFW M.20, a handsome plane from the 30s for which I thank Planet, and also other manufacturers that venture into these less common regions of aviation, for the happiness of the ones among us that like them and understand and appreaciate their historical, symbolic and aesthetic value.