John Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Starter Set boxing: http://www.airfix.com/airfix-products/new-...nd-accessories/ John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I see the starter set is now showing as in stock. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey W Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Hello, I may be a newbie here but I'm a long time 109 fan. I have to agree that this new Airfix kit is 'The Biz". Having got the proverbial eyeglass and slide rule on it, I have a few observations to pass on. The weakest part of the kit has to be the prop blades being a little on the thin side. I'ts not much but enough to notice especially if lined up with other 109Es. The chin radiator should have a horizontal splitter plate as on the Tamiya kit. The instrument panel should not have the lower square panel. That would be the bit extending down and between the pilots knees. This was the bomb arming panel so would only be on the 'Jabo' types and not the 'jager'. If you are doing a model with the flaps down don't forget that the ailerons were linked to the flaps and would both droop to 10 degrees. This is so easy to do on the Airfix kit the way the wing is laid out. Just acouple of scribes along the front of the aileron front inside edge and you can then carefully bend them down the required amount. A bead of liquid cement will the fuse them in possition. This feature was in common with a lot of Luftwaffe types of the time i.e. JU 87, JU 88, He 111, Me 110 and so on. As I referred to the Tamiya kit previously I have to comment on the similarity of the two kits. You can plainly see where Tamiya lost a few Thou on a couple of the rear fuselage segments. You could almost cross assemble them! As for the old score card...Airfix ( 9 ), Tamiya ( 8 ). That is without any price differential ! May I at this point add an observation I have made over the years of study. Why did some Luftwaffe fighters have White I.D. wing tips and engine panels and some Yellow ? My theory ! In August 1940 Georing demanded the the fighters stay close to the bombers. To this end and in order to make identification easier for the gunners, nose and wing tips were to be painted Yellow. Now anyone who has had to paint something Yellow will know, Yellow sucks! It is THE worst colour for coverage. Even with modern paints! What were the paints like in 1940 ? It is my contention that the White we sometimes see is the undercoat for the Yellow topcoat yet to be applied. I await my learned Friends comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael louey Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Hi Mikey, You sound like you know your 109's. Thanks for the update about the new Airfix kit. From the photos I've seen online, the only real concern I have is the canopy which doesn't look as delicate as the Tamiya one. I wonder if the existing Falcon vacform canopy will fit if the Airfix and Tamiya are so similar. Regarding your theory regarding white/yellow id markings during the BoB - I did a bit of research on one of these planes and the issue of white id markings was considered. In this case, it appears washable white distemper was used as the Crash report listed these markings but when pictures were taken later in Australia, the markings on rudder/wing tips had gone. Here is my build of this plane: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...9&hl=grabow So your theory may apply in some cases, but not all. Cheers Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Hi all, I have just started the new Me109 and am building it straight from the box. It is going together really well,and I have found that you can join the fusalage before you install the cockpit which makes it easier to prepare the fusalage. I am building a Rumanian Airforce aircraft from a new decal sheet from Radu Brinzan Productions which I saw on here, havnt got the decals yet but am getting it ready. I will post some pictures if I can remember how, not really bothered about the few small downsides to the kit as it is a real step forward in quality compared to their old moulding. I intend to build a few different marking options for this new kit so bring on the Trop version. Regards Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 (edited) my first one finished (more or less..just realised that I've got no trim tabs ..) - pleased with the kit, less so my hamfisted attempts to touch up the canopy framing where my masking went awry. Aerial mast from sprue, I've not managed to get two now off the runners, same thing with the aileron balances. Aeromaster JG 54 decals. Agree with the previous posters - having pulled a Tamiya Emil out of the stash for a quick comparison, the similarities are striking, although the Airfix kit is possibly the more detailed .. Edited May 26, 2012 by FalkeEins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Lovely. I've got 2 on order from Airfix.com and I'm looking forward to seeing them. I fancy doing one in the early BoB markings in the most recent boxing of the earlier kit: http://www.airfix.com/airfix-products/clas...&sortorder= This kit has a fantastic decal sheet. It takes me back to standing in Woolworths and gazing in awe at the original boxing of the 1/24th scale kit: I could also use the tropicalisation parts to pre-empt the next boxing of the new mould. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 thanks John...I agree - that'd be the 70's mould left rear here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I built the Revell 109E back in 1970something as a kid, the classic Brian Knight artwork, looked like a 109 to a five year old, great memory. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REVELL-AIRFIX-MO...=item43afe1c776 I remember it being moulded in a much lighter shade of blue though. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 thanks John...I agree - that'd be the 70's mould left rear here That's very nice indeed. I could never get the wings to fit properly on that kit. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_gn Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Picked one of these up from Duxford yesterday. Mine's got an issue with the surface detail on the stbd. fuselage above the wing root - there should be a raised strip with rivet detail along it. This is missing on mine, but it's present on the port side. Sprue gates are huge as well - especially on the tiny details, it'll take some fettling and care to not do any damage. I don't see how Airfix gan give this kit a skill level of 1. I'll reserve judgement until it's finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bil Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 IIRC the original Revell issue (mid-60's?) was in a darkish blue plastic and had an opening three-piece canopy; a subsequent reissue was in a much lighter blue plastic with a one-piece canopy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 IIRC the original Revell issue (mid-60's?) was in a darkish blue plastic and had an opening three-piece canopy; a subsequent reissue was in a much lighter blue plastic with a one-piece canopy. There was definitely a version in the light blue with an opening canopy, because that's the one I can clearly remember having at the time the Battle of Britain film came out - Revell Bf109Es and Spitfire IIs were in great demand! The current boxing has a 3-piece canopy but it doesn't open. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_gn Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 IIRC the original Revell issue (mid-60's?) was in a darkish blue plastic and had an opening three-piece canopy; a subsequent reissue was in a much lighter blue plastic with a one-piece canopy. The 1960's Revell one I had was white plastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I don't see how Airfix gan give this kit a skill level of 1. ..and I thought it was just me ...re the fuselage rivet wing-root detail, it's there on mine ..but is much less prominent on the starboard side. Might be worth re-doing with a strip of plastic card on the next one.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The wooksta V2.0 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 My LHS had them in on saturday. Impressive little kit, although it's the wrong air force for me these days. Don't like the pilot though. Looks like he's constipated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_gn Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 ...re the fuselage rivet wing-root detail, it's there on mine ..but is much less prominent on the starboard side. Might be worth re-doing with a strip of plastic card on the next one.. No excuse for a brand new kit to require this level of work. What are the Airfix quality control people doing all day? Unimpressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowen250 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I dont think the kit missing a tiny bit of detail is the end of the world somehow... I picked one up and was very impressed overall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voja Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Airfix vs. Tamiya Bf-109E. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Flynn Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Looks like they corrected the lenght of the fuselage behind the pit compared to the Tamiya kit. Cowling I'm not sire which is right, I'll have to check when I get mine this week. Can you get decent pics of the canopy parts?? I've seen some and the framing looked on the heavy side....I'm hoping they didn't do the same damn thing they did 1/48th and used the Hendon machines canopy (I wish Airfix would fix that 1/48th scale) Kit looks promising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_gn Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Looks like they corrected the lenght of the fuselage behind the pit compared to the Tamiya kit. Cowling I'm not sire which is right, I'll have to check when I get mine this week.Can you get decent pics of the canopy parts?? I've seen some and the framing looked on the heavy side....I'm hoping they didn't do the same damn thing they did 1/48th and used the Hendon machines canopy (I wish Airfix would fix that 1/48th scale) Kit looks promising Pretty sure the Airfix cowling is too short. It looks like they've taken the front of the (port side only) supercharger inlet extension panel as the datum for the rear of the engine cowl, rather than the correct datum which is stepped back towards the windscreen. The Airfix one looks wrong by pretty much the exact depth of that extension panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voja Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Canopy parts. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Flynn Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Canopy parts. . Danke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
occa Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 (edited) Comment taken off after reading the post below ... Edited May 28, 2012 by occa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lufbramatt Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 (edited) After the Airfix 1/48 kit came out and the same issue was brought up, I had the chance to measure the cowling of the "crashed" bf109 at Duxford. The length of the cowling, measured on the starboard side in line with the propellor shaft was 1520mm or thereabouts. Measured to the best of my abilities, the new airfix kit in the same place is about 0.5mm too short (20.6mm measured on the kit part vs 21.1mm- 1520/72)- making the Tamiya one a fair bit too long! So looks like the new airfix one is much closer to being correct than the Tamiya one. . . . . . EDIt- just had the chance to measure the Tamiya kit cowling, that measures 22.2mm, so theirs is 1.1mm too long. Neither are miles out, but Airfix is closest. Edited May 29, 2012 by lufbramatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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