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Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" as flown by Erich "Bubi" Hartmann


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Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt BF109G-10 "Erla" "Final Reveal"

There are two options available with this model and I chose to do the version as flown by Ace of Aces Luftwaffe Pilot Erich "Bubi" Hartmann who was credited with the highest number of aerial victories ever recorded- 352!

This is another great newly tooled 1/32 scale kit from Revell of Germany (GmbH); very nice crisp clean moldings with great details including recessed panel lines, rivets, a great cockpit, undercarriage, movable flaps, elevators, ailerons and rudder! The decals are cartograf and go down very nicely indeed.

My only issues with this kit are:

1) For this size kit, I was expecting it to come with a detailed Daimler Benz DB605 engine, but it doesn't. That would have been another nice addition to this kit to be able to have the engine cowlings hinged open to show off the engine, which then allows further options for after-market maintenance men, or "black-men" as they were known due to wearing all black overalls, to be posed working on the engine.

2) The main undercarriage have a sloppy fit between the axle lugs and their locations within the wheel-wells. This could be improved with simple modification in the mold tooling to increase the geometry of the lugs so they are a nice slide fit/tighter fit within their location points. I had to super-glue mine in position one at a time and hold their position until the fast acting super-glue had set solid. Super-glue is highly recommended for ensuring that the main undercarriage is fixed solidly.

3) The assembly instructions have some incorrectly numbered parts ie the part numbers in the instructions do not match the part numbers on the sprues.

4) The kit has some alternative parts, such as three versions of rudder and two styles of vertical stabilizer, but, they're are no references indicating which one of the optional versions to use with the two different options of aircraft that can be modeled. So, again, this forces you to do research to find out from available images which versions look correct for the particular plane you build.

5) The painting instructions have color call-outs that are mixed around on the orthographic views; which could confuse a younger modeler that doesn't bother to research and check where the grey/green and grey violet camo colors go. ie, you could easily end up having the green camo airbrushed/painted where it should be grauviolet and vice-versa.

6) The two upper camo color call outs are for RLM 74 Graugrun and RLM 83 Lichtgrun over RLM 76 Lichtblau, In my opinion and following research, the RLM 83 Lichtgrau is incorrect and should be replaced with RLM 75 Grauviolet, which is what I did.

7) As with the part numbering and color call out references, some decals are incorrectly referenced, too.

My conclusion is this kits instruction/assembly booklet missed the quality control checks during manufacture/production and hence the issues pointed out above.

But, that said, I still believe it to be a great value for money kit that is engineered very well with some great details. I paid $22.50 for this kit and it is available on line from Hobbylinc.com and Scalehobbyist.com for $23.95, that's about 16.00 quid for our British friends.

Anyway, with that out of the way, let's move onto the "Final Reveal" photos, and forgive me, there are 37 of them?!! I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed this build!

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Well, there she is! My conclusion to this build is that this is a great value for money kit that is well engineered, goes together great and offers some great details and options. I paid $22.50 for this kit, and it is available from Hobbylinc.com and Scalehobbyist.com for $23.95; that's about 16.00 quid for our British friends.

If you've been thinking about buying/building this kit, you won't be disappointed, I really enjoyed building her.

I'd give this kit 4.5 stars out of 5 or 9 out of 10, based on my points mentioned above.

Thanks to everyone that has followed this build both on here and on my YouTube channel, and, for leaving encouraging comments, greatly appreciated! :)

In the meantime, if you'd like to watch my "YouTube "Final Reveal" video for this build, then here is the link to that:

https://youtu.be/_q-AcPsBLTU

If you didn't catch my "Build Update" thread on here, for this build, here is the link to that thread, too:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234984450-revell-132-messerschmitt-bf109g-10-erla-as-flown-by-erich-bubi-hartmann-build-update-4/

Until the next build, happy modeling and have fun!

Cheers! :thumbsup2:
Martin :)

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This is fantastic Martin ! Absolute brilliant built. The weathering is top very subtle and not too overdone. You are a real Professional.

One Quentin please . Wich Color do you use for RLM83?? Revell or any other company?

Best regards

Andy

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Thank you for the lovely bunch of pics taken from the low angle. It makes you feel like you're wieving the real thing. I just might buy this kit afterall

But seriously! How could you forget to leva a clear bit on that yellow cockpit fuel line?

Josip

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Hi Martin

Nice to see the finished aircraft after following the build on youtube.

Its also refreshing to see a build totally out of the box.

so many builds you see state built out the box apart from this and that.

I managed to get a Finemolds figure of Hartmann which i will pose with my build £5.99 from an ebay seller.

As i mentioned to you i have the large scale Kirin figure in the gray army .

I read Hartmanns book many years ago and he has become a bit of a favourite aviation subject over the years.

looking forward to your next project

Stan

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Thank you for the lovely bunch of pics taken from the low angle. It makes you feel like you're wieving the real thing. I just might buy this kit afterall

But seriously! How could you forget to leva a clear bit on that yellow cockpit fuel line?

Josip

Thanks Josip, much appreciated :)

Regarding the clear section on the fuel line within the cockpit; Erich Hartmann was distracted by the flowing fuel that he requested the clear section to be painted over. He wanted to be 100% focused on his flying and maneuvering during dog-fights. Probably a contributing factor to his success.

Cheers,

Martin :)

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This is fantastic Martin ! Absolute brilliant built. The weathering is top very subtle and not too overdone. You are a real Professional.

One Quentin please . Wich Color do you use for RLM83?? Revell or any other company?

Best regards

Andy

Thanks for your kind words Andy, greatly appreciated! Regarding the colors and brand of paint I used; all of the camo colors were Model Masters Acrylics RLM74 and 75 over 76. The mottling is a combination of RLM 74/75 and 02.

Cheers :)

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Another great build Martin - all straight out of the box again? Looks a bargain for 16 quid!

Thanks mate, much appreciated! Yes, all out of the box except for the canopy support rod to keep the canopy in the open position and the antenna wires that were done with EZ-Line.

I don't know if you can get it for 16.00 quid in the UK, but that's the converted price for what I paid for it here in the USA.

Cheers,

Martin :)

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