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1/72 Merlin Brandenburg G1 - expecting a mess!


phat trev

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Anyone here attempted the 1/72 Merlin Hansa Brandenburg G1 bomber kit? Expecting a bit of a mess (going by a few of their other kits) but it’s a rare and interesting type so it caught my interest for a build- was not aware it was released my Merlin?

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I've built the Pfalz Dr1 and it was ok. I've also seen a photo of the Merlin AEG GIV twin engined bomber. Matching parts such as the  fuselage and nacelles just did not. I'm sure one side was shorter than the other. The other Merlin I have is the Junkers JI armoured recce type with the huge top wing. In the box it looks ok but I think I'll tackle the Eduard version first. I believe it will be a case of pot luck regarding the quality.

Regards, Steve

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41 minutes ago, stevehed said:

I've built the Pfalz Dr1 and it was ok. I've also seen a photo of the Merlin AEG GIV twin engined bomber. Matching parts such as the  fuselage and nacelles just did not. I'm sure one side was shorter than the other. The other Merlin I have is the Junkers JI armoured recce type with the huge top wing. In the box it looks ok but I think I'll tackle the Eduard version first. I believe it will be a case of pot luck regarding the quality.

Regards, Steve

 If the kit was one of the first 14 or so then it will be an okay  but limited run kit, quite acceptable for it's day. Any higher and you're in a very strange land indeed.

 

Paul.

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7 hours ago, stevehed said:

I've built the Pfalz Dr1 and it was ok. I've also seen a photo of the Merlin AEG GIV twin engined bomber. Matching parts such as the  fuselage and nacelles just did not. I'm sure one side was shorter than the other. The other Merlin I have is the Junkers JI armoured recce type with the huge top wing. In the box it looks ok but I think I'll tackle the Eduard version first. I believe it will be a case of pot luck regarding the quality.

Regards, Steve

The Eduard kit is a beast.  There are no locating holes in the fuselage as to where to install the struts, more like mear suggestions.  Even with using a razor saw to cut out a lot of the smaller parts, things kept breaking on me.  Here is a shot of when I started joining the top wing to the bottom:

Junkers J.1 Wing Attachment 02

Note that I did the inner struts first and then after the glue had set, I then installed the outer struts.  The WNW kit of the J1 looks like it will be simpler to add the wing and other struts.  It is nothing like the newer Eduard 72nd scale kits, but is better than their earlier offerings.

Later,

Dave

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  • 4 weeks later...

Merlin kits can be fun if all the following are true:

You really really want the subject

There's no other kit of the subject nor anything remotely like it

You really don't feel up to scratch building

You really like scratching and scraping.

 

I feel that every modeller should own a Merlin kit, in order to place other companies' kits' shortcomings into perspective.

 

Edited by Graham Boak
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21 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

 

I feel that every modeller should own a Merlin kit to place other companies' kits' shortcomings into perspective.

 

I did my duty in this respect and have their Beech B17 Banana. As the fuselage halves are in clear, I guess getting them anywhere near straight and matching would require rather hot water. The white metal parts look like Mr Espensen chew some chocolate Alu foil and spewed it in the moulds...

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Merlin kits vary a lot. I built the Thomas Morse (not too bad), and the Fokker D.I & D.II (horrific!). I also have few more in the stash. Some are pretty good, some are close to trash, like the Fokkers. If there is no other option and you don't mind a lot of work reshaping and hollowing out fuselages (you may have to scratchbuilt the wings), go for it!

The Fokkers, with a LOT of work (scratchbuilt wings, interiors, undercarriage, tailsurfaces, plus a LOT of cutting, realigning, and sanding of the fuselages), came out pretty nicely. But there wasn't much left of the kits!

 

Ian

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a Merlin Westland Wapiti. I cannot really think of anything that would induce me to try to build it. Before you even start to think about fit, you have the problem that the fuselage is flaking away and sanding just produces more flakes. After some consideration, I did work out a way of building it which involved substituting the fuselage, wings and various other parts with modified parts from an old Frog Wallace, but that rather seemed to miss the pint.

 

Paul.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I keep watching wapitie  (if that’s the plural) as I need one to do my 11 squadron collection. I swear it’s the same one that keeps getting reposted as each new buyer opens the box and thinks....”better flip it”.

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