AZ Model Bf.109T-2 Toni over the North Sea (AZ7874) 1:72

[Mike]

Bf.109T-2 Toni over the North Sea (AZ7874)

1:72 AZ Model by Kovozávody Prostějov

 

 

The Messerschmitt Bf.109 was certainly the most numerous, and probably the best known of all the aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.   Almost 34,000 examples were produced between 1937 and 1945, and the type saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged.  Driven initially by the relatively low powered Junkers Jumo engine, and later by various iterations of the more powerful Daimler Benz DB600 series of inverted V-12 engines, the later variants of the Bf.109 could achieve speeds of up to 400mph.

 

When Germany first laid down the ill-fated Aircraft Carrier DKM Graf Zeppelin in 1936, the question of its complement of aircraft was already settled.  It would carry a variant of the Bf.109 as a fighter, and the doughty Ju.87 Stuka as bomber, and as such was engineered with those airframes in mind, averting the need to have folding wings that add weight to an aircraft.  The 109 was given the variant T for Träger, which mean Carrier in English.  It had extended wings with larger flying surfaces, plus a tail-hook and catapult launch gear for taking off and landing on carriers.  The T-1 was the first airframe to be completed, and underwent catapult tests before it was ordered in small numbers.  With the cancellation of the carrier, those airframes were apportioned elsewhere, and a T-2 variant was created without the carrier specific components.  Some of the T-1s were cross-graded to T-2 standard, which found their way to Norway with 11./JG 11, and when the carrier project was temporarily re-started it was decided that the T was outdated by then, so an alternative was sought.  That too was re-assigned in a remarkable chronologically close case of history repeating itself, while the T-2s continued in service in Norway until mid-1944, after which time any remaining airframes were used as trainers.  As far as we know none of them survived the war or the culling of Axis hardware that followed it, but if you extended the wings of a full-sized Bf.109E-4/N that you happened to have lying around with the DB601N engine, you’d be 90% of the way there.

 

 

The Kit

This boxing is based on a 2020 tooling from AZ Model, and it arrives in a small end-opening box with three sprues of grey styrene, a small separately bagged clear sprue, two decal sheets, and instruction booklet that are printed on both sides of a folded A4 sheet.  Detail is good, and extends into the cockpit and wheel bays, as well as finely engraved panel lines with judicious use of riveting where they are most prominent on the real airframe.  You may have noticed that there are two sets of wings, because the main sprue holds many of the parts that will be needed to complete the model, while the correct wing parts with longer span are moulded on a new sprue on their own.

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins predictably with the cockpit, adding decals to the instrument panel and detail painting the sidewalls that are moulded into the fuselage interiors.  A double trim wheel is made up, the control column detail painted with three shades, then the seat with decal seatbelts is inserted on the rails in the cockpit rear, mounting the adjustment mechanism on the port side, which also has the trim wheels sited there.  The instrument panel is fitted to the front bulkhead and glued in place along with the control column, painting and installing the gunsight to add to the centre of the coaming.  The propeller is moulded as a three-bladed part that is sandwiched between the spinner and back-plate, with a choice of two spinner types, one without the centreline cannon installed.  The cockpit is glued into the starboard fuselage half after painting the interior and inserting the two air-path parts in the nose for the chin-mounted oil-cooler before bringing the fuselage halves together, taking care that the inserts line up properly.

 

 

The lower wings are full-span save for the tips, and have separate radiator faces fitted inside, while the new upper wings are in longer halves and have bay structure moulded-in, requiring a little detail painting as you go, sliding the completed assembly into the cut-out in the lower fuselage, ensuring that there is the required dihedral on both sides, which should leave both wingtips 10mm from the ground when the model is placed upright on a flat surface, although whether this remains true given the longer wingspan, I don’t know, as it’s a standard diagram.  You could use the standard wings as a marking guide to place supports for measuring near the tip of the extended parts.  The main wheel legs are each single parts with a wheel placed on the axle at the bottom, and a captive gear bay door glued to the inner face, plugging into the inner end of the gear bays under the wing, which was a source of the type’s instability on the ground, leading to many nose-overs and associated embarrassment.  A scrap diagram from the side shows the forward canting of the gear legs once installed.  An insert over the engine cowling is prepared by adding a pair of gun barrel stubs linked together on a carrier from inside the troughs.  The cowling is installed over the engine along with the prop to the front, plus the air-intake fairing on the port side of the cowling, and a tail-wheel with moulded-in strut.  A pair of wing-mounted cannons are slotted into holes in the leading-edge, just outboard of the prop’s rotation.

 

A belly-mounted fuel tank or bomb can be fitted, and the instructions note that its mount is offset to one side, making the tank or bomb from two halves if you intend to use either option.  If not, the underside is completed by a pitot-probe under the port wing, and mass-balance horns on the ailerons.  With the model on its wheels, the single-part canopy is installed with extra armour externally using a non-fogging glue, adding an aerial to the aft portion, and slotting the elevators into the sides of the tail fin, supporting them with diagonal struts from underneath.

 

Markings

There are three decal options on the sheet, and the profiles can be found on the rear of the box, in variations that make heavy use of mottling.  If the kit has been dispatched to a locale where that Swastika symbol is frowned upon under law, the corner of the sheet will have been snipped off, otherwise it’s up to you whether you apply them for historical accuracy or not.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

 

 

 

The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas.  This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film.  It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain.

 

 

Conclusion

Those that often complain about “another 109” might just like this one, as it’s not a standard option, and its longer wings will be evident when positioned next to a more standard 109 in the cabinet.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of