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Airfix's new 1/72nd Me-109


PaulD

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I've started Airfix’s new tooling BF-109 for the Airfix group build over on Hyperscale. This kit isn't quite as nice as Airfix’s new spitfire IX. The fit is pretty good over all but Airfix made some obvious goofs that I decided to fix. First they left out the bulkhead behind the pilot, very obvious to see through the canopy. Second, the breech covers over the nose guns were molded as a single hump like on a sopwith camel. Third the pilot figure seems to be wearing a modern hard-shell helmet or a giant afro.

 

I've added the missing bulkhead and shaved the pilot's head to a more reasonable size. I've also added some rudimentary cockpit detail. (the kit had nothing other than a seat) The October issue of Flying Scale Models has a nice set of scale drawings of the 109F so I decided to shave the breech covers completely off and convert the plane to an "F". The kit has a nose of constant taper, while the drawings show a much steeper taper just behind the spinner. To copy this I cut around the top of the cowl beginning at the first panel line behind the prop so that I could raise the top of the cowl like a car's hood and then shimmed it in this position. I then filled in front of this step and made a steeper taper down to the spinner. I also thinned the oil cooler and supercharger intake. On the landing gear openings I rounded the outboard ends to match the shape that most F's had. Rather than restore the panel lines I mangled, I'm filling in most of the other panel lines.

 

 

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Edited by PaulD
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Looks good Paul. Sorry to hear that Airfix have not gotten rid of the "Sopwith Camel hump". I remember how much an improvement the past model was over the blob that preceded it but this third edition should have been better.

 

I know that you are building the model for an Airfix build but if you wanted a good F, why didn't you just build a FineMolds version. :D

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Nice work, Paul! :smiley20:

 

Later,

 

Lee

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