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ME Bf110G-2This is the 48th Bf110G from Revell-Monogram, really the only choice in this scale for the G, the Mauve kit being the Fujimi with extra parts and hard to come by now (and pricey when you do). And it's a very good kit with just a few problems, as we'll see. It represents the G-2/R3 variant (sort of).
So what do you get? On four sprues of a lighter grey plastic than usual we have nicely detailed parts with engraved panel lines and impressive cockpit detail (I have the Aires set and while the detail is sharper and more pronounced the kit cockpit is very good, OOB) There is one clear sprue with the canopies for both the G-2 and G-4 nightfighter included and while there is a tiny amount of flash on some parts it's nothing that will take any time to clean up.
Included is a decal sheet for two aircraft, typical Revell of Germany, quite matt and appearing fairly thick on the backing paper. There is comprehensive stenciling and the blue or red code letters coupled with the areas of yellow add a splash of colour to a couple of otherwise unremarkable paint jobs. It should be noted that there are no Halkenkreuz as befits this kit's German manufacture.
The instruction sheet is 16 pages of Revell's tissue paper with the usual multi stage construction line drawings. Painting is called out at each stage but the numbers refer to Revell paints, which I don't see too often. So I could be at a slight loss as to what colour Stabgrau Matt 77 is for instance, the English being Dust Grey. It's RLM66, I know, but others might not. That said the overall painting and decal placement instructions are good and clear.
But enough of what you've got, how does it go together? Starting with the cockpit (as usual) it is as I said very nicely detailed and builds up into a solid assembly that locates positively into the fuselage halves and the sidewalls fit neatly under the lip at the top of the cockpit area. The one thing noticeably lacking is seat belts, I used some decals from a ProModeller sheet for speed, this sheet also providing a decal for the instrument panel. The panel looks better painted, to be honest, but again the decal was quicker. The two fuselage halves are then fitted together, this giving us a couple of potential problems. Firstly, the aerial mounting points under the rear fuselage are not going to survive the sanding process. I removed them completely and replaced them with thin plastic rod just before painting. Secondly, one of the issues with these mouldings that has been commented over the years is that there is a moulding flaw on the upper fuselage just behind the canopy. This particular example was very good, there is a slight sink area but you're only going to notice if you know it's there. However, seemingly one of the results of this is that the rear fuselage can become slightly twisted, again this example was absolutely fine but it would pay to check the angle of the tailplanes when fitting them to check they're not canted over. Fortunately you fit the wings before the tailplane so you have a reference to check the angle against. As with the Fujimi kits the fit of this one is very good and this kit needed very little filler at all. Don't forget to open the appropriate holes in the wing underside for the mortars, fuel tanks and pitot. As at this stage the engine nacelles are fitted I should probably point out that it is widely reported that the shape here is somewhat incorrect, the profile of the nacelles being too low with incorrect curves, this partly as a result of the spinners being undersized. Certainly if you compare the kit with even the line drawings provided, let alone pictures, there does appear to be a discrepancy. I didn't do anything about this (it's obvious but only if you know what you're looking for) and would be difficult to address without major surgery. But it can be fixed (with major surgery), thanks to those nice people at Cutting Edge by using CEC48416 Bf 110F/G Correction Set for ProModeler.
Other issues in the wing area are that all the instruction sheet line drawings show aileron trim tabs on both wings but out of eight wings I had only two with trim tabs! Strange, but I left them alone. It should also be pointed out that, as I've mentioned the opening the hole for it, the fact that the kit pitot is underwing, rather than on the right wingtip, indicates that this kit really represents a 110F, not a G. How that affects the accuracy of the markings I don't know. The undercarriage and the fuel tank mounts are delicate and well detailed. That's another way of saying fiddly and fragile but with a little care it looks very good. There are comments from the cognoscenti that the angle of the main gear legs is too sharply raked forward, I'm told it's easy to fix but I was happy with it as it was. The undercarriage, tanks, mortars, pitot, props and most of the aerials were left off at this stage anyway to facilitate handling while painting (I always knock something off) and the belly gun pack was installed without the barrels which were removed from piece number 204, the rest of the part being fitted anyway with shallow holes being drilled in it to enable the barrels to be fitted into the pack after painting. The potentially complicated cockpit canopy assembly went together extremely well, fitting the fuselage perfectly, but the masking of it was something else! I actually succumbed to an Eduard Canopy mask for the first time ever which worked very well on the flat surfaces (of which there are many) but was less convincing on the curved areas where the masks kept straightening up and coming away from the canopy. But the mask was useful even there as a template for cutting the right shape from masking tape and on the whole I was happy with how it worked, it certainly saved a lot of time. So I bought some more. And now I understand that Eduard are using Tamiya masking tape themselves to address this issue, though I should say I used Tamiya tape on my last build and that kept peeling up too. Nothing's easy… So onto paint and decals, the schemes provided are fairly standard RLM74/75/76 with a heavy mottle on the sides of the aircraft, both have yellow undersides to the wingtips but I went with the one with yellow engine cowls as well and while I was masking and spraying yellow I painted the fuselage band too. It is provided as a decal but it seemed silly not to paint it, it follows the fuselage panel lines nicely so was easy enough to mask. All painting was done with Xtracolor paint for a glossy surface and the decals proved easy to use and settled down well with a little microset and microsol. The use of decal softeners may have been just habit, the decals really worked well though they did occasionally have a slight tendency to want to stay exactly where they were put (though nothing like Propagteam!). The Hakenkreuz came from a SuperScale sheet for 110Cs, a little large perhaps but close enough. Then it was final assembly (undercarriage, tanks, mortars etc) and a coat of matt varnish, fit the aerials and the like and it's done. A nice build, good kit and good value, I think. 6 down, ...Next Last updated 04 November 2007 |
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