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ME 110G-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. This release of it shares all parts with the previous build, the plastics in this kit being identical to the last G-2. The differences are that this kit (number 4164) includes an earlier nose (in resin by CMK) and has different decals with the "Wespen" markings. Which is why I bought it. J More about those decals later….
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, one with the Wespen markings and one with skeletal hands on each side of the fuselage and on top of the engine nacelles. You can tell it's not a Revell of Germany release because there are Hakenkreuz included and the decals are quite glossy. But they looked OK. Appearances can be deceptive…
Again you know it's not RoG because the paper used in the instructions isn't their standard tissue paper though the content is similar with the usual multi stage construction line drawings. Painting is called out at each stage but this time the colours are all referred to by RLM numbers, so that's an improvement, and overall the 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 moldings that has been commented over the years is that there is a molding flaw on the upper fuselage just behind the canopy. This particular example was more noticeable than the last and the fuselage just behind the cockpit was slightly short shot. It wasn't too bad and a little card and filler did the job but quality control could be better. Also in this case the rear fuselage was slightly twisted so the tailplanes were slightly adjusted to compensate for this. The only other difference between this and the previous build was the substitution of the resin nose for the usual kit part. Obviously being a resin part there was a little bit more work to do here than usual but the CMK part fitted very well with minimal problems. 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 fuel tanks and pitot, but no mortars were fitted on this example so leave those holes. 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, pitot, props and most of the aerials were left off at this stage anyway to facilitate handling while painting (I always knock something off) ***bit removed***. 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 rather sparser mottle on the sides of the aircraft than the previous build. I obviously was tempted by the Wespen markings (they were what had made me by the kit in the first place) and as that scheme involved yellow engine cowls and spinner tips as well as a white fuselage band it was too striking to ignore. Again the fuselage band 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 then to decals. The decals were a huge disappointment. Unfortunately I started with one of the big Wespen decals (so excited, you see) and it fell to pieces, completely disintegrated, fragments everywhere. Very messy and disheartening. Putting that aside I pressed on, applying the Wespen on the other side in three separate smaller parts to minimize the danger or breakage. And that worked quite well, to the extent that I thought I might get away with the other decals. But no, anything large (like the Balkenkreuz) fell apart in the same way as did many of the smaller ones. I should probably have tried a coat of varnish over them but I ended up replacing most of them from the spares stash and being VERY careful with the code letters. Having done all the other decals I still needed the Wespen for the other side of the aircraft so I emailed Revell and was asked to write with the details and the box end and eventually was sent a replacement decal sheet. Unfortunately the wrong one, it being a sheet for the G-2/R3. A few more letters and it was established that Revell in Europe couldn't help (as it was an American release), Revell America didn't have any replacement sheets, sorry and all that…. So I resorted to buying some white decal sheet, drawing the Wespen in Illustrator and printing it out on a colour laser. And then that wasn't quite the right colour so when I (eventually) got the decal to more or less conform to the nose contours I ended up hand painting over a lot of it anyway. But much to my surprise it looks quite good, though it was rather more work than I was anticipating. But if you've got this kit in your stash, be aware of the decals, they might need some work doing to them before you use them. Then it was final assembly (undercarriage, tanks, ladder, gun barrels etc) and a coat of semi gloss varnish, fit the aerials and the like and it's done. A nice build and a good kit, shame about the decals. 7 down, ...Next Last updated 04 November 2007 |
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