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ME 110G-4This is again the 48th Bf110G from Revell-Monogram, but released under the ProModeller brand. This time the kit represents what could be considered the ultimate development of the 110, the G-4 Nightfighter.
So what do you get? There's the same clear sprue as the G-2 kit and then on five sprues of a darker plastic we have basically the same parts. Indeed three of the sprues appear (at first glance) to be identical to the G-2, there's an additional small sprue with two nicely detailed crew figures and there's a G-4 specific sprue containing the bigger rudders, the flame dampers, radar array, cockpit equipment and armament. This replaces the sprue with generally the same items for the G-2 kits. Clever stuff. As I said, the main sprues appear identical but if you look closely you'll notice that there are a couple of small fairings under the G-4 forward fuselage that aren't on the G-2 kit. I assume this means the molds have been modified, I wonder if we'll see the G-4 reissued? I'm buying them when I can J
Included is a fairly small decal sheet for two aircraft, printed by ScaleMaster with sufficient stenciling and basic markings, neither set of markings being particularly exciting. However the two schemes are slightly unusual, neither being the fairly common overall RLM76 but instead one being a standard splinter pattern in the usual 74/75/76 (but with yellow wingtips) and the other being an unusual pattern of 74/75/76 with the underside of the right wing painted black (a fairly common practice, I understand).
The instruction sheet is one of the things that sets the ProModeller range apart, it being 24 pages of a more detailed nature with helpful notes and pictures of the actual aircraft. In this case I believe it's the one at Hendon. If not there are two a/c with incredibly similar squiggles.
And we've discussed the build enough I suspect, this one was no different to the last two, built straight out of the box, all the previous comments apply. There were obviously some differences due to the nightfighter parts but realistically they are just details. The flame dampers are solid parts so I drilled out the ends, much easier with just two large exhausts to open per engine than the 12 little ones of the day fighter versions. The radar is actually very good for an injection molding, the dipoles being fine and with some (careful) work to remove the inevitable slight mismatch of the two sides of the mold look very good. The only problem to my mind is the slightly less than convincing mating of the mounts to the nose. Something more positive would have been appreciated, but I guess that's a price you have to pay for the delicate appearance. But as I said it looks good and indeed there was some surprise expressed at the club that it was the kit parts. I will just say that I had a moment of concern having fitted the array and then studying some pictures I had taken of the 110 at Hendon. If you look at the Hendon example you will notice that the dipoles are all fitted to the outside of the mounts while the kit parts have them fitted on the port side of the mounts. Studying all the pictures I could find it would appear that the mold maker got it right and the Hendon example is, if not actually wrong, unusual, as in every picture where I could actually be definite the dipoles are indeed all on one side of the mounts. What is a modeler supposed to believe if you can't trust the RAF museum? Anyway, all together and;
Onto paint. I had an additional sheet of ProModeller branded markings for the G-4 so (despite the interesting scheme included) I went with an overall 76 with 75 mottle, just to make this one stand out from the rest which were generally quite dark. The decals were for the a/c of Hauptman Martin Drewes, Kommandant of III/NJG 1 and had a nice tail marking. The instructions showed a fairly extensive pattern of small mottles on the fuselage sides with a pattern of larger, more spread out mottles on the upper surfaces. I'm never sure how closely to try to follow that kind of pattern, I suspect the references used by the decal maker aren't that accurate so I painted mine in the spirit of the thing, rather than slavishly. I used a combination of Eduard and Airwaves etched masks, they work really well on flat surfaces but they're a bit tricky on curved surfaces. On the subject of masks I used some home made self adhesive masks for the upper wing and fuselage Balkankreuz and the Hakenkreuz on the tail, not quite as easy to use as the Eduard ones that gave me the idea (those you can just see through so positioning is easy enough, mine were opaque white and a bit harder to get right. But no silvering!) The paints were again Xtracolor, the decals used came from the kit and from the extra sheet, they went on fine, no silvering, thin, strong, conformed well. A pleasant change after some of the decaling I had been through Then it was final assembly (undercarriage, tanks etc) and a coat of matt varnish, exhaust staining, fit the aerials and the like and it's done. A nice build, good kit and good value, I think. 8 down, ...Next Last updated 04 November 2007 |
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