Airfix 05120B Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3/E-4 (Franz von Werra)

Kit#: A05120B.

Price: 27$

Decals: Three options. 

Notes: Nothing noted.

History: 

From the kit's instructions: "Classed as on of the outstanding aircraft of the Second World War, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Luftwaffe's standard day fighter from 1938 to 1945. A low wing, single seat monoplane, the Bf 109 was designed by Professor Willy Messerschmitt in 1934.  The type first saw combat during the Spanish Civil War in 1937, and two years later formed the spearhead of the Luftwaffe's fighter units in their Blitzkrieg across Europe. In September 1940, the Battle of Britain saw the Bf 109 pitted against the RAF's Spitfires and for the first time Germany's much vaunted fighter met its equal in combat..." 

The Kit:

Inside the box there were three sprues (two grey and one clear) in a single sealed bag, with the clear parts sealed in their own bag. The plastic inside is joined to the sprues with some fairly large sprue gates for the big parts, and small sprue gates for the smaller parts. The grey plastic has a pebbly surface to it and deep panel lines, perfect for those who brush paint. The greatest thing about this kit (and for the price), is that it comes with all the parts you may need to build your favourite Bf 109E variant, from the E-1, going through the Jabo aircraft, to the E-7 and E-7/Trop (4x50kg bombs, 1xSC250 bomb, three types of spinners, fuel tank, tropical filtre, and early/late canopy options). The clear parts are protected in their own bag, and the sprue gates for those parts are rather hard to cut, so you have to be extra careful to not break the parts. Painting instructions came in a single foldable sheet of glossy paper, with the part listing on the back of it. 

Three decal options are included with this kit:

1) Bf 109E-4 "Chevron and Bar," Franz von Werra. Painted in RLM 02/71/65 with white wingtips and rudder.

2) Bf 109E-3 "Yellow 1," Josef Priller. Painted in RLM 02/71/65 with squiggles of 65 in the wings and heavy mottling of 71 on the fuselage, plus a yellow cowling and yellow rudder.

3) Bf 109E-3 "L-52," Milutin Grozdanovic. Painted in RLM 71/65.

Construction:

I began construction, not surprisingly, in the cockpit. The parts were painted in RLM 02 with silver rudder pedals, trim wheel and black details on the instrument panel and the fuselage sides. After fully building up the cockpit, I glued it to one fuselage half and trapped it with the other half. It was at this time that I chose to glue the cowling in place, together with the intake that goes on the left side of the fuselage. I glued too at this time the oil cooler.

I next built up the wings. Before gluing them, you have to open the ejector chutes on the lower half of the wing for the E-3/E-4 wing. After that was done, I glued the wings, together with the flaps, ailerons and slats. The wing radiators were also glued at this time. I also glued the inserts for the wing machineguns into place.

With the wings completed, it was time to put everything together. I glued the horizontal stabilizers, rudder, and wings into place to the fuselage.

Colours and Markings:

Franz von Werra's aircraft was painted in the Luftwaffe's mid war colours of RLM 02/71/65. I brushpainted the fuselage first with RLM 02/71/65, then I painted the upper wings with 02 and 71, and then I painted the lower wings with 65. The white details were also painted a this time, together with the RLM 65 leading edges. I then glossed the aircraft with Revell's gloss varnish to prepare the surface for the decals.

Decals behaved perfectly, and I had a fully decalled aircraft in two hours. Decalling is the most critical part of model building for me, since it can make or destroy a model if it's not done properly. After decalling, I matted the aircraft with Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

The final pieces were the landing gear doors, the wheels, propeller and canopy. I accidentally broke the propeller, but was able to reglue it with CA. The gear doors were painted with RLM 02 inside and 65 outside, while the cockpit canopy was painted with the fuselage colours.

Conclusions:

Another 109 for the collection, Airfix did a good job on portraying this important fighter in its early variant. I'd buy more of them if I had the money to do so.

Airfix A06101A Supermarine Spitfire Mk.22/24 (PK553)

I had bought two of Aifix's Spitfires 22/24. While the first one had perfect mould, this one didn't, I had some short shot areas which needed to be filled with CA and sanded smooth.

Airfix A06101A Supermarine Spitfire Mk.22/24 (Lynette Bishop)

 After watching the anime Strike Witches, I decided to build a Spitfire Mk.22 based on one of the character's aircraft, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.22, flown by Lynette Bishop.

The Airfix kit proved to be a bit challenging to build, specially the landing gear, which has no positive attachment points, and needed to be glued with superglue.

Airfix A10101A English Electric Canberra B.(I)6/B.20 (Fuerza Aérea Argentina)

Kit# A10101.

Price: 56$

Decals: Two options, but I used aftermarket decals.

Notes: Bought the kit as a bundle that included Argentinian decals plus the paints.

History:

The history of the EE/BAC Canberra in Argentina dates back to the 1950s. In those years, Argentina was a major military power in South America, its bomber arm having over 50 Avro Lincoln and Lancaster bombers. 

Meanwhile, in England and in the same years, the EE Canberra made its maiden flight, and the company soon toured the aircraft through South America in order to gather orders, which came soon. In 1953, the Venezuelan Air Force ordered six Canberra B.2s, and the Ecuatorian Air Force ordered the Canberra B.Mk.6 in 1954. The Canberra, which could fly higher and faster than the Gloster Meteors, left the Argentinian Air Force´s propeller driven bombers outclassed, which was keen on retaking its edge on air power.

Treaties with England for the acquisition of the Canberra began at the end of 1955, with the reunion of the Argentinian Air Minister Brigadier Ramón Abrahin with an emisary from the British Embassy. It seemed there wouldn´t be any issues in buying the Canberras, since the Argentinian Air Force was mostly formed with British aircraft (Gloster Meteors, Avro Linconls and Lancasters, Vikers Viking, Bristol 170, etc...). The Foreign Office, however, oposed vehemently to the idea of selling Argentina the Canberras, since they'd be a threat against the British controlled Malvinas Islands (Falklands). Other sectors of the British government did look at the deal with good eyes, not only as way to earn money (the deal was for 10 aircraft, mislabelled as 100 in some documents), but as a way to reinforce the British presence in South America against American influence. 

Fast forward to 1965, the British government made an offer for an undisclosed number of Canberras, as a way to get Aerolíneas Argentinas to buy the Vickers VC-10. The buy of the Boeing B707-320B by the airline grounded the deal. In 1966, the propeller driven bombers were removed from service and replaced by the A-4P Skyhawks, which were inadequate for the role of heavy bombers. In 1967, the BAC made an offer to the Argentinian Air Force for 12 Canberras B.Mk.2s, and another offer for 7 B.Mk.2s and 5 Canberras PR.Mk.3s. Any attempts by BAC to get a deal were, again, grounded due to the border conflicts with Chile, where England was asked to act as a neutral negotiator. It was only in 1968 that the Argentinian Air Force decided to re-establish talks with the BAC for the acquisition of 6 Canberras B.2 and two TMk.4s. An agreement was reached on August 14th of 1968, and it was decided that the Air Force would get 10 B.2 bombers and 2 TMk.4 trainers. The deal is formalised on January 9th of 1969, the aircraft receiving the designation of B.62 for the bombers and TMk.64 for the trainers.

After being trained in the factory, Argentinian pilots began flying the Canberras in three flights of four machines between the first half of the 1970s and the beginning of 1971. On March 4 of 1971, the first instruction flights in Argentina began to take place. 

The Kit:

Airfix's Canberra was released originially as a new tool model in 2008, with options to build the kit as a B.2/B.20/B.62 and B.(I).6. The kit was lated re-released between 2008 and 2009 with new parts to build a Canberra B.(I).8, a PR.9 and a B-57. The kit went then out of production until 2016, when it was released with parts for a B.2 and a B.(I).6.

The kit is moulded in light grey plastic with heavily done panel lines and clear parts. They come inside a single bag and protected by an even bigger box, which is quite sturdy. At first glance, the kit is devoid of detail aside from the cockpit, whose details won´t be seen after it's painted in black. The other detailed part of the aircraft is the bomb bay, which can be modelled open or closed. The parts are attached to their sprues by thick sprue gates.

The kit comes with two decal options (Canberra WT313 of RAF's 213th Squadron and Canberra 205 from the RAAF). Also included is a painting guide in full colour.

Construction:

I bought this kit from Argentina's scale models importer, Dukel Hobbies, in a bundle that included the kit, a set of decals and the paints, all for 56$. Before beginning the actual build, I began looking for reference pictures of the Argentinian Canberras during Malvinas. I was between Canberras B-105 (the one included in Airfix's original release of the aircraft in 2006), or B-109 (the one preserved in Museo Aeronáutico de Morón in Buenos Aires). I chose B-109 in the end, since I was able to find many reference photos of the aircraft. Together with the photos, I decided to also use Airfix's instructions of the original release.

I began the aircraft by building the wings and other parts. The wings need to have the main gear wells glued first before closing them,  but before doing that, I opened the holes so I could glue the underwing stores for the bombs. With the holes opened, I glued the gear wells into place. While I waited for that to dry, I assembled the exhausts, the engines (formed by a face and the cowlings), and separated the flaps from their sprues. All that was joined later, and had a two completed wings. The wings are quite heavy, and will need help when drying to avoid them falling and getting an incorrect dihedral.

While the wings were drying, I began building the cockpit. This is formed by three seats, a floor, the control column, the rudder pedals and some instrument panels. I painted everything in black as indicated by the instructions, with the seat cushions being painted in yellow. I glued the control column, rudder pedals and instrument panel to the cockpit floor. While test fitting the cockpit into place, I realised the only detail visible of the cockpit would be the pilot's seat, so I left the other two seats off and used the empty space for weight. While also test fitting, I found out there weren´t any alignment tabs for it, so I decided to glue the nose gear well into place and use that as an alignment help for the cockpit.

The instructions call for 100g of weight minimum in order for the aircraft to nose sit. This weight has to be added above the nose gear well. With the cockpit in place and dry, I began adding the weights. After this, the instructions call for the gluing of the bomb bay, pieces that I left out in order to be able to glue more weight, in case the ones already added weren´t enough. With the weights dry, I glued the fuselage halves, taped them, and moved on to build the rudder, ailerons and horizontal stabilizers.

With the fuselage fully dry, I test fitted both wings. These had big gaps on the undersides, with either the top or bottom parts of the wings making contact with the fuselage. Since the wings didn´t make contact fully with the fuselage, I decided to use a thick tube glue, which would dry as hard as a rock once it was fully cured. I glued both wings and used tape to force them to achieve the correct dihedral. The model was then left to dry for some hours.

After the wings were dry, I glued the horizontal stabilizers and the rudder into their place. Once all the pieces were dry, I removed the landing gear from their sprues in order to test if the weight was enough for the aircraft to sit on its nose. Luckily, the weight had been enough, and I didn´t need to add anything more into the nose of the model. The model was then ready to be painted.

Colours and Markings:

Argentinian Canberras were finished in the original British camouflage of Extra Dark Sea Grey, RAF Dark Green on the upper surfaces, and Light Aircraft Grey on the lower surfaces.

I cleaned the entire model with alcohol to remove any grease from my fingers and any paint that had been incorrectly painted into the surface.

I then outlined the camouflage with a pencil, and began painting by applying the RAF Dark Green (Revell 68). Once that was done, I applied the Extra Dark Sea Grey (Revell 79). Once the paint fully covered the surface of the aircraft, I touched up any areas that had been incorrectly painted. Once the upper surfaces were finished, I masked them and began painting the lower surfaces with Light Aircraft Grey (Revell 76). Once everything was dry, I gloss coated the entire model with Revell's Gloss varnish.

Decals are produced by Dukel Hobbies, the importer of scale models in Argentine. They were of excellent quality: thin, can be moved from the backing paper seconds after being sunk into warm water, and can be moved freely on the model's surface if it's flooded with water first. Once all the decals were in place, I found out I had miscalculated and wrongly masked the demarcation line on the right side of the nose. With a big "sigh," I left it as is. I left the decals dry overnight, and coated with Revell's Matt varnish the next day.

Final Construction:

With the model matt coated, I began painting the final bits: Landing gear, wheels, bombs, fuel tanks and clear parts. The landing gear was painted in a metallic colour, the wheels were painted with Revell 78 Tank Grey with steel hubs, the bombs were painted with RLM 70 with yellow rings. The fuel tanks were painted with camouflage colours, together with the clear parts.

I first glued the landing gear struts, left them to dry, and then glued the wheels. I had to open holes on the main landing gear wheels for them to fit properly into their struts. Every other part was then glued into place.

The clear parts were glued as the final parts. The main canopy fitted more or less OK, but the bomb aimer's window had to have the mounting peg on the fuselage shaved so it could be fitted properly.

You may think this is the end, however, I wasn´t able to leave the aircraft with different demarcation lines, so with a fine brush, I painted the area with the upper camouflage colours. I used a new brush in order to sorround the areas were the decals were.

Conclusions:

Airfix's Canberra makes for an imposing model once built, and will look good with whatever decal option you choose to paint it. The issue where the wings won´t meet the whole fuselage is troublesome, but can be solved easily. 

Airfix A05126 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I (two bladed version)

Kit#: A05126.

Price: 23$

Decals: Three options.

Notes: Nothing noted.

History:

From the kit instructions: "The Supermarine Spitfire is arguably the most famous and most beautiful fighter aircraft ever to grace the skies. First flying in 1936, R.J Mitchell's masterpieces was, by 1940, the interceptor of choice for Fighter Command, and the envy of many of the world's air arms. Powered by the equally famous Rolls Royce Merlin V12, the Spitfire was capable of speeds of over 360mph and had exceptional maneuverability. The Spitfire was an excellent dogfighter, with its ability to turn inside an opponent a great strength in the struggles over Southern England and English Channel during the Battle of Britain in the Summer of 1940. The Spitfire Mk.I has come to be seen as a symbol of "The Few," vital to the defence of the United Kingdom against the previously all-conquering Luftwaffe. Along with the Hurricane, it cemented its place in history during the Battle of Britain and continues now to be a hugely desirable "warbird" at air shows."

The Kit:

Airfix's newly tooled Spitfire comes in three sprues of soft light grey plastic, with a clear sprue coming separately bagged. The parts are well moulded with little flash present. Sprue gates are thick and on the smaller parts that may be an issue with breaking them.

Instructions consist of a booklet with 62 steps in black and white. Steps previously done are marked in red, to avoid confusion with between steps.

There're three decal options present:

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I WZoH, 19th Squadron, Duxford, August 1938. Painted in Dark Earth, Dark Green, with the undersides in white and black.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I LVoN, 57th OTU, Hawarden, 1941. Painted in Dark Earth, Dark Green and Sky undersides. It also has a yellow nose.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I LOoG, 602nd Squadron, Westhampnett, August 1940. Painted in Dark Green, Dark Earth and Sky undersides. 

Construction:

I began by painting all the cockpit parts with Interior Green, then I built up the cockpit. Due to the tight tolerances of the kit parts, I had some troubles in trying to join some of the parts, but I successfully had a fully built cockpit by the end of the day. The cockpit was then glued to the fuselage and left to dry. When dried, I joined both fuselage halves together.

I then began work on the wings. Airfix offers you the option of displaying the gun panels open or closed, and it indicates what you have to do on step 20 of the instructions. I was building an aircraft with everything closed, so I dismissed steps 26 to 38. Work on the wings actually began with painting the main spar in aluminium, together with the placement of the wheel wells. In this step you have to glue the support struts for the landing gear, something I did and left to dry. Then, the two upper halves of the wings were glued to the lower half, and I had a fully assembled wing. When the wings were dry, I glued them to the fuselage, a process which was uneventful. The horizontal stabilizers were then glued to the aircraft. With that done, I began planning the painting stage.

Colours and Markings:

I traced the camouflage pattern first with a pencil. Then, I painted the Dark Earth (Revell 82) in several thin coats, when I achieved full opacity, I left the paint to cure, and then painted the Dark Green (Revell 68). After the dark green had dried, I masked the undersides and painted them with white first, and then black. The model was then coated with two coats of Revell's gloss varnish for the decals.

My option was the first one, Spitfire Mk.I from the 19th Squadron with the Watts two bladed propeller, so I used the decals of that option. They performed well and settled down nicely into the panel lines. After the decals were dry, I applied two coats of Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

I painted the landing gear, wheels and canopy, and glued all of them to their respective areas on the model. With that done, the model was finished.

Conclusions:

Airfix's Spitfire is an easy assembly kit which shouldn´t surprise the modeller with moderate experience. The three decal options provide a good value for the money.

Academy 12327 Focke Wulf Ta 183 in 1:48 (Erich Hartmann)

Kit#: 12327.

Price: 24$

Decals: Six options.

Notes: Reboxed Amtech kit.

History:

From Wikipedia: "The Focke Wulf Ta 183 Huckebein was a design for a jet-powered fighter aircraft intended as the successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other day fighters in Luftwaffe service during World War II. It was developed only to the extent of wind tunnel models when the war ended, but the basic design was further developed postwar in Argentina as the FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II. In early 1944, the Reich Air Ministry became aware of Allied jet developments, and were particularly concerned that they might have to face the Gloster Meteor over the continent. In response, they instituted the Emergency Fighter Program which took effect on July 3, 1944, ending production of most bomber and multi-role aircraft in favour of fighters, especially jet fighters. Additionally, they accelerated the development of experimental designs that would guarantee a performance edge over the Allied designs, designs that would replace the first German jet fighters, the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe and Heinkel He 162 Spatz."

The Kit:

Inside a top opening box with the boxart of Erich Hartmann's Ta 183 attacking a formation of B-17s over Europe, there're a total of seven sprues bagged in three independent bags. Six of the sprues are mouded in dark grey, and one in clear plastic. Also included are a fret of photoetch pieces and masks for the canopy.

There're a total of six decal options on the sheet printed by Cartograf:

1) Erich Hartmann's Ta 183 Black Chrevrons. Painted in RLM 76/75/74.

2) Heinz Bär's Ta 183 "Red 13." Painted in RLM 81/82/76.

3) Ta 183 "White 3," Unknown Unit in 1946. Painted in RLM 81/82/76.

4) Ta 183 "Red 1," JG 1, early 1946. Painted one half in RLM 81 and the other half in RLM 82 over RLM 76.

5) Ta 183 "Green 3," Stab of JG7, early 1946. Painted in RLM 81/82/76.

6) Ta 183 "Red 2," captured example by the Russians. Finished in silver.

Construction:

I began by painting on the sprues all the cockpit pieces in RLM 66 (Revell 78). The seat's cushion was painted in brown. The control stick was painted in RLM 66 with black for the base and the grip. Next, I glued all the cockpit pieces to the cockpit tub, and set it aside to dry.

Next came the fuselage halves. These need to have the wheel wells glued before closing them. I glued piece B2 to the right fuselage half, and piece B1 to the left fuselage half. Academy tells you on the instructions to glue the fuselage halves first, and then add the cockpit and nose gear well, but I decided to glue the cockpit first to one fuselage half, and then glue to its back a weight, since I was afraid the kit would be a tail sitter. The nose gear well was then glued to one side of the fuselage. It was at this time that I also glued the cover that goes in the belly of the aircraft. You have the option to attach a drop tank instead of the flat blanking plate. I also glued the intake and the exhaust.

Then, I began working on the wings. These are a top and bottom thing. At this stage, you have the opportunity to open holes for the underwing armament, which consist of four air-to-air X-4 rockets. I chose not to open the holes for them. When I test fitted the wings into the fuselage sockets, I discovered their tabs were a tad wider than what they should be, so I filed them a bit and then glued them to the fuselage halves.

Colours and Markings:

I had decided to paint this model as Erich Hartmann's aircraft, with the black tulips. The camouflage of several splotched of RLM 74 and 75 over an overall coat of RLM 76 didn´t rock my boat, so I went and chose the camouflage style of options 2 and 3, a splintern camouflage. To avoid leaving paint ridges (I brushpaint), I first painted the entire fuselage in RLM 75 (Revell 47 Mouse Grey), then masked and painted the RLM 74 (Revell 69). Once the upper sides were done, I painted the undersides in RLM 76 (Revell 49). I also painted the wheel wells in RLM 02 (Revell 45). Once all the colours were thoroughly dry, I brushed two coats of Revell's gloss varnish, to prepare the surface of the model for the decals.

The decals are from Cartograf, so quality is assured from the start. I began decalling by applying the tulips for Hartmann's machine. I put first the the petals 41 and 42 to have a good guide for placing the other tulips, but sadly, one of the tulips was off-centre after I finished the nose. After applying the tulips, I applied the other decals, which behaved perfectly and posed no issues whatsoever. Two tulips have to go above the nose landing gear doors, so I recommend other modellers doing this scheme that they tape the doors to the fuselage, apply the door's tulips, cut them with a fresh hobby knife, apply Microsol to make the decals conform to the imperfections, and left them to dry thoroughly.

Final Construction:

I painted the landing gear struts in RLM 02 (Revell 45), the wheels were painted with black hubs and panzer grey tyres, and the landing gear doors were painted in RLM 76 (Revell 49). All these parts were glued together and left to harden. The last part to be glued was the canopy, which was previously masked and painted in RLM 66 and then RLM 75.

Conclusions:

This is a welcome addition to the Luft 46 scene. There aren´t many kits of this subject in 1:48. The plane isn´t that big, and you can make many of them and form your own Gruppe with them.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_183