1/72 bf-109f/g. Academy, Amodel, Czech master kit.

The Tale of the ME109's...

I'm a prop driven fighter guy.i love 109s p51s f4u corsairs all those beautiful planes.so I decided I wanted a bf109 with full engine and machine gun detail.

I originally chose the academy kit and planned to cut the nose off for one of the 2 engine kits I've got.ive got one lovely Czeck master kits plastic engine set for an E model 109 but it's exactly the same as the F model 109.when I discovered the Academy kit was seriously lacking in cockpit detail and was not going to be good enough for the quality I wanted.

Note.i do not like the way Academy joins the fuselage and the front.the separate part creates 2 joins instead of 1 and does not follow the panel lines so it just looks wrong and creates more gaps for me to fill.

So after seeing an article about the Amodel Bf-109 that came with full engine and machine gun detail.it also had a really nice cockpit,with a very nice instrument panel with nice detail.i don't like the decal options for instrument panels.

So I start building the Amodel kit.this is we're things go bad.when I joined the fuselage halves I found the engine was bent.like really bad.as shown in the pictures.u can't really see it in the pics but it's really bad.i wanted this to be a show quality model,so this had to be fixed.

So including the engine and machine guns in the Amodel kit I now have 3 complete engines.2 plastic and one white metal.

The plan is now to take my dremel and grind out the bent engine and replace it with one of the engines I have.to be continued...

So one night I was laying in bed and it came to me in a dream kind of.i had bought a set of Eaglecals decals for a 109F.it had many different color schemes,winter cammo desert cammo and regular colours.i wanted to see how the decals would work with my new clear that I had and to see how I will use them in the future.

So in my dream I saw a 109 in winter cammo.its like when u go to bed thinking about something too much obviously I was thinking about 109s that night.so that's how the Academy kit was born.its actually a 109G but I used the F model decals.but unless you were very knowledgeable about 109s you would never know.this Academy kit was a way to learn about the 109 and find the little things to make the Amodel kit better.it didn't work out like that.

The Academy kit is 90% complete just needs to be finished.the Amodel kit is an ongoing project

I wanted to use the 109 with full engine detail for a diorama with Airfix ground crew and Academy Kublewagon and fuel drums.i have everything I need I just have to get the plane right.i want it to be high quality.

That's the story of the 109s.learning isn't always easy some times.

All panel lines are highlighted and I have weathered it quite a lot.in the future once it's complete I'll do a post on it with all the detailed pics.decals went down fantastic great quality.it actually had decals from all 3 manufacturers decals.Acadeny Amodel and Eaglecals.obviously Acadeny doesn't have the swastikas so I used the Amodel ones.things like that.

Over all the Academy kit is nice on the outside and goes together easy. but the cockpit detail is poor.the Amodel kit is highly detailed but goes together very bad.as I said it's bent at the front very bad.

3 additional images. Click to enlarge.