BF 110G-4-Again!
This must be my third or fourth attempt at a 110G-4 Nightfighter in 1/48. Never been quite happy. Most have been Eduard kits with one Revell. This is the Eduard Profipack 110G-4 with the FUG 202 antenna. It is a model with a MG array in the nose instead of cannon.
Now, previously I have made kits with FUG 220 . The arrays were a pig to get right. Eduard typically provided no obvious recesses where the antenna superstructure attatched so it was a bit of guesswork and terribly fragile. This time I thought "Aha. FUG 202 has one attatch point in the nose- much easier". More fool me.
The PE parts Eduard provide were an absolute nightmare. They broke when you bent them into the correct configuration. I messed about and ended up with a BF110G-4 which looked like it had flown into the back of a London bus in rush hour.
Finally found the FUG 202 kit from Gaspatch (Shown) all the way from Poland. These are brilliant. Total lifesaver. These are so much better tha PE. I think they are 3d printed.
Reference pictures show FUG 202 antenna to have extremely fine components which I can see would be very hard to reproduce in 1/48 never mind 1/72.
The kit itself was fine apart from the fact that Eduard in their wisdom provided a resin part for the nose section which involved cutting a lump off the styrene part and fixing the resin part to it. Why they couldn't just provide a complete resin upper nose section I do not know.
I love Eduard. They're the only game in town for accurate 110G's. However, I'm losing patience with PE which apart from cockpit instruments and seatbelts are a real pain! Not a huge fan of resin either.
I was determined to make the best 110G ever (for me). This meant:
- VERY clear canopy parts. No smudges or general crappiness.
- Decent looking FUG anttena.
- General overall tidiness with no rough bits.
The canopy parts are good. I'm pleased with them. Strictly PVA glue. No temptation to get CA out.
I think it's clean enough. The nose section looks a wee bit dodgy in these pics because of the above mentioned issues with the resin parts.
The undercarriage is very fragile.
Minor weathering (Exhaust stains).
Utterly captivated by these machines in which many a young man sent young men to their graves.
Love the paint work
I always struggled with this style of paintwork. This time I did blue all over, stippled the various shades of gray with a stumpy brush then sprayed blue over it again! As you say, it looks ok!
Excellent model. I'm quite familiar with the Bf-110... Sigh.
I've tried building a FUG assembly for another German night fighter. They are appropriately named.
Also FUG* also applies to the Eduard Bf-110. I made one 17 years ago and I haven't thought about another one since... as I said it many times while building it.
*a reference to Norman Mailer's novel The Naked and the Dead where he used Fug instead of the actual F-word.
Excellent Bf-110, Ross!
Really nice result, Ross @ross4
You did a great job on this always difficult FUG equipped 110.
For all your trials and tribulations with the kit Ross it certainly looks like ayou have produced a very good 110. Nice one đź‘Ť
The Bf-110 is one of my favorites from the Luftwaffe and am always glad to see one here. I find the Eduard kit both beautiful and frustrating so I understand your challenges. Nice work Ross, @ross4 and I hope to see more Bf-110's from you. I hope to post another of mine here sometime. I have three posted already. Keep up the good work.
Nice work on this 110, Ross (@ross4). Paint and finish look excellent. Well done.
That is a beauty - love the paint work. Yeah, I've given up hope of ever producing one of these in 1/72 due to the complexity of that radar and how fragile it would be at that scale.