Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 (Box # is a01008a)

This is a fun one to build. I especially liked it since I don’t have an airbrush, and there was no clouding in the paint scheme. There was little to no flash, the fit was just about perfect, and there was minimal sanding and puttying. Airfix, however, attached the pieces to the sprues in odd places. For example, on the sides of the tiny fragile gun barrels, rather than at the base of the gun barrel where any damage from trimming would be invisible. The same went for many other teensy pieces, and I actually lost one of the mass balancers for the ailerons, and had to carefully craft a new one out of thickly stretched sprue. Luckily the piece is so small that it’s difficult to tell what a terrible job I did. Other than the rather strange placement of attachment points, this was a great model. It gives a lot of different options such as: canopy open or closed, ailerons up or down, landing gear up or down, etc. The detail is superb. There are tons of ridiculously tiny decals. The panel lines and rivet details are clean, and the cockpit is excellent. There’s even seatbelts molded into the seat if you don’t want the pilot in there. And if that’s not enough detail for you, Verlinden makes an awesome photo etch detail kit which can be found here. https://www.hobbylinc.com/verlinden-bf109-update-set-plastic-model-aircraft-accessory-1:72-scale-0775.

The recent batch of Airfix kits all boast great detail and clever engineering, and this one is no exception. It's got a lot going on in the cockpit, a three-piece canopy, and a cowling that can be removed to show off the Daimler Benz engine. However, the new tool Airfix kits are all a little let down by soft plastic pieces that are attached to the sprues by very thick gates. Some of the smallest parts, like the control column, the aerial mast, and the pitot tube, are too easily broken when you try to remove them. The kit also only has one marking option (Airfix has released a Series 2 Messerschmitt with a couple different options). With some patience this can turn into a very good model.

Had a great time building it had no fit issues had grate panel lines love the movable ailerons landing gear was good over all nice kit I have bought three and had fun building each one