1:32 Bf 109F-4

The most elegant of all the Bf 109s

The Bf 109F is considered by those who know the type to be the cleanest form of all in shape. The designers rounded the wingtips, did away with the tail bracing struts, sank the radiators deeper into the wing and reworked the cowling into a smoother shape. The F-4 version of 1941 received the DB 601E engine and a stronger 20 mm cannon in the propeller axis in place of the earlier weaker weapon, while a pair of small-caliber machine guns stayed above the engine. German pilots flew it over the Channel, over Malta and in the desert of North Africa, where the machines carried conspicuous sand camouflage and bulky dust filters.

Overview of the contents

Films for the glazing for the outer and the inner side, three sets of national insignia and two turned metal pieces standing in for the muzzles of the machine guns above the engine.

Slenderness a mold will not allow

The decisive quantity on a barrel is the ratio of length to diameter. A real weapon has that ratio very high and in scale it works out at a hair. An injection mold will not fill such a part: the melt does not flow into a thin cavity, and so the manufacturer thickens it. The model then carries a barrel perhaps of the right length but needlessly thick, and the silhouette of the nose coarsens from it. Turning has no such ceiling; the diameter can be brought down to tenths of a millimeter and the part still stays strong.

What to have ready

Besides the usual tools, a hand holder for fine drills, a needle for marking the center of the hole and a dropper or a pin for dosing cyanoacrylate come in useful. For degreasing metal, alcohol applied to a lint-free cloth is enough; grease from the fingers is the most common reason why a joint gives way after a few weeks.