1:48 Bf 109F-2/4

One set, two sub-versions of the Messerschmitt

The early Friedrichs shared the shape of the cockpit, the cowling and the wings; they differed mainly in the weapon mounted in the propeller hub. While the older machine used a fifteen millimeter cannon, the younger one was given the proven twenty. From the outside you will not tell them apart with the naked eye, which is exactly why one and the same covering for the glazing can serve for both.

What the envelope carries

In the envelope lie film for the outside of the glazing, a pair of stencils intended for the fuselage insignia, a sheet of decals and metal equipment, namely two deck machine guns and a sensor under the wing. The pattern for the shapes is the kit from Hasegawa.

When the twofold purpose really pays off

A modeler with two boxes of the early Messerschmitt in stock buys once here and uses twice, but with one limitation: the film covering the glazing can be lifted and transferred only once, and applied twice it loses adhesion along the whole length of the edge. In practice it therefore means one model with the finished film and the other with tape cut by hand, or a division where the insignia stencils serve the first machine and the decals the second. Anyone building only one model loses nothing by it; the twofold usability takes nothing away from the set.

The most valuable piece in the package

The speed sensor. The plastic part is as thin as a hair in this scale, it breaks when being cut off the sprue and again at every further touch. A metal replacement removes this recurring problem for good. It is fitted right at the end, into a hole pre-drilled in the leading edge of the left wing, and glued with thick cyanoacrylate applied with a pin.