1:48 Bf-110D

The heavy fighter that carried its fuel under its belly

The D version was given a task the other Messerschmitts could not manage: to fly far. Because of that a bulky tank was mounted under the fuselage, which crews nicknamed the dachshund belly. The solution was awkward and dangerous, and drop tanks under the wing soon replaced it. Machines of this version flew over the North Sea, escorted convoys in the Mediterranean and appeared over Iraq in 1941 as well.

Contents and use

The pressed metal parts aim above all at the inside of the cockpit and at places where the material should be thin: the instrument panel, levers, belt buckles, frames and covers. After painting and a dry brush, a depth appears in the cockpit that a plastic molding does not have on its own.

• A metal set for the twin-engine Bf 110 in the D version
• Scale 1:48, with the parts pressed into a single sheet
• Focused on the interior, where the thinness of the material shows most
• The plastic under a part usually has to be sanded down flat
• Worth finishing with a flat varnish, so that the metal does not look shiny on the model

It pays to plan the build ahead: a number of parts are fitted before the fuselage is glued together, so it is sensible to go through the instructions before the first joint dries on the bench. Degreasing the sheet with alcohol takes a minute and decides whether the paint will last.

The cockpit of a twin-engine machine has the advantage of being far more visible under long glazing than on a single-seat fighter. The time put in is therefore not lost. The seat of the radio operator and the rear part of the space stay open to the eye once the work is done.