IPMS/USA Kit Review: ICM 1/48 Bf 109F-4/B

ICM

1/48 Bf 109F-4/B

Kit Number: 48104

Reviewed by Scott Hollingshead, IPMS# 34786

MSRP: $27.95
Distributor website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com

For those who might not be aware, the F-4 variant of the venerable Messerschmitt Bf-109 (production run from May of 1941 to May of 1942) was actually the first to carry the 20mm cannon in the nose and the machine guns mounted above the engine instead of in the wings. The newly-developed Daimler Benz DB601E engine powered the plane. With improved aerodynamics, the plane was capable of flying over 1000 miles during a mission, compared to just over 400 miles for the E variant. To protect the pilot better, a bulletproof windscreen was retrofitted to many of these planes, as was an armor plate that attached to the canopy. This plane was developed as a fighter-bomber and was capable of carrying a payload of 250kg (551lbs).

When I first opened the box, I found four sprues of grey plastic, similar to that used by Dragon, but appearing to have a slightly more "grainy" texture (which I later discovered takes paint very well). The parts are well laid out on the sprues to support construction as you do not need to jump from one sprue to another within a construction step and parts within a step are located near each other on the sprue. I was also pleasantly surprised by the presence of parts for the Daimler Benz engine, as I am not used to having such an item available. The moldings were mostly clean with a minimal amount of flash on only a few parts. The decals are printed dead flat in appearance with minimal carrier film around them and markings are provided for four different aircraft (I would later find that these are the downfall of this kit). I opted for the one from JG53 (Green Hearts) that served on the Eastern Front.

I was a little apprehensive about the general lack of locating pins and holes on the parts, but everything actually aligned nicely. The cockpit and engine assembly are the starting points of the instructions, and look very convincing when finished. I only needed to use a little Mr. Surfacer (500) on the fuselage seams, and the clean up was quick and easy. Aside from that, all of the other joints required no additional attention. As I wanted to show off the engine, I did not plan to glue the two upper panels in place, and this required a fair amount of forethought while painting the plane. When I did later give thought to installing one of the panels, I found that they do not line up well at all, and would require a lot of "coaxing" if installed.

My "hits" for this kit would include the overall detail of the parts (the engine has molded ignition wires), and the included engine itself. Assembly was straight forward, and I did not run into any real problems along the way. There is a good selection of armament for the plane, and even a few left over parts for your spares container (in addition to bombs and fuel tanks, there is an extra propeller, and bottom intake).

The "misses" would begin with the lack of a decal for the control panel (I painted a white base coat, covered with black, and then used a scribe to etch the indicators). The decals wound up being nearly useless, as they cracked when placed in water, requiring me to mail order a set for an E-model, just so I would have the crosses. I was able to get the green heart, crest, number "1", and mission decals to go on, but the mission decal did crack during installation. In addition, there is no mention of cutting off the bottom piece of the control panel (I left mine on, but this was the panel for the E-4 variant). Even though I planned to leave off the engine covers, my attempts to dry fit them onto the plane were hampered by the 7.92mm gun barrels, and later attempts to dry-fit one side proved fruitless. I also could not get the propeller hub to mount to the front of the engine, as the mounting pin is not long enough, so I wound up gluing it in place.

Overall, I would still recommend this kit to those interested in the fighter-bomber variant of the Bf 109, but realize that you will be buying some after-market decals to finish the project. I also do like the fact that one is able to show an actual engine, rather than just exhaust pipes stuck to a panel. If you like showing a detailed control panel, this will provide the only challenge of building the kit itself.

I thank the folks at Dragon Models USA for the sample kit, and to the IPMS reviewer corps for allowing me the opportunity to build it.

Postscript: in order to finish my kit, I wound up ordering Tauro Model decal set 48/507, "Luftwaffe National Insignia" (web site www.tauromodel.it). I have not used Tauro decals before, but I must tell you that these were some of the best that I have ever used. The decals actually snuggled down to all details using only my initial application of Micro Set. With the difficulties that I had experienced up to this point, I opted to leave well enough alone, and did not use any Micro Sol, but then again, I did not need to.