M.S.R.P. $49.95 US
dollars
Resin, photo-etch,
decals, vacuform canopy,…sweat,tears,..alittle more sweat.
Kit number
4804 |
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History
Not a whole lot is known about the
V21 model of the Me-109. What is known is that an attempt at using a radial
Pratt and Whitney in place of the standard inline DB engine.
For this purpose, a Me-109E
airframe was modified forward of the 7th member and widened to
an almost round cross-section at the cowling. The wing span was slightly
lessened as well as having squared off tips as in the D or E series. What
the test pilots noticed was an improved ability in performance in a dive
as compared to the 109E as well as improved ground handling. Since a great
deal of improvement was not forth coming, the novelty of the design was
lost and never put into production. |
Click on
image below to see larger image |
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The Kit
X marks the spot Mateys, arhhh. What are the chances of finding a
treasure in this sturdy cardboard box? Well that depends on what you'd consider
bullion or bust. After getting a good idea of what this nice resin kit is all
about, I'd say half-dozen of one and 6 of another. Nicely done resin fuselage,
and nicely done parts being copies of the Hobbycraft Me-109D or C kit.
Yep, you scurving puppies, look and
feast your "I paid $50.00 bucks for
mostly resin Hobbycraft parts" eyes. Granted the photo-etched parts are
original, and I think the interior is mostly original LF craftsmanship, but for
heavens sake. A suggestion to LF Models, make this a Conversion kit and save us
some money and you some development time.
Hey,
it's a Me-109. What am I doing making a Me-109? Because chances are YOU
didn't even know this kit was available. I even have photographs to prove it can
be built, and fairly simply too! Let me help you around some of the tuff spots.
Like all Me-109 assemblies, make the
cockpit; paint it RLM 02 with the little bits in sundry grays and blacks.
Although the seat was really well cast, I opted for the Ultra-Cast part with the
belts molded on, very sweet. Glue the fuselage halves together, they match up
perfect. The hard part is making sure the cowling opening is round. A lot of
super glue built up in layers and careful sanding will insure the hole is round.
The engine face is placed somewhere in the cowling, it doesn't have a
home but with trial and error one was found.
The
cockpit is next, and can be mounted through the lower fuselage opening; it too
needs to be positioned according to your best guess. What's up with at least
putting a scribe mark or a scratch on the inner fuselage half to indicate the
proper position? Hmmm, I'll put that on my ASK THE MANUFACTER list.
A one-piece wing is in my hand, dry
fit this one and you won't be crying later. Do however expect the wing thickness
to be off when lining it up to the fuselage fairing. In order to use the widened
fuselage with the wing, it had to be shortened on the upper half, creating a
mismatch of thickness. Be careful with the filler here and don't obliterate the
detail.
The tailplanes are butt joined as
usual, making alignment a chore. I suppose one might use an aftermarket set to
position the elevators in a more natural position. It's going to be an expensive
Hobbycraft, err… LF Models kit!
The landing gear is best lost in the
carpet; even the Hobbycraft version was horrible. So a copy of horrible is,
well. Double horrible. Some legs from a Tamiya kit found there way into the
scene with the wheels being the original kit items. I hear the cash register
ringing up another resin aftermarket item for this kit, a CMK model VDM
propeller. This is a great little item to replace those unrealistic props on
FW-190's; it only took a couple dollars.
(click on
the image below to load the full size photo)
The painting was easy. Decals
are too. Only one canopy though. I'll swap another canopy in the kit in exchange
for that landing gear!
Cry, Cry, and Cry. I'm not saying this
wasn't a nice kit. Actually it was pretty simple and ended up looking great! So
for those Messer-smiths out there here is a Me-109 that will actually stand out
on your display shelf! The fun factor was a 7
out of 10 so I rate it pretty well, and the criticism is only
meant to give LF Models one modelers point of view on marketing stuff in the
U.S.A. It was certainly a pleasure to build this
and I appreciate LF Models making this
Allan
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