1/32 Revell Messerscmitt Bf-110

Gallery Article by Victor De Jesus on Apr 8 2011

 

Hello again, here is another big WWII war bird for your viewing pleasure. This is a rather old Revell kit dating back to 1992, and to my pleasant surprise, the overall fit of the parts was quite good. The details of the kit were good with the only exception of the cockpit details. The pilot's control panel was completely blank, and I supplemented this component with an Airscale, Instrument dial decals for 1:32 scale Luftwaffe Aircraft. I found these decals to be amazingly accurate and easy to apply. This particular aircraft was flown by Oberleutnant Martin Drewes, group Commander of III/NJG.1 in March, 1944. This pilot was an amazingly deadly night-fighter Luftwaffe ace with a total tally of 52 victories which it included the downing of a British Spitfire fighter. I used MM paints for this kit, and for the camouflage of the plane I used RLM 76 and RLM 75 for the spotting scheme. I used MM burnt metal metalizer paint for the flame dampers and light green for the interior of the cabin. For the antenna wire I used a six pound fishing filament line, and I painted the line black since it came in a clear color. I used Pro Modeler black wash to apply light weathering details to the kit. I also applied aluminum paint in a few areas to simulate paint chipping on the bird. I usually don't include the pilot figures in my planes, but I made the exception for this build since it came with three of them. The kit also lacked the underwing external fuel tanks, which it would have complimented the kit even more.     

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The one thing I wish it could have come out better was the radar unit of the kit. I am not completely sure if the antennas were supposed to be completely straight in the front of the aircraft, but mine have a slight inward angle which I could not straighten out.

This kit was a pleasure to put together, and I did not do any scratch building in the cockpit area due to the addition of the pilot figures which took way too much room from an already cramped small area. All of the painting was done with an airbrush, and all of the mottling of the camouflage was individually painted freehand with the airbrush. I hope you enjoy my simple work, and any suggestions to make things better are always welcome.

Victor De Jesus

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Photos and text © by Victor De Jesus