Hallo Gruppen,

Airfix released a 1/48 Bf 109 Friedrich and I built it in the winter of 1984 as "Rot 1" of r.b.EgKdo 100. It is painted 74/75/76/02 with the late-great Pactra International paints and Floquil Military colors, with kit decals (the yellowed ones) for the national markings and a mix of Fujimi and custom made decals for personal and unit insignias.

It doesn't look as good as I remember it looking when I packed it 8 years ago, yet except for the joystick and Revi gun sight, it is complete. (It traveled over 3,600 miles packed in Styrofoam peanuts.) I plan to treat it with skills and finishes I lacked 32 years ago.

Enjoy.




Lousy photo of the panel and cockpit sides:



(That pilot seat looks thick enough to stop a 90mm!)

Frederick - Thanks for sharing this - must be fun to look back on it and reserection of older works might be an interesting theme for a campaign. Alas I have none of my completed older kits. Cheers- Richard

Frederick,
Except for some small details, it looks quite nice. Who was the pilot?

Gaz

Hi Gaz,

The cowl-fuselage did not fit well and left that step near the windscreen. Back then I didn't try to fill in the gap between the cockpit bulkhead and fuselage. I also noticed, now that the photo magnifies it, the hideous glue/plastic "squish" along the supercharger intake seam. It also appears I didn't get the sprue connector marks cleaned up well between the windscreen and cowl. And the nose guns will be opened. If I find a set and want to get really ambitious, I might even cut them out and put aftermarket troughs and guns into it. The harnesses were almost state of the art for me back then although today I can buy/fashion buckles.

I don't recall using sanding paper to smooth out seams back then, so the fuselage seams & wings/stabilizers-to-fuselage lack of gaps are the glory of Airfix's mold making. I did fill them back then, but I don't recall using putty.

The pilot of this model? (Then) Hauptmann Kristoff Mier. Don't bother looking him up, I have the only archives concerning him and r.b.EgKdo 100. Both are fictional, inspired by marathon games of Avalon Hill's board game Air Force and other multi-player simulations. (Good times.)

That's one good looking bird, Frederick! The Fritz is, in my opinion, the most attractive of the 109 series. Thanks for sharing your build!

Thank you, Tim. I concur.

Next, I'll reassemble my 109 "Karl" and show it off.

If I recall, this was the Otaki/Arii re-boxed kit. I had this one back in the early eighties.

Hi Chris,

Do you mean the Karl, or this 109F. Airfix's 109F is a proprietary model. Otaki's was their own, too, a 109 Gustav. It went to Arii. Otakis has good, yet deep, recessed panel lines. While Airfix included a good cockpit, Otaki's is shallow with mainly molded details.

My 109K is the Revell kit of the early 1980s. (I've read it was the Monogram 109 G-10.) I also recall that every Otaki I built had a crew, which Airfix's does not.

I have not built the Otaki Bf 109 but I have seen them, and until the latest-greatest TamiyFujigagwa offerings, it was a contender as a good model of the 109.

Nice one Fred

This kit holds many happy memories for me.




Hi Chris

I don't think so - as far as I know, it was an Airfix original. In its day it was rated as the most accurate Friedrich around and was a great build. Sadly, the last example I've bought was showing serious signs of mould wear with masses of flash and the fit had suffered - maybe due to the upheaval when Airfix hit the buffers prior to Hornby coming to rescue.

All the best

Rowan

I was most likely wrong about the Otaki re-box, I thought I read some where that Airfix did re-box some of their kits, but that could have been wrong as well.

Chris, Wow, I just found this thread! Doug is building all the round-nose 109s - this is fascinating!

BF 109's, a comparison

Apparently, my "Karl" is a 109 G-10!

Frederick glad your kit servived - in my move I lost every thing I had, stash tools, the lot