What's their pros and cons? How do they compare to others in the 1/48 scale?

Cheers fellas!

Hi Jan,

Really they have no competition - only Tamiya can compete with them in the way of 109E's and my preference there is for the Tamiya as they are probably just a wee bit easier to build. One of the (minor) problems with the Has kits is that right from the off they were designed to be able to represent several different versions - this usually requires some filling and opening of holes. I'm also not a great fan of the seperate cowlings on a lot of the Has kits (The G-2 kit I'm building at the moment springs to mind) but to be honest thats probably just my own preference.

Hobbycraft make a few later 109's but they are apparently not that clever (I've never built one).

Revell do a 109G-10 thats cheaper than the Has kit but the cockpit detail is pretty limited - it was the first kit I built on getting back into aircraft a few years ago so maybee my judgement is clouded as I ddin't use all the techniques I now use.

Its no suprise that other companies have not stepped up to the plate to try 109's as they are really going to struggle with catching Hasegawa up. The Fw190's that have recently hit the shelves from Hasegawa and Eduard perhaps show that they feel they can compete with the Tamiya 190s's due to several innaccuracies on the Tamiya kits. The fact that there are no new providers of 109's perhaps says that Hasegawa cant be beat - so why bother trying?

Lee

Cheers Lee! I owe you a

Hi Jan:

All the Hasegawa Bf 109 in 1/48 are very good kits. I built a F2 three years ago and I was very happy with it. In my stash now I have a G2.

Regards.

The Hasegawa 109 G-6 to K-4 series have completely retooled fuselage moulding cf. their F & early G series - the side cowlings are an integral part of the fuselage, with a solid upper surface on which to cement the seperate top cowlings.

The wings are from the earlier kitsets; the builder is supposed to inscribe additional panel lines to the upper, outer wings (shown on the instruction sheet).

One thing I have always done is to show the 'Boundry layer exit slot' on the upper, inner flaps (http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/techref/systems/cooling/f_flaps.htm) This is easily done by cutting four peices of thin plasticard to the same shapes and sizes as parts B5 & B6 (F series kitsets) or F10 & F11(G&K). Cut 1 pair to be about 2mm short of the trailing edges, cement to the underside of the kit parts (!don't use too much cement, which can end up melting or warping the kit components!) The other peices of plastcard can now be added, forming a sandwich - the boundry layer gap can be sealed at the sides with thin fillets of plasticard.

* * * * WARNING* * * *

*???* Careful reading of the 109lair description says that the 'Boundry layer exit slot was (quote) "...
discontinued with the introduction of the Gustav." *!!!!* Now that I look at photos of Gustav flaps - there was no boundry layer slot! AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! Don't bother modifying your 109Gs or Ks

Much appreciated gentlemen!