The Revell of Germany BF110 G-4 night fighter kit in 1/32nd scale has been around for at least 20 years, and lives on at swap meets or on the Internet where it is often available for around $25. The kit has some advantages— including being the only option in that scale!— but is woefully inadequate in detailing and accuracy. If you do plan on building it, expect to put in some hours scribing the raised panel lines and adding proper detailing, unless you just want a big version of this aircraft OOB (you’ll need decals, too, with Peddinghaus your only option). The kit’s cockpit is barely a suggestion of the real thing, and so one is forced to look for AM upgrades or build your own. While there are numerous AM options in other scales (especially 1/48th), the only two choices at this size are Jerry Rutman’s OOP resin upgrade (still available here for about the same price, but needing lots of work to make it fit) and Eduard’s PE set.
The Kit
Eduard's usual clear flat plastic envelope contains 2 frets of PE brass, a sheet of acetate printed with instrument dials, and 2 pages of instructions. The detailing includes rudder pedals with their leather straps, bountiful avionics, 2 crew seats, seatbelts, twin barrels for the cockpit-moounted MG along with its collar and sights, and grab handles for the radar operator's station (but curiously, not for the pilot). Eduard’s record with upgrades is mixed, and this kit is no different: several of the electronic units are simply fanciful and don’t correspond to anything on the only surviving example of this aircraft currently housed at the UK’s RAF Museum, and beautifully photographed in the Osprey Publications volume [i]Messerschmitt BF 110G-4 Walk Around[/i]. The seat for the radar operator and rear gunner is wrong, as is the ammunition case for the rear-mounted cockpit MG. The ammo boxes for the 2cm cannons mounted in the belly of the fuselage are missing.
The standout elements are a superb instrument panel that is improved by backing it and its acetate dials with a bit of white plastic, the radar avionics (though incomplete for the FuG 218 array) and the instrument packages “bolted” to the canopy interior. The price is also quite nice, much less than the PE upgrades for the recently-released DML BF 100C.
Conclusion:
I’m not sure how Eduard went wrong with this upgrade— did they not have access to photos from the RAF Museum's aircraft, or did they just cut corners or work from other variants? It’s unlikely they’ll fix the problems with the set now. I’m actually happy they haven’t dropped the kit from their inventory as they have with numerous armor sets recently. In any case, it’s a good starting point if you have decent scratch-building skills, or just want something approximate under the greenhouse-sized canopy on this plane. A better solution for accuracy is the resin cockpit set from Jerry Rutman, though that requires extensive trimming of the model and the upgrade components to make them fit.
SUMMARY
Highs: Nice detailing, extensive PE, good instructions, decent price (compared to upgrades for DML Lows: Wrong details.Verdict: A good point of departure for the scratch-builder or for modelers wanting a partial solution to the kit’s detailing problems.
Thanks for posting this but i do have a question,i could`nt afford Dragon`s prices for their new 110`s so i bought both the day and nightfighter versions off E-Bay and want to upgrade their bare innards.
My question is which way can i go without spending a fortune ?.My plan was to buy these sets and sort of pick and mix to get a result - would this work ?
Comments very welcome.
Hi, Danny, that's a complicated question, but I'll do my best to clarify, since I am currently building both the Dragon 110 C and two kits of the RoG 110 G nightfighter. I can't comment on Revell USA's 110 C as I have never seen it.
The problems that need fixing with the 110 G are as follows:
1.) the cockpit: The kit's cockpit is just a hint of the real thing. Eduard's interior upgrade (reviewed above) is a solution, though you will still have to do some scratchbuilding (opening up the floor for the 20mm cannon "gun tub," for example). It includes seatbelts, but the rear combined seat for the radar operator and rear gunner is wrong. The Eduard version is an oval with a wicker-work cover when in reality it was a two-piece affair with a square front portion covered by interwoven fabric strips and a rear, rectangular piece covered in wicker-work.
2.) the props & spinners: They're both too small. Jerry Rutman has a resin set for fixing them (to read the review click here), but he only accepts checks and is here in the U.S. The email on his site doesn't work, and calling him would be an expensive solution for you.
3.) rear vertical stabilizers: Again, they're too small. The 110 was not very maneuverable, and so the surface of the stabilizers was increased (the correct ones are more square in shape than the C/D version's). Again, Rutman has the only correction I know of.
4.) the wheels: They are too small and should be smooth, not grooved. Rutman again.
5.) the nacelles: The wing nacelles are too skinny on the G kit, but there is no known AM correction for this.
6.) misc. exterior detailing: The Eduard exterior upgrade (to read the review, click here) is superb for helping improve the exterior, including the grating and movable flaps on the wing radiators, the armor plating for the nose section, etc.
7.) Schräge Musik: The twin array of 20mm cannons mounted usually in the rear of the cockpit and firing up at an oblique angle (hence the name: "oblique/jazz music") is not made by any AM manufacturer. I am scratchbuilding them for my 2 planes.
8.) decals: Other than the Peddinghaus set for Schnaufer's last plane (reviewed here), there is nothing in this size. The Montex masks or EagleCal sets are for the C/D variants, which will help you out with that kit, but not with the G variant, which generally has white or gray crosses.
I'm sorry if this makes you want to take the kit and put it up for sale here, but there's nothing that says you have to go to all the trouble I am in trying to perfect it. In terms of cost, I will end up spending more for the upgrades than I did for the Dragon kit which I'm building OOB (except for Eduard seat belts and EagleCals decals, since the Dragon kit lacks both stenciling and swastikas).
Hi Bill,thanks for replying to my question.I`ve now bought the Osprey modelling masterclass book for the 110 and i am going to use it as a guide (even though the kits featured are 1/48th scale).It`s got some great photos so hopefully this will see me right,i`m not too bothered about the engine nacelles and fins but the cockpit just looks like a "tub" so putting a few boxes into this should liven it up.
Thanks, Danny, and good luck. That's a good book to work from if you can extrapolate the information to 1/32nd scale. Almost anything is better than the kit's cockpit. Let me know if you figure out a fix for the nacelles.
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