History

The 109F variant was the 2nd major design change for this aircraft. It first appeared in 1940, the -2 in April of 1941. The -2 was similar to the -1 with the exception of a better cannon firing through the nose (mg 151/15).

The Kit

A snap together kit!!! Now, that is my speed! This kit comes in an end-opening box. You are provided with two sprues of grey injected plastic, one clear single-piece canopy, one matte finish decal sheet with markings for two aircraft, and the instructions. The detail was crisp with fine panel lines and no flash. No noticeable pin or sink marks, either.

Construction

The 2-page instructions open to show you have 8 steps for building this kit. The painting guide was questionable for me, as it calls for flat sea blue for the cockpit and a panzer grey/medium grey upper surface and a medium grey underside. I do believe there is a mistake, as they give you two medium grey colors but the same Model Master number. Step one is for the wing. Most of the wing is a single piece and there is no seam on the leading edge. The piece that is snapped in is the underside center section including the wheel wells. Steps 2-4 deal with the cockpit and fuselage. The cockpit floor is molded to the wing and has a fair bit of detail. With the addition of 8 more pieces, this snap kit has a pretty good cockpit. The pilot is made up of three pieces, and after putting him together I decided to leave him out (he looked hunchbacked to me). The fuselage also has a bit of detail molded into it. Everything so far fit nicely. The fuselage did need a bit of glue aft of the cockpit on both upper and lower seams; also, the left horizontal stabilizers needed glue as it would not stay in (I glued them both). Steps 5-8 are for the prop, canopy, struts, and antenna. Everything went together well except the canopy. It would not snap into place for me and after several tries I just sanded the tab off and glued it.

Finishing

I used Model Master acrylics (RLM 66 on the interior and 74, 75, 76 on the exterior) on this kit. Now, for the one problem I had with this kit – I washed this kit (lukewarm water with a mild soap) prior to painting, just like I always do. I want to make sure the paint sticks...and it did not work. Even my Post-it note pulled the paint off! I advise you to give it a thorough cleaning and then do it again. I ended up using a cotton ball with non-acetone nail polish remover and wiping the finished kit down. That worked well and after a couple coats of Future the decals went on smoothly, although there was a little silvering in a couple.

Conclusions

I hope they do more of these snap kits! Even with the paint problems, this was a fun, quick build. The level of detail was outstanding for this style of kit. Great kit for a beginner or experienced modeler who wants a quick, cheap, decent looking 1/72 109F.

I would like to thank the review corps for letting me build this and Dragon Models USA for supplying this kit.