High Planes 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 110 G4/R3

HIGH PLANES 1:72 MESSERSCHMITT BF 110G4/R3

Reviewer: Simon Skinner (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 30 June 2006

Kit Details:

High Planes Models 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 110 G4/R3

Aircraft History:

The Messerschmitt Bf110 was conceived as a heavy day fighter before WW2, and saw successful service with heavy fighter units in the polish and French campaigns of 1940. It's lack of manoeuvrability was exposed in the Battle of Britain against the more agile single seat Spitfires and Hurricanes, but the 110 was still a useful aircraft when flown by Luftwaffe crews in the Mediterranean theatre and Russian Front (mainly as a ground attack aircraft). Over 6000 Bf 110's were built with the last one not coming off the production lines until 1945 - not bad for an 'obsolete' design!

Although the Bf 110 was not a great success as a day fighter, it was quite another 'kettle of fish' when adapted as a night fighter to combat RAF Bomber Command's increasingly heavy nocturnal raids over the Reich. The G-4 variant represented in this kit was the variant most widely used by the Nachtjagdgeschwader and was armed with two 20 mm cannon and four MG17's in the nose, and twin MG17's in the rear cockpit. Later variants were often fitted with the deadly upward firing "Schrage Musik" installations, consisting of 20 mm cannon mounted on the fuselage behind the canopy, firing upwards at an angle of 70-80 degrees. The idea being to formate below and slightly behind an unsuspecting bomber , then fire upwards into the wing roots or engines - NOT the bomb bays. Unfortunately this kit does not give one the option of finishing a 110 with this installation, but it would require little extra work to represent an aircraft with such a "Schrage Musik" fit (seconded from another G4 review on this site - Ed).

The Kit:

I discovered this kit in my unbuilt stash, right at the bottom, the box collapsing from the weight of other kits on top of it. Blowing off the dust and peeling off some cobwebs, I think this might be one of High Planes earlier offerings as I am sure I have had this kit for about a decade. It comes in a flimsy box with a now torn photocopy boxart sketch of the aircraft. Inside the box are 55 plastic parts which are in a very pale blue colour on three sprues. The parts are a bit on the crude side being a bit brittle and having large sprue lugs. The surface detail is very finely engraved and shallow in some areas. There are also 4 resin parts making up the exhausts, 22 white metal parts making up the radar array and undercarriage components. Finally one single vacform canopy piece, so unfortunately no spare.

Instructions:

Single sheet, double sided page makes up for the instructions which provides a couple of assembly diagrams that don't always provide accurate placement points. There's also colour and decal diagrams, sprue diagram and a brief history plus minimal painting information.

Construction:

The parts were washed first while still attached to the sprue, and then they were very very carefully separated from the sprue frames with cutters and set aside for assembly. All the parts benefited from additional preparation sanding and smoothing to help aid fit later in the process. The trailing edges of the wings needed some thinning out especially.

The cockpit is provided for by the usual essentials but nothing more, with sidewall detail, seat harnesses and additional radio deck detail between the cockpits having to be scratchbuilt. It is also advisable to drill out the holes for the radar to help attach them later, although you could try and attach them with super glue if you are game. The cockpit parts fit reasonably well but adjustments and trimming is still required.

The fuselage halves need to be test fitted and sanded to make a flush fit. The rear tailplane and fins were sub assembled and added, all of which needed careful positioning and a little bit of coaxing to fit into the upper rear fuselage, followed by some filler.

I chose to sub assemble the main wing halves and then put the engines onto them before placing the whole wing sub assemblies onto the fuselage. In hindsight, I think the extra weight hindered the drying "in the correct angle" and the engines should have gone on afterward. Quite a deal of patience and dry fit runs are required to get through this whole sub assembly and unfortunately filler is needed at all the join areas to blend it all in. The flush fit of all the parts was quite out, but I would point out that my kit was warped from years of storage which is probably to blame.

Underwing tank/bomb is provided as stores and the canopy is a one-piece vacform. Not willing to make a mistake I simply glued it on without any open areas. The radar array is very fiddly and time consuming and quite a bit of skill and patience is called upon here also but drilling out small holes prior to closing the fuselage certainly helped. Super glue is needed for this as well as the fiddly undercarriage parts.

Versions/Decals:

Decals are supplied for one RLM 74/75 upper splinter or mottle over combination of mainly hellblau and black starboard wingundersides with the fuselage code KA. The small decal sheet includes swastikas and my first apprehensive impressions of the glossy thick looking gluggy things turned out to be ill-founded, as they settled down on a gloss surface beautifully and looked painted on once sealed in with a second gloss then matt cotes. A number of aftermarket Bf 110 G4 choices are out there if you prefer a different finish and markings.

Accuracy:

It does look very accurate with the lines of the model matching up with photos and reference sources so no complaints there. My only comment is that it is slightly underscale by a millimetre or two.

Overall Recommendation:

A rather challenging kit that is not for the faint hearted and whilst my kit was warped I didn't mention it very much in the review as I am pretty certain it was my storage, not a fault of the kit. The instructions could also be much better in my view, with several areas where you had to study and work out precise placement for yourself. I think that this model in any sense will be hard to find now, and later High Planes kits are certainly much better from all reports. A challenging kit for those up to it and wanting to have this particular plane and kit in their inventory and you will need to be in the intermediate to advanced category to tackle this one. With other mainstream Bf 110 G4s on the market I really could not honestly recommend this one over those considering value for money and ease of build, the High Planes version may be a little more accurate in overall shape profile, but that would be it.

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