Building the Revell 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-10

The backbone of the Luftwaffe

- Revell 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-10 -

    Probably one of the most recognizable German World War II fighters ever built. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 first flew in 1935, and was introduced in 1937. The Bf 109 would quickly become the premier German fighter throughout the war. Famed for its speed, excellent climb rate, and exceptional maneuverability at high altitudes, the 109 was well-suited for the Luftwaffe's boom and zoom ambush tactics. In these tactics pilots would climb above enemy formations, then dive onto opposing aircraft, keeping the sun behind them to blind allied pilots and be caught off-guard. After which they would quickly climb back up to altitude before swooping back down.

    Despite its qualities, the Bf 109 also had its flaws. Whilst it performed admirably at altitude and high speeds, the 109 was notoriously difficult to handle, especially at low altitudes and speeds. The undercarriage of the 109 was very narrow compared to other aircraft of the time, making it prone to ground loops (the aircraft would swap ends unless the pilot used very fine rudder adjustments). Coupled with the instability at low speeds, this made every landing an ordeal. With many pilots opting to land at much higher speeds than usual. However, in some cases, even this wasn't enough, and there are many reported cases of pilots destroying their aircraft during landing. There are even several cases where pilots destroyed their 109s even before leaving the ground. 

    Whilst a formidable weapon in the hands of a skilled pilot (something that Germany was in really short supply towards the end of the war). In the hands of an inexperienced pilot (there were plenty of those towards the end). The aircraft itself would prove to be every bit as dangerous as the enemy.

    The G-10 variant, the one we will be looking at in this build, appeared towards the back end of the war, was one of the fastest variants of this aircraft due to its lighter weight and much improved engine cowling. Overall, the Bf 109, sometimes referred to as the Me 109 by the allies and even some German pilots, was the most produced aircraft of the war with over 34,000 built. Some estimates suggest that it still holds the title of most produced military aircraft.

Contents of the box

    Unfortunately, I have nothing for this section. I started this build about 2 weeks before starting this blog. Even though when I returned to scale modeling, about 2 years earlier at this point, I told my self that I would document as much of the process as possible. For some reason, when I started this kit, I just wanted a relaxing build without the stress of taking photos. I did pick up the slack once I did start the blog. But for what it's worth, this is my most poorly documented build. At least the first part of it. 😞 And I apologize for that. But I did take a few shots just before continuing the build right after starting posting so not all is lost. 😁

Revell 1/72 Combat Set box art

kit sprues and partially assembled model

drop tank assembled

landing gear with some flash

main wheels on sprue

accessories on sprue

landing gear doors on sprue

 

    Although I pretty much finished the main assembly of the model by the time I started this blog and realized I needed material for this entry. I thought I'd include what I've done so far here. But I will talk about the model itself a bit more in depth in the build section. For now let's focus on the sprues.

    The molding is pretty decent. It's nothing to write home about, but nothing overly bad worth mentioning, other than perhaps a really nasty sink mark on the air filter. However, the kit does have some flash in places, but luckily the vast majority is on the sprues not the parts. Detail in some places is quite basic, but that's to be expected in a cheaper Revell kit, particularly at this scale. Anyway, on to what I used for this build

 

Supplies used for this kit

    As always, this is just a list of things I used to complete this model. You are more than welcome to use whatever you feel most comfortable with.

Tools:

• sharp hobby knife
• sanding sticks and pads (200 - 2000 grit)
• paint brushes (000, 00, 0, 1, 2 size)
• nippers (yes, still using toenail clippers 😂)
• tweezers
• airbrush (I kind of forgot to mention this in my earlier posts 😆)
• pin vice/pin vise (whatever your preferred spelling is)

Glue:

• Revell Contacta
• Revell Contacta Extra Thin
• Revell Contacta Clear
• Revell Contacta Quick

Decal application:

• Ammo by Mig Decal Set (A-Mig 2029)
• Ammo by Mig Decal Fix (A-Mig 2030)

Paints:

• Ammo by Mig RLM 66 (A-Mig 0218)
• Ammo by Mig ATOM RLM 78 (ATOM 20126 )
• Ammo by Mig RLM 81 (A-Mig 0230)
• Ammo by Mig RLM 82 (A-Mig 0255)
• Ammo by Mig RLM 74 (A-Mig 0253)
• Vallejo RAL 6040 (71.247)
• Vallejo Aluminum (77.701)
• Vallejo Burnt Iron (77.721)
• Vallejo Gunmetal Gray (77.720)
• Vallejo Anthracite Gray (71.052)
• Tamiya Flat Black (XF1)
• Tamiya Flat White (XF2)
• Revell Olive Green (361)
• Revell Fiery Red (330)
• Revell Leaf Green (364)
• The Army Painter Burnt Iron

Primer:

• Tamiya Gray Surface Primer (87042)

Thinners:

• Tamiya X-20A
• Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner
• Vallejo Airbrush Thinner (71.061)
• Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver (71.562)
• Revell Color Mix
• Ammo by Mig Acrylic Thinner (A-Mig 2000)

Weathering & Washes:

• Tamiya Panel Accent Color Black (87131)
• Tamiya Weather Master Series A
• Vallejo Dark Rust (76.507)
• Vallejo Fuel Stains (73.814)
• Vallejo Burnt Umber (73.110)
• Vallejo European Earth (73.119)
• Vallejo Engine Soot (73.818)

Masking:

• Tamiya Masking Tape 5mm
• Printer Paper

Varnish:

• Vallejo Gloss Varnish (70.510)
• Vallejo Satin Varnish (70.522)

Misc.:

• calipers
• Vallejo Plastic Putty (70.400)
• scissors

The prep work

    Once again there was no prep work needed. There was no residue on the parts so I swiftly moved on to building the model.

The build

main assembly complete

    As I didn't take photos during the first part of the build, let me get you up to speed what I did until this point.

    First I removed the cockpit components, fuselage halves, upper wing surfaces, lower wing surface, exhausts, air filter, propeller and horizontal stabilizer. Then I started dry-fitting them to check for any imperfections and sand where relevant. After that I coated the insides with Tamiya Gray Surface primer. 

    Once that dried, I hand painted the inside of the cockpit with Ammo RLM 66 and picked out some of the details with Tamiya Flat Black. And painted the exhausts in The Army Painter Burnt Iron. Then I started to assemble the model to the point you can see in the above photo. And started looking for any areas that would need filling.

view from the other side

    Looking on the other side of the model reveals that the exhaust fairings on the left-hand side of the aircraft were short-shot (this happens when there isn't enough plastic in the tank during the injection molding process). However I had no way of fixing it. Nor did I have the materials and skill required, So I decided to leave it as is. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable once finished.

propeller removed

 

    For ease of painting, I decided not to glue the propeller in place. So I took it off before moving on to the next step.

ugly sink mark on air filter

large gap on the underside

    The top of the air filter had a pretty nasty sink mark. There was also a large gap on the underside between the fuselage and wing. The gap was made even worse by a bit of over-enthusiastic sanding on my part. But that was OK as I now had a way to deal with it. The new year brought with it new supplies. Among them some plastic putty from Vallejo.

propeller with spinner mounted cannon

    Before I moved on, I noticed that the cannon mounted inside the hub of the propeller was a bit shallow and I wanted to address that as well.

plastic putty ready for action 😁

underside gap filled in

air filter sink mark filled in

time for some drilling

opening slightly enlarged

    Time for some filling. I started with filling in the gap from the bottom of the fuselage. Then I filled in the sink-mark on the air filter. Normally, you should leave the putty to dry and cure for about 24 hours. How ever I was a bit impatient, and came back after about 4. This is one of those moments where I'd ask to do as I say not as I do kinds of situations. 😅 Simply because it's much easier to sand once fully dry.

    Then I moved on to make the hole for the cannon ever so slightly larger and deeper. I went very carefully with my pin vice as I didn't want to punch through the plastic just to make the hole a bit deeper and wider.

ready for more drilling

inspecting the part and deciding where to drill

found a good spot

drop-tank on the tip of cocktail stick

    Since I had my pin vice out. I decided to drill a hole in the drop-tank to make it easier to paint. In the end I decided to drill out one of the locating holes. When glued to the model, the locating pins on the belly of the aircraft would completely conceal the hole, so this made the most sense to me. Then I stuck it on a cocktail stick and moved on.

wheels removed from sprue

some light sanding was required

ready for painting

    The wheels needed some attention, so I removed them from the sprues, sanded down the sprue-gates and removed the seam-line to the best of my ability. Then, using the locating holes, I placed them on the tips of cocktail sticks. This would make painting them a lot easier.

inspecting putty dryness

it seemed OK to proceed

Priming the model

getting ready to prime

    Now it was on to priming the model. For this I used Tamiya's Gray Surface Primer and a respirator. Normally you should only do this in a well ventilated area. That's a little bit hard in a small apartment. Even with proper ventilation, I'd still recommend using a respirator as the fine paint mist can still enter your lungs.

drop-tank, prop, and wheels primed

landing legs primed

antenna, pitot tube, counterweights and tail wheel primed

gear-bay doors primed

    Because I wanted to give the putty a few extra minutes to cure, I stared priming the small components first before moving to the model itself. This was done in no-time so I doubt it really helped much. But to me it felt like it would help, even if just a little bit. 😀

sanded the filler on the underside

air filter sanded

air filter looking smooth

re-scribed the panel lines on the underside

    Before priming the model itself, I sanded down the putty on the underside and filler, until the transition was as smooth as possible. Looking back, the model would have benefitted from a bit more putty around the nose. But at least I filled in the more obvious areas. Then I carefully re-scribed a couple of panel lines on the underside. I don't have a scribing tool, so I used the tip of my hobby knife for the task.

priming done

    Once I was happy with my filler work, I proceeded to prime the model. Priming revealed a few areas that needed filler, mostly around the nose and a bit behind the cockpit. However I decided to ignore these areas.

preparing for a bit of pre-shading 

underside pre-shaded

topside pre-shaded

    Next I thinned some Tamiya XF1 Black to around 50/50 ratio, and airbrushed it along the panel lines at around 11psi. It's not verry pretty, but it doesn't have to be. As long as you vaguely follow the panel lines, you should be golden. 😉

mottled the top of the model

mottled the bottom of the model

    Next I thinned some Tamiya XF2 white. Again I used around the same 50/50 ratio at around 11psi and tried my best to do some mottling in the middle of the panels. I still need to work on my technique and perhaps play around with pressure settings, but it'll work for now.

time to give the model some color

RLM 78 was used

also airbrushed the drop-tank

some pre-shading showing through

sides and wing-roots also painted

    Now it was time to start adding some color to de model. I started with the underside, sides, and wing roots. I used Ammo's RLM 78 which I lightly thinned. Ammo paints are pre-thinned and are ready to go in an airbrush however, I still prefer to thin it a bit more. I used around 15psi for this.

    It's not very visible in these shots, but the pre-shading comes through quite nicely in person.

gear bay doors painted

small parts painted

    Next, I also painted some of the small parts that to go onto the model later on. Once I was done, I left the model rest over night before tackling the two tone camo in top of the aircraft.

getting ready to paint the camo

studying the camo pattern

    The next day I was ready to start working on the top of the aircraft. I would be using Ammo Mig's RLM 81 and 82 for this task. Now there is a bit of a discrepancy between the box art and instructions of how to paint the model. The instructions say to paint with RLM 82 and RLM 83, or at least Revell's equivalent to those. But RLM 81 and 82 was much more common late in the war. so I went with that.

    The mottling on the aircraft is very fine. Much to fine for my 0.3mm needle. So here I had to make some concessions. I guess I could have dappled the mottling pattern with a paint brush then blend them in. But I really wanted to try and airbrush them on. Perhaps with a bit more experience I will be able to pull off such small mottling. But for now I had to acknowledge my shortcomings and not let them get to me. And I encourage you to do the same. 😁

time for some measurements

measuring the width of the wing at the root

measuring out a bit of masking tape

drawing a wavy pattern

mask applied to the wing roots

    In the painting instructions the model is shown having a wavy band of RLM 78 on top of the wing roots and I wanted to replicate this. I measured the width of the wing at the root with calipers then added about 2mm on top of that to account for the curvature of the wing and then cut the tape to length.

    With a pen I then drew a wavy line on the tape, then carefully traced along the line with my scalpel. You don't have to be 100% accurate, unless you really want to. In the instructions it is shown that these wavy stripes are mirror images, but I decided to offset the masks a little bit. This was done easily since I made the masks slightly longer than I needed to. I then very carefully applied the masks to the roots.

    It took me a few tries before I managed to place them just where I wanted them, but it worked out in the end. 😄

    

creating some masks for the wing undersides

hashing out the excess

fitting masks to the model

model masked off

masked the sides.

    Next I wanted to create some wing masks to save on masking tape. First I took a couple of bits of printer paper I had laying around. With a pencil, I traced along the shape of the wing, then drew another line to make the mask a few millimeters smaller than the wing itself. You don't have to be super precise here. You just need to give yourself some room to be able to tape the mask to the wings.

    I then hashed the outside of my wing masks and cut them out with a pair of scissors. Then, I matched them to the wings and taped them down. I also masked off part of the sides of the fuselage to protect part of the blue sides. I would later remove these as the transition needs to be gradual.

painted the top with RLM 82

right-hand side view

left-hand side view

    Now it was time to paint the entire top half of the model in RLM 82. As you can see from the side views, I removed the masks and then feathered the transition between the top and bottom colors. And my pre-shading was showing through quite nicely too. 😊

masking off the camo pattern

RLM 81 applied

mottling is not perfect, but it works for me

    Next I masked off all the areas that needed to stay green. In hindsight, I probably should have used a thicker tape as I used up quite a bit of my 5mm tape but it still got the job done. I first started by applying RLM 81 to the wings, then moved to attempt the mottling on the top and sides of the fuselage.

    Again, it's not perfect, a 0.3mm needle is a bit too thick for a 1/72 scale model. But it worked out quite nicely. I benefitted a bit by the fact that I was starting to develop dry tip (that's when paint starts to dry on the tip of the needle) which kind of helped make the mottling a bit smaller. I used 10psi for this task. Perhaps I would have gotten a better result at a lower pressure and getting the airbrush closer to the model.

    But over all, I was happy with the result, so it was time to remove the masks and reveal my work thus far. 😁

masks removed

side view

bottom view

    It was finally time to remove the masks at this point and reveal my paintwork. Is it perfect? by no means, I'm sure some of you will be able to do a much better job of it. I was still happy with how this model turned out which is really all that matters. As long as you are happy with your work, that's all you need. Don't let the rivet counters hold you down. You are not building models for them. You are building models for your self. 😉

propeller painted

wheels painted

tail wheel, antenna, counterweights and pitot tube painted

landing struts painted

gear door interior painted

    I then moved on to painting all the small parts while still attached to the sprues as this makes it easier to paint. I will later come back to touch them up once they are removed and attached to the model.

    I used Vallejo Anthracite gray and RLM 74 for the propeller, anthracite gray and XF2 black for the wheels, Vallejo RAL 6040 for the cockpit antenna, landing legs and inside of the gear bay doors. I also added a bit of Vallejo aluminum to the hydraulics of the landing gear. And painted the round antenna anthracite gray.

time for a clear coat before applying decals

    It was now time to apply a layer of gloss varnish to smooth out the surface before applying the decals. But before I did that I wanted to add a bit more detail to the front of the aircraft by painting the cowling mounted guns with Vallejo Gunmetal Gray for the barrels and Aluminum for the tips.

gloss varnish applied

drop tank varnished

prop varnished

    With the gloss varnish applied I left the model to rest over night. This would allow the varnish to dry and cure properly, before applying the decals.

Applying decals

separating the decal sheet

drop-tank decals applied

left-side decals applied

left-side tail decals

right-side decals applied

top decals applied

underside decals applied

    Now it was time to start applying the decals. First I separated the two halves of the decal sheet as the top decals are for the other aircraft in this set. You can check out my progress on that here. Actually, I ended up cutting the sheet up even more to make it easier to access them.

    I first applied the decals to the drop-tank. You might notice that they are slightly off-kilter, but that's OK. If you remember from earlier, I drilled a hole into one of the locating-holes which itself is off center. Next I moved on to applying the decals on the sides of the aircraft; starting on the left side. I did make a bit of a mistake with the green and white band on the tail but that's mostly on the bottom so it won't be visible from normal viewing angles, so I left it as is.

    Then I proceeded to apply the top and bottom decals. There aren't that many decals for this aircraft so this process went by fairly quickly. It only took me about 2 hours to finish. After this I applied another coat of gloss varnish to protect the decals and prepare the model for weathering.

    There was a decal for the spinner on the propeller, but I found it very difficult to apply. At one point I almost got it in place but it didn't sit quite right. Because of how much decal setting solution I used to try and coax the spinner decal into place, the transfer eventually disintegrated. I will at a later date paint on the stripe with a brush, but for now it was time to move on to weathering.

Weathering

preparing for a wash

pin-washing all the panel lines and details

removed all the excess

bottom view

underside closeup

    I started the weathering process by applying a pin-wash across the entirety of the model. I used Black Panel Line Accent Color from Tamiya. This is an enamel based product which makes it the best choice for the acrylic varnish underneath.

    I left the model alone fore about 10 minutes until the wash was touch-dry, then proceeded to gently wipe away all the excess with a cotton-bud dipped in enamel thinner. I made sure to soak up any excess thinner on a paper towel. You don't need the cotton-bud to be soaking, just damp.

    From time to time, I would switch to a clean bud as I wanted to remove most of the wash, not push it around the model. At this point I also noticed that some of the decals have developed silvering. I guess I either didn't use enough setting solution, or the surface was not quite as smooth as it should have been.

    Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do at this point about that. Or at least I don't know what can be done. If you know, please leave it in the comments. But as far as I know my options were either to remove them entirely and buy a spare sheet of decals. Or leave them and live with the result. I chose the latter.

applying fuel stains

    Next I applied some Vallejo Fuel Stains sparingly around the exhausts and radiator vents. And I really doo mean sparingly. Whilst I wanted to make the model feel used, I didn't really wanted to go overboard. I wanted a relatively clean model. Whilst that might be a bit unrealistic for this late in the war, I thought it would look a bit better this way.

brown engine soot for exhaust stains

    Moving on, I applied a little bit of Vallejo Brown Engine Soot to simulate some exhaust stains. Again I did this sparingly. 

more weathering

    I then moved on to some pigments. I probably should have done this after applying a coat of satin varnish. But I wanted to see how they work on the gloss coat. I started with Vallejo European Earth, which I applied mostly to the underside focusing more on the rear of the aircraft which sits closer to the ground. 

more pigments

    Burnt umber was my next pigment of choice. I used this to simulate some soot in front of the machinegun barrels. It's barely visible but it's there. Perhaps this was a relatively new aircraft and it didn't see much action yet. At least that's my head canon. 😉 I also used a bit of this pigment on the top of the aircraft.

a bit more weathering

    Lastly, at least as for the main model, I used a bit of old rust around the edges of the canopy. I know this kind of goes against what I said earlier and I probably should have went with a lighter shade of rust. But used sparingly, it can still give a barely used aircraft.

and more weathering

drop-tank weathered

landing gears weathered

landing gear doors weathered

propeller weathered

    My next task was to weather the small components, I started this with a quick pin-wash, followed by some Tamiya pigments. Mostly using mud and sand. I did however, apply a bit of European Earth to the gear doors and external tank to make everything more uniform.

Varnishing the model

preparing for the final coat of varnish

varnish applied

right-side view

bottom view

front view

    With the weathering done, it was time to seal it all in with a coat of satin varnish. This will also help to tone down the gloss varnish underneath and make the the finish more scale accurate. Aircraft of this era, and military aircraft in general are not very shiny to begin with. Exception to this are aircraft in bare-metal finishes. But that's not what we're building here. 😉

Final assembly

tailwheel installed

left elevator counterweight installed

drop-tank installed

right elevator counterweight installed

propeller added

landing gear installed

    It was now finally time to assemble the model. It took me a while to figure out how best to approach this step. In the end, I started with the tailwheel; which I glued on using Revell Contacta Quick. I also used this for the fuel tank. The elevator counterweights were installed using Contacta Clear. So was the underwing antenna. The two antennas on the top were attached with Contacta Quick, whilst the landing gear was glued in place using Contacta Extra Thin. And with that the model is complete.

Conclusion

completed model

front view

right-side view

rear view

underside view

nose close-up

WII vs Cold War jet size comparison

    I really had fun building this model. It's really easy to put together with not that many parts. Making this a good first model. Although, the mottled camo will be quite a challenge for beginners. If you want a Bf 109 of your own, and I know you want one, every modeler I know has at least one of these in their collection, I'd suggest looking for something that has an easier camouflage scheme. Perhaps one that flew in the North Africa Campaign. Those are typically just one color for the top and one for the bottom.

    There are a few more details I want to add to the model, like the antenna wires, a bit of chipping and I also want to paint the spiral onto the nosecone. But I'll do that once I finish the other model from this box set. And I'm really looking forward to that one. Together, these are my favorite war birds from the era. So much so, that I always buy them in pairs.

    If I buy a Bf 109, I automatically add a Spitfire to the cart as well. I have a couple more pairs of these sitting in my stash, one from Tamiya and one from Italeri. I will one day get to build those as well so look forward to that in the future.

Final thoughts

    As mentioned the build was really fun, but I do need to point out some flaws with this model. You might get lucky with yours if you get this kit. But mine had some issues. First, whilst nothing that couldn't be easily cleaned, my kit does suffered from flash, some of which was on the extremely fragile landing legs. I did clean most of it but not all as I didn't trust myself enough not to destroy the fragile parts. My kit also had some sink-marks, most notably on the air filter. I was however, able to fix that with some putty.

    Lastly, the canopy is significantly narrower than the fuselage. I'm hopping that not all kits are like this, but mine was. And it does look quite awkward but I think I can live with it. Over all though, the kit is really good, especially given its age. Its not too old, mind you. But it's not new either. It was tooled back in 1996 and it shows. Again, nothing too major, but it is something to look out for if you also decide to build this bird especially since this model is being sold individually in a few more boxes, not just this double set.

    With that said, my next article is going to be a little bit different as I only recently started building the Spitfire. It will take me some time to finish it as do have a normal day-job and I mostly work on my models during the weekends when I can focus my attention to them.

    I will keep you updated on the progress of the build, so make sure to check the Updates page every so often. My next few articles are going to be some kit reviews and I also started working on a guide to tools that could be useful both for beginners and advanced builders alike. I will link to that when it will be ready. 😉

    If you enjoyed reading this or found it useful, pleas consider clicking the follow button or at the very least consider bookmarking this blog. I would also appreciate it if you could share this with other people in your circle you think might find this blog useful.

    Don't forget to check out my other builds if you haven't done so already. And with that, I wish you all a wonderful day and happy modeling everyone. Cheers!!!