J/88 Legion Condor
Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1

Special Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

This aircraft needs no introduction so I won’t give you one.

Suffice to say that the Messerschmitt Bf 109 ranks as one of the most kitted aircraft in our hobby, along with Mustang and the Spitfire. Almost every kit manufacturer on the planet has released a kit in one or all of the popular scales, but it has taken the Eastern European consortium of kit makers to produce the widest range and acceptably accurate set of kits, especially the early variants.

These early variants which saw action in the Spanish Civil War and early in WWII, have been kitted before by Heller, but this new range is far more accurate and detailed. This latest generation of small scale Emils have been available in Special Hobby and Eduard boxings since its initial release in late 2020.

Special Hobby's 1/72 scale Legion Condor Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 comes in a strong top-opening box with a nice illustration of one of the decal choices on the lid,.

There are two dark grey and one transparent sprue inside a resealable sleeve, the latter in its own internal sleeve for protection. The decals are also in a seperate sleeve and the 12-page full-colour A5 instruction booklet is there as well.

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Thumbnail panels:

Parts are beautifully moulded with the barest of seams and no flash and surface detail and tiny details all perfectly rendered. We get a lovely interior, engine bay, separated flaps and leading edge slats to add interest to a finished model.

The parts map indicates that the drop fuel tank, some internal parts, spinner variations and a tropical filter should be left off this early version.

Instructions are the usual well-constructed set of assembly guides, with colour call-outs at each of the 21 steps by name and in Gunze numbers.

As usual assembly starts with a nice interior with decals for seat belts and instrument dials. Then comes the option of including the engine and associated machine guns or just closing the cowling up using several parts. The wings and their associated flying surfaces come next, with instructions as to which tabs need to be removed to pose them in the dropped position - just check under what conditions these would be displaced.

The canopy can be posed open and the simple undercarriage is attached to nicely detailed wheel wells.

A promotion for the CMK resin engine detail set is also included.

Markings

Finally there are the colour and decal schemes for the three choices with four views of each. All are in the SCW colours of RLM02 over RLM65 with white wingtips and rudders, and are from J/88 of the Condor Legion.

They are:

• 6-123 of Oblt. Hans Schmoller-Haldy at Barcelona in March 1939, with a mouse symbol on the part side

• 6-121 of Lt Karl-Wolfgang Redlich at Leon 1938/39, with the top hat on the port side, and

• 6-119 of Hptm. Siebolt Reents , also at Leon in 1938/39 with a cartoon figure on the port side.

Decals are nicely printed with great colour density and register.

This is a lovely little kit that should be on the shelf or stash of every Messerschmitt or SCW modeller. I can see this one being used in some spectacular dioramas.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Special Hobby for the sample.

Text Copyright © 2021 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2021 by Brett Green
Page Created 22 November, 2021
Last updated 22 November, 2021

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