Airfix 1/48 Bf 109 F-2 by Brett Green

Airfix 1/48 scale
Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2

by Brett Green

Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2

Description

Here is my just-completed but old Airfix 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2. This kit was first released in 1978 — the same year I started working.

Although Airfix’s focus during the late 1970s and early 1980s was firmly on 1/72 and 1/24 scale kits, they also ventured briefly into 1/48 scale with a small series that included this Bf 109 F-2, a Spitfire Mk.Vb with Trop option, a Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, and a Junkers Ju 87 B-2/R-2

These were all very good kits for their day — accurate in outline, moderately detailed, happily free from gimmicks, and they’re still quite respectable today.

The Bf 109 F-2 features a mix of raised and recessed surface detail — recessed on the wings, and finely raised lines on the fuselage and tailplanes. I rescribed most of the raised panel lines using a broken razor saw and Dymo tape as a guide.

I originally intended to build the model straight from the box, but fate had other plans.

The kit decals looked surprisingly good for their age, but a quick test on an old model revealed a brownish stain forming around the edges. I decided not to take the risk.

Instead, I used one of the options from Xtradecal Item No. X48169, depicting a Bf 109 F-2 flown by Lt. Jürgen Harder, Technical Officer of II./JG 53, based at Sobolewo, Poland, on 22 June 1941. It’s an interesting scheme — some of the bright yellow Channel Front tactical markings have been overpainted in RLM 71 Dunkelgrün, giving the aircraft a distinctive field-modified appearance.

The second deviation from the box contents was a replacement pitot tube fashioned from a section of industrial light filament. I had carefully prepared, painted, and test-fitted the original plastic part, but right at the finish line it promptly sprang from my grasp, vanishing forever into the carpet monster’s lair.

Everything else, however, remains pure, unfiltered late-1970s Airfix — a nostalgic and surprising reminder of how good these early 1/48 scale kits could be.

Airfix Kit Purchased by the Editor

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