Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt bf110

BarryW

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Well, you know what they say, when you fall off a horse you should get right back on again. So after the Hellcat ’warped plastic’ farce on with a new build....

So, why after an aborted and problematical build opt for a Revell? Well, those who know me are aware that I am not a fan of Revell as I find their kits built to a price and as such compromise on overall quality and accuracy. I much prefer to spend more on a better kit. But - this kit is a wolf in sheep’s clothing....

It may be in a Revell box but it is really the Dragon bf110C inside the box.

About the original Dragon release.
I built a Dragon bf110 some years back and here is the completed thread:

I loved that build, it was a joy start to finish. The only problem being the instructions which were the worse I have ever seen. I have wanted another of these kits and when I realised it was released by Revell and at a fraction of the Dragon kit then I could not resist it.

So in what ways is the Revell release different to Dragon’s.
1/ The instructions. The Revell ones cannot be worse that Dragon‘s. I will be doing a bit of a ‘Google’ though to be sure that Revell have covered all bases....
2/ The plastic. One viewing the sprues I was disappointed to see that this is molded in Revell’s cheap hard plastic instead of the high quality plastic Dragon used. At least Revell‘s cheap plastic, being hard, is better suited to large scale kits than Airfix’s cheap soft plastic. I will say a bit more about the plastic later. Using the Dragon tooling though the fit will be good and the fine detailing is there despite the plastic.
3/ No p.e. There were a few p.e. parts with Dragon as alternatives to plastic ones also provided. The one absence being seat belts but that is not a problem as I would have bought aftermarket anyway and have done so.
4/ Paint schemes. I am getting aftermarket decals anyway. I would prefer to paint the markings but I could not find a scheme in masks that I liked, so I will use decals.

A word about plastic In kits.
All of us who build kits from different manufacturers will know that there are clear differences between the plastic used and I am sure that we all have our pet hates and likes. Interestingly there is often not even consistency in the plastic from manufacturers and you can often see this with kits with multi-coloured plastic. One I remember very clearly like this was the Zoukei Mura Skyraider when it was first released in three colours;
. A grey very much like Revell’s hard plastic which had reasonably sharp detail, the airframe was this plastic.
. A silver, it was quite soft plastic but not the way Airfix plastic is, it almost but not quite had that same soft quality of the old Airfix 1/72 sets of soldiers had (might still be the case). The detail was softer than the grey as well, it was hard to sand. This was used for the engines.
. A black. This was a harder solid plastic and much of the internal detail was made of this. Sharper detail, easy to cut and sand, it was unlike most model plastics I have used.

The interesting thing about this kit was that all the molds were done by the same people to the same standard with the only real difference being the plastic and, yet, the detail did not have the same sharpness across all the colours of plastic. It was like the silver, in particular, just did not ‘hold’ the detail as well as the black. I still find that strange.

The Airfix soft plastic is easy to work with but has a tendency to warp and shrink but it holds detail well. The other type of cheap plastic is Revell’s as with this kit, harder it has much less tendancy the shrink and warp, it is not hard to work with but seems a little brittle and the detail can appear a little softer. Then there are those in between, top quality goes to Tamiya’s plastic, hard, not too hard, not brittle, not hard to work with and it holds really nice sharp detail, the Dragon original tooling was the same high quality as Tamiya. Trumpeter and Hobbyboss for instance are closer to Tamiya than the others but, not quite as good.

I am not an expert in plastics and I just record what I have found and I would be interested in what other think specially if they have some specialist knowledge on the subject.

I digress, so back to the kit.....
 

Jim R

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Hi Barry
Watching and learning with interest. Never really given the plastic much thought over and above whether it seemed soft or brittle, easy or hard to cut/sand.
Jim
 

BarryW

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So, here is the box. It is huge....
F125E1A3-5701-4ECE-B98A-3F0D772F789C.jpeg
and half empty....
80908170-8B1D-440B-8149-4B90AAE9F38F.jpeg

Revell just do not take the care over packing as do many other companies like Trumpeter or Tamiya, not that I would expect Tamiya quality are Revell’s price point.

Here are some aftermarket ready for it and the instructions. I am still awaiting the decals and will post them in due course. I am starting this build earlier than expected after all...
E0B269C6-59AD-4426-9579-29323B21FA27.jpeg

You do need some decent seat belts for this one. There is a lot of glass so canopy masks are essential. The exhausts also make a real difference as, for some strange reason, despite using slide moulding for other parts, the exhausts in the kit were moulded solid.

Lets take a look at some of the fine detail Dragon included on the kit.
AB9235CB-4C24-4761-A263-97EA0192F21F.jpeg

95DD6BEC-5CF5-4868-A3DD-971672EDBD43.jpeg

This was one of the first kits I built, other than Tamiya’s super kits, where I found that even the sprue gates were neatly moulded and thoughtfully positioned away from surface detail.
67492812-E909-43C7-94F8-8523AD5845A7.jpeg

I mentioned slide moulding, this is something I have not found on cheaper kits and it really adds detail, like these gun barrels...
B6F6D2F9-9CCB-4DB2-A442-6B3415CA4B42.jpeg

Anyway - here is the prepared workbench, all cleaned and tidied up.
A3EABA12-4EF8-45CB-942B-F4F26B312EE4.jpeg

A close up of the sprues, labelled all ready.
82B604B0-0A60-46F1-B767-2BF63A696D61.jpeg

The other bit of prep I do is to translate the painting instructions and create an easy reference. Here is my paint list, the letter is how the colour is coded on the instructions with the name from a reference list. In doing this I needed to ‘translate’ the names Revell gives colours to identify the right RML number and work out what the colour mixes translate to, I get this:
3E01BF5C-1BFD-468D-B5F7-414410F39934.jpeg

You can see where I need the specific RLM numbers I identified the MRP paint number for it. I will determine which paint to use for the others depending on what is actually being painted with it.

You do have to laugh at what colours Revell identify from their range.
RLM02, the grey primer is supposed to be ‘light olive’ according to Revell...
What should be RLM74 Is ‘dusty grey’ according to Revell, RLM75 is the strangest of all, ‘mousy grey’. Utterly meaningless descriptions that bear no relationship to the actual shades. This shows how you should not rely on model companies paint instructions unless they provide true and accurate colour descriptions and provide the actual colours in their range.

Anyway - I cut some plastic and made a small start on the pit.
26A86982-F706-4C17-A40A-1246F108A5E6.jpeg


More will follow....
 

AlanG

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Certainly following this build Barry. I'm after one of these kits and an AIMS G4 conversion set.
 

Gern

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Hope you have better luck with this one Barry. A question though. How, by the names of all the gods, do you manage to get any work done with such a tidy bench? I can't get anything done unless my bench looks like a bomb site! I have to have every sub assembly, sander, knife, glue bottle, paint, brush, clamp etc on my bench - everything I've used as the build progresses - or I can't do anything!
 

stona

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Very nice.

Is there a Battle of Britain version you could make from this kit or are you going with the one on the box (which looks as it would have on the eastern front)?

I have to say that the 'Wespengeschwader' emblem of ZG 1 on the nose does look rather good!
 

BarryW

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Well, I have been doing a spot of on-line research to see if the instructions have been corrected.

Unfortunately Revell have done little or nothing towards correcting all the errors and omissions in the Dragon instructions. All they have done is amend a couple of obvious issues and did not really make any attempt to properly produce a comprehensive set of instructions.

Anyone building this kit needs to do a lot of on-line research to do anything approaching a decent job. Otherwise missing from the build will be some really important detail as obvious as a trim wheel, ammo cans and even wheel arches!!!!

i have made some notes in the instructions to alert me to most issues I have spotted but I may find more as I go.

Here are pictures of the pages I have made notes against....
5A41BE32-E933-42CF-B63C-93E1FF65FC75.jpeg

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It is clear that Revell released this kit without doing any real research at all into the original kit and made no effort to identify the issues. Lazy and pretty stupid of them.

I wonder how many have built this kit and wondered why they have so many spare parts, no wheel arches, no or few spare magazines for the MGs or why parts did not fir properly. Revell’s laziness and careless attitude is why.

it will not be a problem to me as I am aware of the issue and can now plan and work the build accordingly.
 

BarryW

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To add to the above I have found a few other omissions and have downloaded the instructions for the 1/48 Eduard bf110C which will provide additional help in correctly positioning parts, despite being a smaller scale and from a different company.

The more information the better with this kit.
 

minitnkr

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I don't remember the source, but when the new built plastic pellets are delivered the color follows a grading system w/each color having unique characteristics. I think, if memory serves, white & black were prefered for injection molding w/black leaning towards the more flexible "engineering plastic". All bets are off w/recycled as this info is pre-recycle (70s). What happens after delivery is anyone's guess. PaulE
 

Jakko

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So, here is the box. It is huge....
View attachment 394633
and half empty....
View attachment 394634
Revell obviously believes that a bigger box is more likely to attract buyers than a smaller one for the same price …

You do have to laugh at what colours Revell identify from their range.
RLM02, the grey primer is supposed to be ‘light olive’ according to Revell...
I sometimes get the impression that whoever writes up the colours at Revell isn’t paying nearly enough attention. I suspect they translated this one from Dragon’s and got it wrong — see my 1:72 Bf 110 in the Matchbox group build for a good example of this.

RLM75 is the strangest of all, ‘mousy grey’. Utterly meaningless descriptions that bear no relationship to the actual shades.
“Mouse grey” is the official name of RAL 7005, for which Revell 47 is supposedly a match. Did they recommend that for RLM 75? If not, then things are getting very strange :smiling3:
 

KarlW

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Revell obviously believes that a bigger box is more likely to attract buyers than a smaller one for the same price …
I rather suspect it's a case of having standardised box sizes and the kit not quite fitting in the size down. Easier for a manufacturer to have kits fit boxes than boxes fit kits.
 

tr1ckey66

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Hi Barry
Yep, you've certainly got to do your homework before building one of these! Looks like you're well prepared though.
Looking forward to another quality build.
Cheers
Paul
 

BarryW

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I am rather enjoying this, early stages that it is.

I have mentioned plastic quality a lot lately. Bear in mind that this is exactly the same tooling as the Dragon, but just with a different plastic poured into the same moulds.

There is nothing actually wrong with the Revell parts, a great mould produces nicely moulded parts regardless of the plastic, but I honestly think that I would happily pay an extra £30 for the original Dragon.... odd, I know and very few people would feel the same but there is just something more ‘satisfying’ about the Dragon plastic. I remember it being that bit cleaner, sharper than these Revell parts. As I said, nothing wrong with the Revell parts and if I had not built the Dragon I would not know any better....

I sneaked to the bench this morning for half hour before starting work.... the advantage of home working.

Revell‘s instructions really are ‘interesting’....

Look at how this part is illustrated in the instructions and the part itself...
EB8C4E72-4296-4864-8E34-EEF36ADD9E43.jpeg

It does not have that L bracket.

There is a bracket in that position to hold more ammo drums, but it faces the other way and is not mentioned at all in the instructions, neither are the ammo drums for that part, though they have been supplied...

I have cemented the L bracket into place, along with one the opposite side that faces the other direction.
1C48D2DF-7A16-45E6-9811-06E8058E7B9E.jpeg

On the original Dragon instructions this problem was identified by Brett Green who did a fairly detailed list of the problems with the instructions. This was the main but not only source of information I am using to complete this build And I would guess that about 80% of the issues have been carried over to the Revell instructions.
 

KarlW

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I often wonder if instructions like this are done from the initial CAD drawings rather than the final tooling, I am aware that changes can be made to the toolings after the initial test run. Or even the guy in charge of the tooling can go "Nope, that won't work!".
 

stona

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“Mouse grey” is the official name of RAL 7005, for which Revell 47 is supposedly a match. Did they recommend that for RLM 75? If not, then things are getting very strange :smiling3:

The problem with RLM colours is that there is no official name for them. The alpha-numeric designation is the specification. RLM 75 was described as 'mittelgrau', 'grauviolet' and various others, but these are simply unofficial descriptions for the convenience of the users and usually originated with aircraft manufacturers.

It was not always helpful, the Dornier Do 335 handbook described both RLM 81 and RLM 82 as 'dunkelgrun'.
 

BarryW

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Time for an update and all is going very well. Getting on with the cockpit detailing.

For seatbelts I am using these from Finemolds, these are my favourite type of seatbelt but I only have one set so I am using them for the pilot seat and I have cobbed together p.e. lap belts for the navigator/gunner.

IMG_2558.jpg
These are plastic molded in one piece and just need painting and weathering after removal from the fret.

What I like about these is that they don't need any fiddly threading like the p.e. and micro-fabric types. Every attempt I have made at HGW fabric belt has ended up binned The other seatbelt type I use are the 'steel' Eduard sets that dont need 'threading' but look a little 'flat' unlike these.

Here they are painted and weathered.
IMG_2566.jpg

So, for the lapbelts on the other positions I did use the Eduard set but 'not as per Eduard instruct'. I put them together to get the right kind of effect rather than the full Eduard way which I find nto be very difficult. Anyway, they look fine.

IMG_2567.jpg

More detail painting done and Revell supply decals for the i.p. and other internal parts. These decals are actually quite good and bedded in well with multiple applications of solution. The parts were all sprayed first with gloss varnish, a pin wash then applied and, after decalling, a matt varnish sprayed followed by a drybrush with Uschi metal powders and, on the floor a dark earth pigment. Gloss varnish was then used for the glass in dials.
IMG_2568.jpg

IMG_2569.jpg

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So far, so good. This kit is as good as I remembered. I just wish Revell did a better job corrcting the instructions.
 

Jim R

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Hi Barry
Those seat belts look excellent. I've not heard of plastic seatbelts before. I've used the prepainted PE ones but found the colour cracked/chipped when bent. These are very nice. Instruments have come out really well. Your approach certainly gives a very pleasing result.
Jim
 

BarryW

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Have pulled together the cockpit and attached the fuselage sides. All fitted perfectly with no issues. I the added a few sections to the bottom including some strong wing spars. Again all a perfect fit.

F6A815D7-70EA-4738-816A-4B14E73C491E.jpeg

5E4E263F-D475-469B-B42F-2284A1CD9C36.jpeg

The seams needed very little sanding, made easier by the top/bottom panel lines these aircraft had.

i then pulled together the nose components and did a test fit. All is spot on. Fitting the guns into the nose will be part of final fittings as they are vulnerable, besides it wil make painting easier. I will temporarily attach the nose for painting without the guns.
65BA9BCC-C47A-4F4B-A207-813E5DDBEF2E.jpeg

I have been getting on with the engine, covers and undercarriage sub-assemblies. I am aware of issues here that the instructions have not addressed and these need approaching carefully, test fitting several stages ahead.

No pics yet, they will follow.

It is more apparent than ever what a poor job Revell have made of the instructions. They cannot be trusted at all and their drawings are deceptive. It is vital not to commit to cement unless you are certain something is right. I have lots of parts and subs stacking up as I work that can only be fitted later when I can be sure of how they go.

To be honest, I have concluded that it would be easier to use the original Dragon instructions backed up by the Brett Green addendum and Eduard 1/48 bf110 instructions. Right now, trying to reconcile Revell’s instructions to the Brett Green addendum is an added complication I could do without.
 

BarryW

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Thanks Jim. All Revell seem to have done is separate out various diagrams and re-order them. In some cases it makes it harder to see what position some parts are meant to go in. A very disappointing bodge job by Revell.

However the parts fit, you just have to take your time and be alert checking several steps ahead.

A couple of shots of subs and parts awaiting fitting.
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I tested the position of the wheel well floor and bulkheads parts in the wing to make sure that I get the right combination. Do not trust either set of instructions on this.

58D629A1-9686-4AFA-81B2-6F6CA206FA2E.jpeg

after very careful checking i cements the correct parts into position.
B8000536-32D7-4BBA-A01A-9C561D6DA783.jpeg

A similar check is needed on the wheel legs.
 
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