Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer

Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer
Published on IPMS/USA Reviews (http://web.ipmsusa3.org)

Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer

Published: October 30th, 2010

Aircraft [1]
Kits [2]

110minicraft_box.jpg [3]
Box Art

Reviewed by:
Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

Scale: 1/144
Company: Minicraft Model Kits
Price: $9.99
Product / Stock #: 14626
Web Site: The Art of Fine Modeling [4]
Product provided by: Minicraft Models [4]

The Aircraft

In the early 1930s there was a general consensus, particularly among the bomber cadre that Giulio Douhet was right,
and that the bomber would always get through to the target, no matter what. On the other side of this discussion were
the fighter jocks, who KNEW that shooting down bombers would be simple, and that their superior aircraft, skill and
airmanship would always overcome whatever stratagems and defenses the bomber barons could devise. The answer
to these arguments was a compromise, a fighter with enough range to accompany the bombers and enough firepower
to defeat the enemy fighters.

Most major air forces came to this conclusion also. The results were:

Germany: Bf-110
Britain: Beaufighter
USA: P-38
Netherlands: Fokker G1
Japan: Ki-45 (Nick)
USSR: Pe-2

Except for the P-38, these planes had maneuverability issues, usually caused by the fact that the engines couldn’t
provide the power needed to move a large aircraft around in a dogfight. Even the P-38 couldn’t maneuver with the
Japanese single-engine fighters.

The Bf-110’s performance in the Battle of Britain made the Luftwaffe actually assign single-engine escort fighters for
these escorts.

The 110 remained in service throughout the war. For night fighting, the early radar sets required a good load capacity,
and the Zerstorer could carry the equipment and extra antennas. When they encountered unescorted bombers in

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Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer
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daylight, the Bf-110 was an effective weapon.

The Kit

[5]

[6]The kit consists of 2 sprues in
light gray plastic with the canopy in a separate plastic bag to prevent scratches and other damage. There are markings
on the decal sheet for 2 aircraft, Rudolf Hess’s C from his May 12, 1941 flight to Scotland and one from ZG-26, Battle
of Britain Summer-Fall 1940.

This kit has been released before by Crown, AHM and Revell. It’s not a 21st Century kit from a new mold, but it’s
arguably the best 1/144 Bf-110 available.

Construction

This simple kit has four steps. There are 6 steps in the instructions, but 2 of them are for in-flight, 2 are for gear down,
and 2 are common to both.

1. Wings and props
2. Fuselage
3. Fuselage/wing and exhausts
4. Landing gear or gear doors

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Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer
Published on IPMS/USA Reviews (http://web.ipmsusa3.org)
The in-flight configuration has the gear up and no prop blades. Hubs without blades are provided. Gear down cuts the
main gear doors in half, provides prop hubs with blades and main gear legs and wheels. I deviated from the
instructions to make painting easier by leaving off the props and painting them separately, then adding them after
decals to prevent damage.

[7]

[8]
One great feature of this kit is that the bottom of the wing center section is one piece, with the wing tops including the
lower outer wing panels. This gives good alignment of the wings with (hopefully) proper dihedral and makes the wing
leading and trailing edges suitably thin. Also, this reduces the amount of putty required to make everything fit. The
fuselage is wide enough that there’s no unsightly gap between the wing roots and the fuselage side. Only a little
scraping and sanding was required to get a good-looking joint there, no putty. The same applies to the fuselage,
horizontal stabilizer, and vertical stabilizer joins.

Painting

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Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer
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[9]

[10]
I decided to do Rudolf Hess’s airplane, finding it more visually interesting. I painted the entire top of the aircraft RLM
02 gray, then masked the 02 and painted on the RLM 71 dark green. I then masked the top of the aircraft and applied
RLM 65 blue to finish. I can handle a low degree of difficulty in a paint scheme much better than a really complex paint
job. I then painted the cockpit RLM 66, although there’s no interior, just a flat area under the canopy. I put some RLM
02 in the wheel wells and painted the inside of the gear doors 02, as well as the gear legs. Then a coat of future, and I
was ready for the decals.

Decals

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Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer
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[11]The markings are probably the best part of the kit, even better than the
decent fit. Cartograf from Italy prints the markings, and the decals are excellent. When I get ready to build either the
Revell or AHM kit in the stash, these are the decals I’ll use, because the decals in the older kits are, well, awful. I
found the 2-piece swastikas to be OK, although I’m usually pretty bad at getting something like that to align; especially
in 1/144. Nevertheless, both sides lined up nicely. I did take the time to let the outer section dry completely before
adding the inner X. One thing that I noticed is that whoever did the scale drawings for the markings and decals has
probably not seen the kit, as there are panel lines on the drawing which would be very handy for aligning decals, etc.
but just aren’t on the plastic.

Final Assembly

[12]I always leave the small and delicate parts for final assembly, since I have
a record of breaking stuff off while handling during decal work. For the props, since the prop shafts come separate from
the prop hubs, and they have a block on the end, I cut the block off and glued the shaft into the hub, then glued this
assembly to the nacelles. I didn’t think the prop spinners were right for a Bf-110C, so I drilled a hole in the center to
make them look less like the Bf-110G spinners. The wheels and gear legs fit pretty well, but required some care to get
them straight and aligned. The gear legs looked long, but if they were shorted, there’d be a problem with the props
clearing the ground. I did find an instruction problem in this step. If you follow the drawing for the gear doors, you’ll put
them on wrong. The curved edges attach to the edge of the wheel wells, not the flat edge.

I painted the canopy and attached it, then added the antenna. Usually adding a part like this to a clear part requires a
lot of fiddling and scraping to get an oversized antenna into a too-small hole. This one was the opposite. I almost lost
the antenna inside the canopy, as it was smaller than the hole provided. I fished it out and added enough Micro Krystal
Kleer® to fill the hole, then added the antenna when it was starting to set up. It set up nicely, and with the glue getting
stiff, it was easy to align.

Overall Evaluation

Recommended. Fit is excellent, and it’s a good kit to build when you’re not up for a difficult project. I loved the decals,
and both sets of markings are interesting. Note that they supply almost complete markings for both aircraft, including 2
sets of swastikas and fuselage crosses. You’ll have to dig up the upper and lower wing crosses from the spares box to
do a second model.

Thanks to Minicraft and IPMS/USA for the interesting model project.

Source URL: http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer

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Messerschmitt Bf-110C Zerstorer
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Links:
[1] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/category/review-type/aircraft
[2] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/category/product-type/kits
[3] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/110minicraft_box.jpg
[4] http://minicraftmodels.com
[5] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/1
10-minicraft_sprue.jpg
[6] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/o
ld_boxes.jpg
[7] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/i
nst-wing.jpg
[8] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/1
10-unpainted.jpg
[9] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/1
10-mask.jpg
[10] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/
110_partial-paint.jpg
[11] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/
110_decal.jpg
[12] http://web.ipmsusa3.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/review_cover_full/reviews/messerschmitt-bf-110c-zerstorer/
110-inst-wheels.jpg

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