Aires 1/32 Bf109F Conversion Set

Aires 1/32 Bf 109F conversion

By Erik Whipple

The Aires 1/32nd Bf109F Conversion for Hasegawa's Bf109G-6 contains resin parts, a photoetch metal fret, acetate instruments, and canopies.

Resin parts include propeller blades, oil reservoir cover, cowl, oil cooler fairing, supercharger intake, trop filter, machine gun muzzles, cockpit tub, control stick, cannon breech cover, instrument panel, tail wheel, main wheels, and a few smaller bits. The p/e fret has the usual cockpit parts such as seat belts and trim wheels, but also includes exterior details peculiar to the Friedrich like a compass hatch and external tail stiffeners. The Falcon canopies are resilient and offer open and closed options.

I compared the various bits to an American-produced copy of 109 blueprints, and it seems to me that the set can be used to produce either an F-2 or F-4 with slight modification to the supercharger intake. The bore appears to be right and the overall shape is basically correct for a 109F-4. To get an F-2, I'd recommend that a sanding stick be used to slightly reshape the forward half of the supercharger intake so that it is more conical in profile. This should be pretty simple to do as there isn't much difference to achieve. The tropical filter is molded with the clamshells open, which I thought was a nice touch. Use of the Hasegawa propeller blades, supercharger intake, and oil cooler fairing should result in a pretty decent-looking F-4/z as well.

The main wheels are excellent in that the spokes separate from the hub. The tail wheel appears to be the type used on the later F's. The set does not include the smaller 'spoked' version often seen on the 109F-2 and earlier variants.

For comparison purposes, here is a scan from the Monogram Interior Guide To German Aircraft showing the basic layout of an F cockpit (with the optional bomb-arming panel), and a photo of the restored interior of W.Nr.10132, Horst Carganico's F model in Ottawa, Canada.