BF109 English

Airplanes

Messerschmitt Bf.109 F-4 piloted by Hans Joachim Marseille

by Ricardo Dacoba

Talking about Marseille is like talking about Fangio or Senna. An excellent pilot and human being, a rebel, a joker (that is why he earned his nickname "Joker" or "black sheep"). Everybody remembers him as the "African Star".

Marseille was born on December 13, 1919 in Berlin. He managed to shoot down 17 enemy planes in three sorties on one same day, and had 158 victories until he died on September 30, 1942 as he ejected from his plane that was having mechanical problems.

marseille.jpg (29652 bytes)

The kit

Marseille almost exclusively flew the BF109. I built one of the last planes used by him before his death.

There are many very good models of this 109F. I chose the one manufactured by Hasegawa (Kit # J12) in 1/48 scale, which is especially dedicated to this pilot. As usual, Hasegawa offers a high quality product as regards presentation, plastic quality and details.

You will find no problems for the construction of this model. The use of filler and sander is practically unnecessary.

I spent much time in detailing the cockpit, by adding wire, clocks, regulators, safety belts, rubber pedals, etc.

I also modified the position of all movable surfaces, as I generally do in most of the cases.

The kit was painted according to the instructions given by the manufacturer. I used Xtracolor RLM 79A ( ref. X224) and RLM78 (ref. X214) and then applied Testor Visions "satin clear" varnish.

It is important to note that I had to modify the rudder since the one provided by this kit has some errors.

For the construction of this model, I spent approximately 35 hours of pleasant work.