Revell04665 Messerschmitt Bf109 G-6 Late & early version 1:32 Scale Unbuilt/Unpainted Plastic Model Kit

A well-researched model and light years ahead of Revell's '109 of the same scale which dates from the late sixties/early seventies - but then one would expect 40 years worth of improved model production techniques to show. The '109 is one of the iconic aircraft of the twentieth century with a huge number of publications devoted to all its variants and finishes and Revell has made good use of this material. No model is perfect and if you really want to be nit-picking then minor faults can be found - but they really are minor and the kit represents very good value for money; in real terms this kit is actually cheaper than its 40 year old incarnation was in 1972! If you're going to make a proper job of it then there are weeks and weeks of spare time activity contained in its box. Speaking of the box, one real criticism - please Revell STOP USING THOSE HORRIBLE SIDE-OPENING BOXES - they are useless for storing completed sub assemblies and seem specially designed to damage anything being emptied out of them; a strong top-opening box would be so much better - otherwise a well-deserved 5 stars.

On the whole a well detailed model with panel lines engraved to just the right degree. Unlike some other Revell 1/32 offerings, there is no engine, no removable panels to reveal details and no pilot figure. The decals are abundant (I lost count at around 70 for the early version of the G6) and of good quality, however swastikas for the tail fin are not included and will need to be bought from a specialist supplier. Sadly, the instructions contain a number of mistakes and are unclear in other places. Two variants are offered: early and late versions of the G6 model. In some places there is a choice of two parts. Some show which part is for which version but others give you an option but no information about what the option relates to. Also, the order of of actions to be taken is not always the best so some care is needed.Overall, for the experienced modeller this kit represents good value for money.

This is a beautifully engineered kit and as good if not better than many of the models offered by Tamiya but at a fraction of the price. The detail is astounding and the pieces fit together well. This is the beauty of a 1:32 rather than the smaller scales. My only criticism is to do with the instructions. The kit is made up of a couple of hundred individual pieces on about 17 frames. The pieces are scattered randomly on the frames so to find piece 73 you have to look all 17 frames in the instructions to find it! After a while this becomes very irritating and as at least one piece has been numbered wrongly can be very frustrating. If only Revell had put the frame Letter in front of the number it would have been so much easier. A73 would mean that part 73 would be on frame A. Simple. Come on Revell you have made a superlative model. Just sort out the instructions!

This is a big kit and you get a lot for your money. The parts are quite well moulded with good surface detail, and they generally fit together well.The negatives for me are:1. The side opening box. Not sure why Revell stick with this as it's a lot less convenient and I'd guess it saves them about 10p per kit.2. The instructions are ok but don't specify which sprue the parts are on so you have to search through all of them which quickly gets tiresome, it would be very easy to write 'a25' instead of '25' which would completely solve this.3. A lot of flash and sink marks on some parts which whilst not disastrous is disappointing for a new tooling.All that said this kit is a fraction of the cost of competitors' 1/32 kits so some compromises are to be expected and I would certainly recommend for the more experienced modeller.

Overall it’s a very affordable model kit for this scale. Very good details inside the cockpit but some parts broke when detaching from the sprue because of their size.. instructions are quite messy as they report only the piece number but not which sprue they belong to. Also few pieces were numbered incorrectly on the instructions. The Letters color code reported a color which is not is not described in the instructions. Instructions are in black and white and, due to the several shades of grey used, additional researches on the web had to be done to reproduce the painting of the fuselage correctly. Overall a good model but lots of additional work needed to complete the job (drilling, pre masking, pre coloring parts which is all not mentioned in the instructions) .