Cape Hobby & Gift | Bf 109H conversion
Reviewed by Dan LoRusso
Cruising through eBay a while ago I came across this little oddity. I picked it up on a "Buy it Now" offer. I should have done more research only because I could have purchased it directly from Cape Hobby & Gift. My bad! This is one of three 1/32 releases currently offered by this company. The others being a Bf 109K-14 conversion and the RUHRSTAHL KRAMER X-4 MISSLE. This offering is kit CHG#010 and retails for $54.95
The conversion consists of twelve resin parts in a VERY brittle butterscotch resin. Be careful removing the parts from their gates as they will fracture or break. The castings are very clean for the most part with some minor flash on the main gear covers and those nasty little resin bubbles inside the gear bays. Nothing a sharp chisel X-acto blade won't fix. The conversion is pretty start forward. It is suggested that the Hasegawa Bf 109G-14 kit be used as the donor kit. A short history along with a 2 page instruction sheet and a single page painting a markings profile in B&W complete the package. The main wings consist of six pieces ( two outer wing sections, two inner wing sections and two low profile radiators, two white metal main gear legs and a small decal sheet for V-54 prototype. Some shimming may be required when fitting the radiators. After dry fitting the radiators seem just a tad narrow. I would use sheet stock and shim the radiators evenly once the inner and outer wings sections are glued together. Due to the weight of the resin wings it may be beneficial to drill some holes at the wing to fuselage joint and use some metal tubing as a support mechanism. This aircraft was actually operational in 1944 France and flew high altitude reconnaissance missions over England. Several test pilots claim to have shot down a few Lancaster bombers during a battle over France.
I would definitely recommend this conversion for anyone who is looking for something out of the ordinary. Besides, lord knows we all need another 109 in our collections!!
© Daniel LoRusso 2008
This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016