Although the radar-equipped night fighters
are the most famous of the late-war Bf-110s, heavily-armed Bf-110G-2 day fighters also played an important role in the air
battles over Germany, at least until American long-range escort fighters chased these unwieldy aircraft from the skies. While the rocket-lobbing Bf-110G-2/M5 are most often thought of engaging B-17s
and B-24s during daylight raids, there were a number of cannon-armed versions as well.
The largest gun carried into action by the Zerstorer was the 3.7 cm FlaK 18, the same gun fitted to the Ju-87G series
of tankbusters. The Bf-110 carried this gun in a wood and canvas belly fairing,
along with 66 rounds of 3.7 cm ammo (in 11 six-round clips) in the radio operator's compartment, who loaded the gun by hand. That version is the subject of this new conversion kit from CMK.
This kit is designed to convert the Revell-Monogram
1/48 scale Bf-110G-2 kit into either the Bf-110G-2/R1 (with the 4 x 7.9mm MG nose) or the Bf-110G-2/R-5 (with 2 x 30mm MK108
in the nose). The most common version of the Revell-Monogram kit is a Bf-110G-2/R3,
so this conversion is actually a Bf-110G-2/R5 when used with that kit. If you
want to build a Bf-110G-2/R1, then you will have to hunt down the ZG-1 "Wespen" version of that kit, which comes with a resin
nose for the 4 x 7.92mm MG17 armament.
This kit is a nice multimedia package, with
resin parts (cannon fairing, gun barrel, 21 cm rockets, and a form for shaping the 21 cm rocket tubes), etched metal parts
(supplemental armour pieces that go in front of the windscreen, 21 cm rocket tubes, bases, and attachment fittings, and a
nice perforated gun muzzle, which has to be formed to fit the barrel). Unusually,
a small decals sheet with two sets of markings are also included for a pair of rather nondescript 4./ZG76 aircraft from the
fall of 1943. If one is to trust the drawings, then the planes appear to both
be Bf-110G-2/R5s, but the instructions call them Bf-110G-2/R1s. Both aircraft
can be seen in a photo that appears in (among other places, I am sure) the Bunrin
title mentioned below (lower photo on p. 65). Unfortunately, neither plane's
nose is visible, so I do not know whether they are Bf-110G-2/R1s or Bf-110G-2/R5s. These
planes are carrying a single 21 cm rocket tube under each wing, however, which I assume is why those pieces were included
in the kit.
While the casting and photoetched parts are
very nicely executed (I would have liked a turned aluminum barrel, but one cannot have everything!), this set is regrettably
incomplete. One of the most serious errors is in the representation of the canvas
and wood fairing for the gun. The few photos available clearly show the wooden
ribs standing proud with canvas stretched over it, giving a very distinctive look. Unfortunately,
CMK has shown these ribs as a series of recessed lines in a smooth resin fairing. This
is about as convincing as recessed lines for showing the corrugations on a Ju-52/3m.
I plan on laying plastic rod in the recesses and fairing them in with Mr. Surfacer to better recreate the effect, but
this really should not be necessary. If you cannot tell, I am very disappointed
by this piece.
There are a number of omissions in the kit. Perhaps the most prominent is the plate that should fair over the blast tubes for
the 20mm MG151 belly guns (which were removed when the 3.7 was fitted). A simple
matter to make one out of sheet plastic, perhaps, but I think this piece would have been a better piece to include than the
optional pilot's armour (which seems quite rare, and is certainly not an exclusive feature of Bf-110G-2/R1s and Bf-110G-2/R5s)
or the 21 cm rocket tubes (which are included in the basic Monogram kit). The
large shell ejector chute on the bottom of the gun fairing has also been omitted, despite the fact that these chutes are very
noticeable even in long-distance shots of these planes. Finally, there are no
internal modifications provided. There should be a rack in the radio operators
compartment with 3.7 cm ammo clips in it, as well as access to the gun itself. While
I am sure that photos of the interior of this plane are extraordinarily rare, I still would have expected CMK to make something
based on the images from German technical manuals reproduced in several sources (such as the Monogram Close-up and the AJ
Press book listed below).
While I am happy to see an interesting conversion
for a kit that has considerable potential for such things, I am disappointed that CMK did not quite pull it off (at least
in my opinion). Recommended if you want to build a big gun-armed Bf-110G, but
be warned that you will still have your work cut out for you.
Material (especially good photographs) of
these aircraft are not easy to come by, and I don't feel like I have a particularly good handle on markings in particular
of these planes. The references I used to compile this review are:
Campbell,
Jerry. Messerschmitt Bf-110 Zerstorer in Action (Aircraft in Action 30). Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1977.
Hopp, George.
Bf-110G (Close-up 18). Boylston, MA: Monogram Aviation Publications,
1986.
Ledwoch, Janusz. Messerschmitt Bf-110 (Aircraft Monograph 3). Gdansk:
AJ Press, 1994.
Mackay, Ron.
Walk Around BF-110G. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications,
2000.
Nohara, Shigeru. Messerschmitt Bf-110 (Famous Airplanes of the World No. 41, July 1993). Tokyo: Bunrin-Do, 1993.
Weal, John.
Messerschmitt Bf-110 Zerstorer Aces
of World War II (Aircraft of the Aces 25). Botley,
Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1999.
