Review sand Unboxing

This is the first part of the Airfix Messerschmitt Bf109G-5/6 1/24 Scale A17003 trousse.

A huge reveal at last year’s Scale ModelWorld in Telford 2025. Airfix unveiled a newly tooled Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-5/G-6 to add to its ever-impressive 1/24 scale aircraft range. “But do we really need another 109 model kit”

Yes, I heard some people online who were less than impressed with another 109 kit. The Messerschmitt 109 was the most produced fighter of WWII, and I would dare say that in the scale modeling world, the Me 109 is possibly the most produced subject as well.

But you can’t fault the modeling community for that; it’s an incredibly beautiful and elegant aircraft that is equally fierce and striking. And there are so many unique and interesting paint schemes to choose from, as the Me 109 was used all over the place.

So if you’re a model company and you’re going to invest a lot of time and funding into a new Me 109 project, you’d better make it something special that modelers will have to talk about, and Airfix have done just that!

I’m going to look through most of the sprues in the kit, and some of the others you’ll see in future blog posts. But I wanted to talk about some of the more notable sprues in the kit, and I’ll start here with Sprue Q.

Airfix have included some interesting and rather impressive slide molding. You can see it here along the cowling sections. 2 sets of cowlings are included for different variants. Oddly, however, the front machine guns are not included with the slide molding. But these will be easy to drill and hollow out.

Taking a closer look at the slide molding along the cowlings. Only on one of the cowlings was there a faint seam line, easily removed. But the raised and recessed details on these sections are very impressive.

Sprue D has the upper wing sections, and here you can see the finely laid-out recessed rivet details. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of recessed rivets, as I find that many companies make them too thick and they end up looking like bullet holes and are distracting on the completed model. However, I do find that Eduard and Tamiya 1:32 kits have very balanced and nice-looking rivet detail, and Airfix’s rivets certainly fall into this category.

Sprue F has one of the lower wings and the underside of the aircraft, as well as some of the control surfaces. Some of the details on the wings will have to be filled in and sanded depending on which aircraft you are building. The details on the parts are exceptional, and I expect more will become visible once a primer coat has been applied.

Sprue A contains the fuselage sections. Again, we are treated to some slide molding along the bottom of the fuselage. There is a very faint seamline, that will be easily removed with careful sanding.

I recall some online chatter about the fuselage when modelers first got the kit that the fuselage was warped, and personally, I can’t see any warping with these parts. They look straight and even to me.

Flipping the fuselage around, I wanted to show you some of the extra interior details that Airfix included. I’m not sure yet how well all of these parts will remain visible once the model is completed, but Airfix has small details like this throughout the entire model that really bump up the level of accuracy of the kit.

Sprue E has the other side of the lower wing section, as well as a large and quite heavy wing spar. This will help with the alignment of the wings and fuselage, as well as act as a frame to properly align the landing gear. I think that this is a fantastic idea all around, especially to help get the correct position of the landing gear, which can be tricky on the 109.

Sprue M has the tires and landing gear components. 2 types of tires are included, and they are molded in half. I wish that they were one piece each, as I think that this would have made cleaning the parts a lot easier, especially with some of the raised details on one of the tire types.

Just above the gear door covers, you can see the tops of the landing gear struts, and the larger flat sections to the back that will connect to the main spar.

Sprue G has the bulk of the engine block, and again the details are superb. There are even a few parts included that are temporary to help with the alignment of the engine to the cowling. And the exhaust stacks have more slide molding to hollow out the parts.

Sprue H has most of the external details for the engine. Lots of wires and tubes to be cleaned, painted and detailed. There is a faint seam line around the parts that will be easily cleaned with some light sanding.

Lastly, let’s look at the clear parts with Sprue R. The clear styrene is exceptional, and it looks like Airfix has other versions in mind for future releases. I like that they have also molded the fuel line in clear plastic in the same fashion as the Eduard 109 kits.

5 options are included, and the captured RAF and USAF 109s are quite interesting. That being said, the other options will be very fun to paint, and option E is quite an unusual-looking aircraft. There are 3 large colored sheets included for the decal placement, full color profiles for each of the aircraft, and a write-up on the history of these selected 109s.

The instruction book contains 44 pages, and I really appreciate how well Airfix broke down the construction. The instructions are very easy to follow and not too busy. My only criticism is that Airfix doesn’t identify what all of the colors are. There are little squares with a paintbrush and a number for Humbrol paints, but now where does it say what color #56 is?

This is odd, as they do list the exterior paints on the painting/decal guides.

An interesting bonus: Airfix has included a sheet of precut window maskings. Also included are maskings for the spinner and the side fuselage cross. The maskings are kabuki tape, and it’s similar to Tamiya tape.

No inner masks are included, which might make things a bit tricky when you want to have the canopy posed open.

Last is a very large and beautifully printed decal sheet. These decals are printed by Cartograf, and I’ve had great success with them in the past.

I love how the decals are all placed on the sheet. Going to the top left of the sheet, there are sectioned-off decals for the engine. And then sectioned next to that, are the instrument panel details. As you progress through the build, you’ll use each of the sections in order, so the decals are neatly organized in small blocks and not scattered all over the place.

One decal, though understandably controversial, is not included, and that is the swastika for the tail. I can’t recall if Airfix has never included swastika with their kits, or if this is something new. Either way, if you want them added to your model, you’ll have to source them elsewhere.

I’m very impressed, to say the least, with the quality of this kit. I’ve hovered over the “add to cart” button with a few of these new Airfix 1/24 kits (mainly the Hellcat), but I’ve never experienced one up close, and I feel like I’ve been missing out.

If you’ve ever wanted to build a showstopper and stand-out model, one of those you’d see at a model show, with the flaps dropped, the cockpit opened, and the engine super detailed. But you didn’t know where to start or thought it was too much effort; well, I think that this kit might be just for you!

It’s got a lot of parts, so I don’t think this one will be finished quickly; it’s certainly looking like a long-term project, but most of the work of adding wires and finding out where they connect is already done. You just need to clean and detail the parts. And by the end, you’ll have that showstopper kit you’ve always dreamed of. And the larger 1/24 scale will make seeing and appreciating all the details a lot easier.

Let’s get this Schmitt started!

About the Author:

Jared Demes is a modeler from southern Alberta. He has been building models since he was 4 years old when his Dad first introduced him to the hobby. He has written for several magazines including, Fine Scale Modeler, Scale Aircraft Modeling, Phoenix Scale Models, and others. He has an interest in all modeling subjects, with a focus on WWII Japanese aircraft and Science Fiction.

Jared has won several IPMS awards for his modeling, and currently operates his YouTube channel rebelsatcloudnine, where he showcases model builds and product demonstrations.

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