1/32 Dragon Bf 110 G Night fighter

Gallery Article by Chris Parsons on Nov 25 2014

 

      

1/32 Dragon Bf 110 D to G Night fighter conversion 

This conversion is based on the very nice in itself 1/32 Dragon Bf 110 D kit. 

I had built the C model previously and other than the instructions being kind of poor (hands up anybody in the room who has built a Dragon kit and has had trouble with the instructions....ok, that's pretty much everybody) 

This kit has had the instructions renovated and greatly improved, it also has stenciling decals which the early kit omitted. 

 

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I had bought this (D-E) kit with no intention of doing a conversion to it until, when looking on the world wide web for ideas on how to finish the model I came upon a company called "Master" who make (among other things) radar antennae sets for German aircraft. Then, finding Large Scale Conversions resin set enabling the building of the model as a G-4 night fighter with all associated changes made of course, in resin. Some parts were a bit rough in the conversion set otherwise it was quite good...Other than two left side that is. 

So with all parts in hand I had nothing to lose, other than messing up and ruining a quite expensive kit. 

To be honest, I didn't notice I had two left side engines until late in the build, even having filled and sanded imperfections in both the engines. After realizing the error, I emailed the manufacturer and was informed by email that a new one would be sent out (more on this a bit later) I had however a momentum going by then and was not willing to shelve the model and await the new engine so I continued the build by hacking and carving pieces from the kit and blended the parts to the second offending left side engine making it a right (correct?...Starboard?) engine. 

The other bad part in the conversion was the rear vac. formed canopy, the part was either badly formed or crushed in transit (sorry Canada post, but I blame you...Also another story there) I used the kit canopy to plunge mold a new piece and framed it with metal tape, it turned out not too bad...not real horrible anyway. 

I painted the model entirely with Tamiya acrylics using Tamiya's acrylic thinner mixed 50% by volume and shot through a Iwata Revolution airbrush at around 18 psi. 

I kept my weathering to a bare minimum, my thinking being these planes likely had a fairly limited and short life span, also I couldn't bring myself to beat it up too much. I would build another 1/32 Dragon Bf 110 and I can also recommend the Large Scale Conversions kit, however, As mentioned above (while discussing my two left engines) and the email conversation with the manufacturer, I never did get the right side engine and I have since ordered another conversion upon opening the box and checking contents I found that yes, it too has two left side engines...If anybody out there has a Large Scale Conversions Bf 110 G with two right side engines...Please call me. 

Anyway, I would still recommend the Dragon kit, the Large Scale Conversions set, Highly recommend the Master brass radar antennae sets and blame Canada post for crushing the clear part and losing the second Bf 110 conversion I ordered. 

As pictures speak volumes I should let the pictures speak.

Chris Parsons

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Photos and text © by Chris Parsons