Who makes the best BF-109. Here is a list provide by Barry Numerick a Premier BF-109 modeler

   I have copied Barry's recommendation for 1/72 BF-109 to build.   His work on 1/72 BF-109 is amazing.  Now for his picks.

Barry Numerick amazing BF-109

 OK, I'll chime in here. 

V-1: prototype - MPM is the only game in town. Libor Jekl made an excellent model from this kit in the Valiant Wings publication on the 109 A-T series, so it can be done. 

A-D: At this point I would use the Heller kit. Its main drawback being a too-skinny nose. I've often wondered about slicing off the chin radiator, building up the lower fuselage profile with epoxy putty and reattaching the radiator, but that may not be necessary in the near future. AMG has done a very nice job on 1/48th Jumo powered 109s and promises to release them in 1/72. Sword, Avis and AModel are not worth the effort required to make them acceptable. 

E: Tamiya is the only game in town for me. ICM may have fixed the fuselage dimensions in the opinion of some, but I wonder if the whole issue is a matter of canopy placement, not length of the fuselage. I had done a review comparing the Tamiya & Airfix E's on the 72nd scale aircraft site, but Photobucket (@#(*&)_!@$*&^...) lost over 1,500 of my photos. Some of them may have been linked to that thread. I'm rebuilding them using Flickr, but that will take time. The Airfix kit looks short in the nose to me, but again, this may be canopy placement. Considering that the Tamiya kit is, well, a Tamiya kit, everything clicks together and makes a more that acceptable model. 

F- G: Fine Molds. Period. The Zvezda kit is very nice. One the plus side is a very reasonable price and good outline. The scribing is fine...very fine. On the negative, the prop is just wrong,as is the spinner. The canopy is wider than the fuselage at the rear end and is made from a plastic that really doesn't like the Bare Metal Foil that I used for masking. Oh, and since much of the wing is a single piece, there is a nasty sink mark mid way along the wing uppersurface. Curiously the German national insignia is precisely located there and tends to distract the eye from the problem. 

Late G and K: Again Fine Molds, hands down. AZ has made a valiant effort and their wing is nice, even including open inspection holes in the wheel well. The cockpit is also good. But the nose is unacceptably undernourished at the point of meeting the wing. I posted my corrections in a thread here, inspired by suggestions from my good friend, Woody Straub. Woody is an excellent builder and superb researcher. 

http://z15.invisionfree.com/72nd_Aircraft/ar/t4611.htm 

Also the fit is challenging to say the least, particularly in the cockpit area and fine details are fuzzy in comparison with Fine Molds. There are a number of areas where the AZ is, let's just say "inspired" by the Fine Molds effort; we'll leave it at that...(wheels). 

H: MPM made an effort at this one years ago and I combined their wing with a Hasegawa G-6 and Hawkeye Designs detail set, which actually worked. AZ has recently released this variant and if I were ever to do another one, I would combine their wing with a Fine Molds G-6. 

K-4: (see F and G) FINE MOLDS. Another beautiful effort with excellent outline, proportions and fit. There probably was no K-14, although some of the distinguishing characteristics (four blade prop and wing mounted 30mm cannon) may have been tested on K-4 variants. 

Me 209: For the V-1 and V-4 the Huma kits can be done up nicely. Special Hobby has promised one. Search Google for a superb Huma V-1 model by Woody Straub. The V-5 is another matter. I'm not pleased with this Huma kit and the resin kit from Kora has its own set of problems. I'm tempted to try a conversion of a Fine Molds G. 

S-199: Here the AZ kit is significantly better. I've built one and have several others on the way. Reduce the prop blades to a scale 10 Meters, taking off a little more than 1/16" from each. 

Buchon: There have been many terrible models of this one over the years, ranging from awful to Gawd-awful. The Special Hobby kit is just OK, but the upper cowl rocker covers are undernourished. 

So to sum up. To whomever did the Fine Molds 109 masters, a profound Thank You. It was a labor of love and it shows. Small details like the differences between the F, G & G-10/K props are perfectly represented as are the different oil coolers under the cowls. Some have said that they are too short in the nose or that the curves of the rear fuselage offend them. Hogwash. This model quite simply looks like a 109, from any angle. 

Here is one I recently finished: 

Monogram P-47 build PT2

It was been a challenge.   The first  problem was the black wing bands ended up a mess.  While trying to protect the freshly painted bands. I had taped over them.  My luck run bad right there.  As I removed the tape, I also removed some black paint.   The was the first nightmare.   Second was yesterday the model slipped out my hand.   Only to break off both tail planes.   That is almost the curse of death for a NMF...    Here is the plane I was trying to create.   More later as doing my research Micro Scale I found out late in the build was wrong...

P-51B O.D.

Monogram P-47 retro build

The Three river IPMS group is having a convention next month.  One of the categories  in pre 80's model.   Think my P-47 qualifies are it is from 1977.  More than like this kit has been sitting in the hobby dungeon since than.   Going to try to do a photo log of the build.  Decals are in the mail.  This are the Thundercal decals.   One of the reason for selecting this decal sheet is that my father in law constructed the field on Saipan.  Lots of storied from him when I got him to talk about.   He the 1st Sgt for the Army engineer battalion.   More later.

Kit.

Little dirty from age.

1977 date on the instructions

Made in the USA.

F-51 Korean war pictures

From what I can see the F-51 used during the Korean where pretty abused aircraft.  What I have read these aircraft flew numerous sorties a day.  With very little maintenance, only what was needed to keep the aircraft flying.  Almost all had been painted with silver paint after the second world war.  Spare parts became a problem.  Open air repairs.  Let say it was a major mess.

Note: Most of the cockpits had been painted black on the F-51's.  

  Here are the picture to show how rough the aircraft where.  All pictures are reference and I claim no ownership on them.

Amazing amount dirt from firing the guns.

Note the wear of the wing root.  One can see the prime paint and skin

I really do build models

Didn't even place at Semmax a few years back.

Remembering an old friend Dave Boksanski

 As sit here late at night not being able to sleep well.  It came to me the my good buddy pasted away on Valentines day 1983.   Dave was my buddy.  Our family use to get together for dinner.  He was one of the Premier model builder in 60's, 70's and early 80's.   A lot of his aircraft where in the old Scale Modeler Magazines.   This clean sweep at the IPMS Reg 4 regional.

Miss you Boh.  Hard to believe its been 33 years since I seen that great smile.

Some quotes about Dave.

One last thought. Anyone who attended the 1977 IPMS nationals in San
Francisco would have no trouble explaining why that was the best convention ever,especially
the banquet. This area has also been the home to some of the finest modelers in the world including the late, very lamented George Lee and Dave Boksanski.

Happy Modeling
Tom

David "Boh" Boksanski.
Anyone remember this incredibly talented, cigar-chomping character?  Heard this story, which might, in fact
be apocryphal:
A modeler wsa bragging about his output to am IPMS chapter in California. Fellow IPMS'ers "Boh" Boksanski
and (the late) Mike Dario then built  AN ENTIRE CARRIER AIR GROUP by the next month's meeting to show the first what output REALLY meant!  Don't know whether THAT was true.... but I personally know
Boh constructed 14 Revell 1/48 109G-10 in little over two week's time.
Anyone have similar "Boh" anecdotes?

David L. Veres

Yes Boh, Mike and another individual did indeed build an entire CAG. Whats more they did it over one weekend,
cleaned out all the decals in the Northern CA to do it.
Boh also took second at the St Louis IMPS Nats ( one before the last) with a Combat F-101.  Couldn't
figure out how he did it, (make the Combat kit look so good). Before he died Mike Dario told me that the rear end
came from a Revell 1/32 F-4.   Creative Modeling.