Build Review - Snap-Fit Hit? Zvezda's Messerchmitt Bf-109F-2 (7302)

I said curiosity would lead me to try building Zvezda's 1:72 Bf-109F-2 and sure enough it did! So surprised was I by how the initial stages of the build went that I just had to share.

This kit is designed to snap-fit together without the need for glue, however I have decided that I wish to glue it and add some extras. But that doesn't mean I wasn't going to see just how well it fitted.

To start with I assembed the cockpit front and rear walls on the single piece that formed the wings, the idea is that you then push this up through the assembled fuselage and it all snaps together. I generally prefer models that provide you with wings in a single piece (where possible) because it eliminates the need for checking angles that comes from having two separate wings.

As you can see it's a nicely detailed cockpit. Although I did use Eduard's photo-etch set, (73475), I didn't feel the need to use the whole set. Once that was done I was ready to assemble the fuselage. I painted the side walls of the cockpit and made sure I didn't forget to add the tail wheel before joining the two halves. Here I elected to use glue, while the parts snapped together I wanted a sold join between the parts, that I wouldn't have otherwise got.

And then it was time to push the cockpit up through the bottom of the fuselage which turned out to be a really firm fit and it all clipped together perfectly.

Finally I clipped in the panel to the base of the wings which contained the wheel wells, couldn't be simpler. The only thing I didn't like was already the attached pitot tube as it's far to easy to bend or break.

So what are my thoughts? To start with I think I prefer this approach to easy kits compared to the Hobby Boss approach of few simple parts. The way Zvezda have engineered this kit leads to a really well thought out kit, intelligently engineered with easy assembly in mind. The bonus is that the detail doesn't have to be sacrificed this way. Plus it gives the modeller more freedom to build the kit in as easy or as complex a way as they feel comfortable doing.

Reading a lot of the modelling forums I see a lot of the more experienced modellers dismissing this kit because it's a snap-fit kit and it appears such a kit is beneath them. It's a shame that such thinking may cause some to miss out, in my opinion (and reflected in my approach) this hobby should be all about experimentation and trying out new things.

Like I said at the beginning of this post this is only the initial stage of the build so I will refrain from any thought of scoring until it's progressed further. But so far, so good!

Update (26th April 2014)

Unfortunately this kit, although very nice fell foul of my nemesis, Tamiya's XF-2 flat white paint. For some reason I find working with white paint (via spray, airbrush or even paint brush) to be extremely difficult and in this case so difficult it pretty much ruined the model.