Part 2: The Build

Cockpit and Engine assembly The instructions start with the engine. Overall, it is a fairly good representation of the Daimler-Benz 601a. I painted the details on the engine, but since the engine cover is removable, the super detailers among us may want to add some wire and styrene bits to really make it stand out. The cockpit is fairly basic for the scale. There is some room for improvement, and aftermarket sets would help with that. I added the oxygen line from wire, and a harness from lead foil. Some of the colors indicated in the painting instructions may or may not be correct. Curiously, the control stick handgrip has the paint indicated to be H7 + H40 … but there is no H7 color listed in the paint guide. Usually, this would be flat or semi-gloss black, so it may be a simple misprint. On the instructions, there are painting instructions for the instrument panel, but in this kit issue, there is a decal included. I cut the instruments out and applied the decals individually, as there was a lot of clear carrier film on this decal. Also, I checked the clearance carefully for the exhausts, and left them off until final assembly. I chose not to use the pilot figure included in the kit.

Wings and Fuselage The wings went together with no problems. On the fuselage, there is a slight issue with the alignment of the propeller shaft and fuselage. Left as it was, the prop shaft would be too low in the opening. This could be due to the engine bearers and their attachment to the cockpit. I used sheet styrene to back the opening, and then I drilled a hole at the appropriate level, using a round file to get the fit of the shaft correct. I filled the hole for the bomb and/or drop tank, as I assume a Nightfighter would likely not need a drop tank or drop any bombs. The instructions call for the landing gear and wheel hubs to be painted RLM 70 Schwarzgrun, but all the references that I could find were RLM 02 Grau. I chose to paint them Grau to match the gear wells. The seam on the fuselage spine lined up nicely, but I did use putty on most of the other major seams. The joint where the aft section of the wing assembly met the fuselage needed the most work. Painting The separate instruction sheet for the Nightfighter included two color schemes. One was a very colorful version, but in the interest of time, I chose the overall RLM 66 Schwarzgrau version. To break up the monotony of the color, I pre-shaded the panel lines. I sprayed several light coats of color so that the pre-shading is very subtle. Decals After a gloss coat, I applied the decals. While they were thin and printed well, the white-outline Balkenkreuz have a GREAT amount of clear carrier film. I would not have bet two cents that these decals would not have silvered. The decals went on so easily it was unbelievable. Both Microset and Microsol were used on them, with no problems whatsoever. And, the best part is that there was NO silvering after the clear flat coat. Final Assembly I added the exhausts, landing gear, and propeller. I also added an antennae line from nylon thread, and then attached a lead to a scratchbuilt insulator on the fuselage. I glued the canopy in the open position, and used cyanoacrylate gel to attach the Peil G IV "radar unit". Overall Impression This is a nice kit to build, not too complicated out of the box, but with enough room for the experts to add any and all details to satisfy their AMS. As this kit obviously comes from an older mold, there are a few mold lines and ejector pin marks that will need to be corrected. However, any modeler with average skills could have fun building this kit. If you are a WWII Nightfighter fan, I think you'd really want to add this one to your collection. If you like large scale Luftwaffe aircraft, it is almost a "must-have", as I don't recall another German Nightfighter version in this scale. I can say this kit is highly recommended. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to DragonmodelsUSA and IPMS for this review sample.

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