The Messerschmitt story, part I.

After covering some trains last week let's take a look at an aircraft: the Messerschmitt Bf-109. This fighter is one of the most recognizable aircraft of WWII, the icon of German air superiority during the early years of war. It saw action during the Spanish Civil War and at the breakout of the "big" war it was already a battle-proven opponent.

It is well known and built many times from bricks as well, you can find quite a few variants on the net. Let's take a look at the best ones, starting with minifig-scale models and leave the more exotic ones for the next part.

For a start, let's look at LegoUli's model. In my opinion this is one of the best: the shape of the aircraft is excellent around the engine but also towards the rear of the airframe. The landing gear is fixed but looks very good. The 9-stud propeller is also an nice fit at this scale:

The plane of eremms was also built at a similar scale and it also has a minifig at the controls. The colors are similar but the details are quite different: the techniques used at the wing, the propeller and the cockpit differ quite a bit from the previous version:

Opëx Røver's plane is somewhat smaller: the wing is 14 studs compared to 16-17 studs on the previous ones above. Nonetheless the the details are finely crafted. My personal favorite is the tail section. I personally don't like the nose cone and the landing gear, but the color choice is slightly more interesting than on the planes above:

Last but not least let's see the creations of a real pro, Legohaulic. His models also illustrate the evolution of a build, how a rookie creation becomes a real masterpiece.

Frankly, the first model would not be part of this blog post without the subsequent ones. The model is recognizable but nothing special: it is large and does not have any particularly interesting details. The colors are not very interesting either and the photo is far from great. However it is a great basis for progress:

It is no wonder that the author tried a second time. The next one is a lot more sophisticated than the previous one: the engine, the cockpit and the plane overall are a lot nicer. Like the other planes above it also has enough room for a minifig piloting the stick. The most serious mistake is the green light on the port side. Looking at it more we can also realize that the plane is quite large: the wings are over 20 studs and the minifig at the stick looks a bit too small:

This is probably how Legohaulic has felt about it too because he decided to give it a third try as well. This is the result, probably one of the most well known LEGO variants of the famous Messerschmitt fighter:

Like the ones above it has a minifig inside, but it is more unusual than the others in several ways. First of all, this is the smallest of all models: the wing is just over 12 studs. The fuselage is only a little bit wider than 3 studs - I think it is quite an achievement to find room for a minifig inside. Another specialty is the choice of colors: unlike the other planes above the paint scheme makes heavy use of dark green, and it looks pretty awesome. The only strange thing is the small nose cone, it looks a bit smaller than it should.

And which one is the best? I will let you choose.

Next week we look at more special Messerschmitt variations.