 Restorations
Illustrated vol. 1: Me 109G-10
By Buffie’s Best
8716 East Frontier Place
Denver, Colorado 80237 USA
This new entry in the aircraft reference CD-ROM sweepstakes tackles
a popular subject, the Bf 109G-10, although it does not deliver exactly
what it advertises. The main attraction here is a collection of 1,200
photos of two Bf 109G-10s in various stages of restoration. Modern refurbishments
of World War II-era aircraft are notoriously unreliable as references
for colors, but the restorers seem to be sticking faithfully to the other
“stock” aspects of the aircraft. The sheer number of images
can be overwhelming, but careful examination of the thumbnails presented
in the numerous subsections in each of six major categories (cockpit,
wings, landing gear, nose, engine canopy) can get you to the appropriate
photo for your needs.
The gimmicky menu to this section, with its machine gun sound effects
and battle damage imagery, is to CD-ROM references what the Lindberg battle
damage jet kits were to scale modeling. Easily overlooked on this page
is the section of original erection manual materials; unfortunately, no
Bf 109G-10 manual is included, although the manuals for the G-2, G-6 and
K-4 variants are present.
The rest of the CD-ROM is tantalizingly close to being quite good,
but falls short in many noticeable areas. Navigation is a little iffy
in places, which adds a feeling of chaos to matters. There’s a section
labeled “Models, Books and Illustrations,” which has 12 profiles
from Dekker Thierry (none of which are G-10s), an assortment of images
of models of Bf 109s by notable builders but with no information on which
kit was the starting point, what techniques the modeler used or what subject
the model represents. Several of those models have appeared on Hyperscale
with useful text accompanying them, so the absence of this material is
all the more glaring. Another glaring shortcoming is the section allegedly
on books and kits, which provides images of box tops or book covers and
nothing else. The section has a disclaimer: “The photos are intended
to provide a cross section of available products and in no way is intended
to be comprehensive.” And, in no way, are they. However, a book
listing in a more traditional bibliographical format would have been infinitely
more helpful (ISBN numbers? Hello?), and a kit listing would not have
been terribly difficult; this section seems to have been an afterthought,
which is alarming considering the major target audience is modelers. Equally
poor is the section on “Me 109 Detail Sets & Decals,”
which has images of exactly two decal sheets and four detail sets (only
one of which is for the Bf 109G-10), but helpfully includes plugs for
Eagle Editions and MDC designs. A section helpfully entitled “Where
to Find Models and Books” contains endorsements of Hannants and
Colpar Hobbies. My reaction to this section could euphemistically be described
as disappointed.
Things start out with a short history of the Bf 109, which is nice
enough, followed by a history of the two aircraft photographed for the
reference section. An interview with two unidentified restorers is interesting
but suffers from questionable sound quality. There is a nice gallery of
preserved Bf 109s of every mark (and of Spanish-built Buchons), and there’s
a listing of the disposition of surviving Bf 109/Ha-1112 airframes, but
there isn’t much else to endorse this CD-ROM.
Had the authors stuck to the Bf 109G-10, as the cover advertises, they
could have reduced the noise level and focused more effectively on their
intended subject. Similarly, had they devoted more energy to fleshing
out the modeler-focused materials, this would have been significantly
more useful a product.
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