Dujin 1/72 BFW (Messerschmitt) M.18a/b By Tracy Hancock

History

Don't be surprised if you've never heard of the M.18, Willy Messerschmitt's first commercial design is far over shadowed by it's military cousins, but no less significant. The little all-metal M.18 was the first of over 40 transport airplanes designed by Willy Messerschmitt.

First flown in 1926, the M.18, manufactured at the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW) in Augsburg, could carry three or four passengers plus the pilot whose open cockpit was under the wing's leading edge. The M.18a, of which there may have been only four, was powered by the seven-cylinder Siemens & Halske Sh11, while the more numerous M.18b used the more powerful Sh12. Design changes to the fuselage and engine mounting lead to the M.18c and the last version, the M.18d was larger and more evolved. Dujin have the M.18c and M.18d in their catalog.

The Kit

Dujin's Messerschmitt M.18 comes in a plastic bag with 16 resin parts of good quality, vacuformed windscreens, a clear acetate sheet for cabin windows and a bit of flat metal rod for, I assume the axles. No decals are provided and the instructions are a double-sided A4 sheet with a 3-view plan on one side and a list of registrations, a list of references, a photo, a technical drawing, and a cockpit photo. Not a lot to go by, but to be fair this is a simple kit and Dujin gives you all you need to build a nice model with a bit of room for some details.

The fuselage halves are block cast with an opening for the cabin and cockpit on the interior and nice detail of the strengthening strakes on the exterior. The upper fuselage seam will be between two of these strakes, so care will have to be taken here. The wing is cast in one piece, as is the tailplane and fin, and shows no signs of warping or twisting and features a very thin trailing edge. The rest of the kit is comprised of the interior, wheels, propeller and exhaust ring. Two engines are provided, a nine cylinder Sh12 and a five cylinder of some type for the spares box.

For markings one must get clever and either create and print some on the computer or use more traditional methods like cutting from solid decal sheet, dry transfers, or masking and spraying. Whichever method you choose, the markings are simple and this bit of extra work should not discourage you.

Conclusion

A pretty good kit of a type which will likely never be produced again. It is not as crisply detailed as some of the newer resin kits but the fit seems good and it should provide a nice challenge and an uncommon finished model.

References

The kit lists several references, among them the October 1989 Aeroplane Monthly which features John Stroud's excellent Wings of Peace article on Messerschmitt monoplane airliners.