COBI Messerschmitt Bf-109F Set 5873

COBI's Messerschmitt Bf 109F is a 1:48 model built from 123 blocks, 19 cm long with a 21 cm wingspan, carrying the Green Heart emblem of Jagdgeschwader 54. The propeller and ailerons move, the wheels detach on rubber tires, and all markings are printed — no stickers.

They took the wing guns out, and pilots argued about it for years

The F, the Friedrich, is generally reckoned the best-handling Bf 109 ever built. The cowling was rounded, the wingtips made elliptical, the tail struts deleted, the radiators redesigned — a thorough aerodynamic cleanup that gained speed and climb without a new engine.

The controversial change was the armament. Earlier 109s had guns in the wings. The F concentrated everything in the nose: one cannon through the propeller hub and two machine guns above it.

Nose-mounted guns have no convergence point, so the fire goes exactly where the aircraft is pointed at any range — devastating for a pilot who can shoot. For an average pilot, wing guns spread a wider pattern and forgave aiming errors. Adolf Galland, who commanded the fighter arm and could shoot, requested wing gun pods be made available anyway, because most of his pilots were not him.

The debate never really ended. The G that followed reintroduced optional underwing cannon, and pilots complained that the pods ruined the handling the F had been praised for.

In the COBI range

Set 5870 is the later Bf 109 G at this scale, and 5761 the G at 1:32.

Specifications

Pieces: 123 · Scale: 1:48 · Age: 6+ · No stickers
Model dimensions: 19 × 21 × 9 cm (7.5 × 8.3 × 3.5 in)