Small Scale Military Headquarters

Am I the only one who is really not happy with BBI's new-ish 109, "Black Devil"?

The canopies are warped and wont close right, dried glue seeping out of the joints, control surfaces are loose, ect...

I got two of them, they both have the same problems! Terrible, just terrible. I might even rate these screw ups as worse than 21st QC issues. I really didn't want to complain, but I should have returned them ASAP to bad cat for better ones. I guess you snooze you lose.

That's too bad, I don't have one of these, but have been thinking about getting one lately. I'm not so sure now if they are that bad. Did you get both from Badcat? Anyone else notice these flaws from other dealers?

Sounds really bad! Can't imagine the bad QC happen after price raise.

I have never taken it out of it's box.

All bbi 109s have issues, back in the day I bought 7 of the desert ones and have one used solely as a swap out plane to serve the others, the biggest issue I found was cowling warping causing the engine panels to not close correctly... and stains on the glass from their glue...

Wow, As I only intended to buy one I guess I'll pass if the QC issues are that bad. Too bad because the photo's of it look really good.

Smitty, hit or miss I guess... Really nice scheme and plane, just gotta get a good one!

flyboy_fx wrote:Smitty, hit or miss I guess... Really nice scheme and plane, just gotta get a good one!

how did it compare with 21st century one side by side..

The detail of the BBI blows 21st out of the water! BBI's is closer a scale model.

My BBI "Hartman" Bf-109 came out pretty good:





The canopy on mine is an issue solely because it doesn't "lock" like on the 21c Bf-109 and is a bit loose. Depending on how I sit the pilot, it may stay open a little as you can see in the above photos.

Otherwise, I have very few complaints about this piece. No glue issues, no loose parts, no warping. I saw another one out-of-box at my local Hobbytown when I got mine and it looked just as good...

* * *

To answer BD1's question, the BBI Hartmann Bf-109 one of my best-looking WWII German planes in 1:18 and blows the 21c Bf-109G out of the water in nearly every respect. Here's a picture of the two planes together:



...and all three 1:18 BF-109 toolings - 21c ME-109E, BBI Bf-109G-2, 21c Bf-109G-6:

i havent set up my Hartmann yet, but i have the desert version and have no issues with it of any kind. Like all bbi models, the rivet detail is overdone, but not as bad as on the zero and mustang. I have several 21c 109g's and like them all...prefer them in some ways as they are more rugged and crisper in detail due to no removable cowl and no overdone rivets.

The early 109E is kinda 'chubby' but i still like it.

You guys must have got a "Friday built".
I am really happy with my "Black Devil".
When I opened and assembled it I was struck by the great build quality over my 21st 109's.
Although the Pilot's canopy does not shut well. I put that down to a design problem, as it seems the locking pins are to close together.

I Have no Probs with my BBI Desert 109 and my 21C Graph 109 is very good too with no major probs

Haven't had mine assembled, but looked fine when I opened the box.

First time I have heard any sort of more than "trivial" issues with the BBI 109.

For the most part, BBI put out a superior product to 21 Century.

........ mine is in absolute pristine condition = PERFECT ... I highly recommend this bbi AC .


->>>------> and I bought it from BadCat too *


* EDIT :
................ just for future ref. :

• If the Black Devils were purchased on sale through BadCat then I'd be a little skeptical because you'd think that bbi would be more stringent about QC issues compared w/ the old 21st.Century AC . Either they got some defective AC from bbi or these were simply returns they were just getting rid of , or a combo of both.



- MG

You might have just nailed it Mitch.

To get my canopy to sit sorta right, I had to make new hinges and heat it up some.