To the list of 72nd scale 'ace' modellers covered on this blog - Jeff Groves, Barry Numerick, Jes Touvdal, Giampiero Piva - add the name of Michel Wilhelme. Michel is from Dieppe and has been building kits for over 50 years. Having disposed of a large collection of 1:35 scale military dioramas he now builds exclusively Luftwaffe kits, especially the 1:72 Bf 109 series from AZ of which Michel has now completed over 100 examples!
Michel's advice for building the AZ kits...
" the cockpit poses no problem of assembly. I generally insert the instrument panel/ cockpit on one side of the fuselage so that the whole is well aligned . I assemble the wings without gluing them to the fuselage, again for ease of painting the fuselage. The landing gear is easy to align at the correct angle as it's a square you just have to align everything well. I fit the wheels and gear panels last, then adjust the canopy, which is painted separately, and fit it all at the end.
In fact it's classic assembly. Of course I gloss varnish before installing the decals and the dirt from the exhausts, then I do my shading and washes, everything is satin varnished to finish it off. I think the AZ kits are very simple..."
Below; AZ Friedrich in 1:72nd in the markings of JG 3 ace Hans von Hahn (Michel Wilhelme)
Michel has already finished a number of Eduard's Friedrichs; Nowotny's 'yellow 8' and Bob's 'yellow 3' from the 'Dual combo' boxing.
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