Messerschmitt Bf 109 (King Ottokar’s Sceptre)

King Ottokar’s Sceptre (French: Le Sceptre d’Ottokar) is the eighth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle for its children’s supplement Le Petit Vingtième, it was serialised weekly from August 1938 to August 1939. Hergé intended the story as a satirical criticism of the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, in particular the annexation of Austria in March 1938 (the Anschluss). The story tells of young Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy, who travel to the fictional Balkan nation of Syldavia, where they combat a plot to overthrow the monarchy of King Muskar XII.

– courtesy of Wikipedia

The finished model:

The Video

The story:

As I’ve already mentioned before, King Ottokar’s Sceptre is probably the Tintin story that’s grown on me the most over the years. Even though it didn’t resonate with me as a child , it certainly does as an adult – even though I still think the cover is one of the most boring of the entire series!

As for the choice to include the Bordurian Messerschmitt Bf 109 in my Tintin build project, well, there’s really not that much to tell, is there? EVERYONE who builds models based on the adventures of Tintin builds this model… usually as one of the first. I mean, why wouldn’t you? The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is already one of the most iconic planes of the WWII ere. It’s probably the easiest model kit on the planet to buy as well… EVERYONE who builds models builds this model.

That’s precisely why it took me so long to get around to it. Oh, I knew I was going to build it. I had the Blue Rider Decals all sorted out (more on that later), so the only real question was which kit?

That’s probably the only part that gives some people (mainly the rivet-counting types) pause. King Ottokar’s Sceptre is still one of the early Tintin adventures. Hergé was already striving for a level of realism for his universe… and even though Edgar P. Jacobs had a hand in that, for me the level of accuracy really didn’t really hit it’s stride until Bob de Moor joined Sudio Hergé. So, given the wide variety of Messerschmitt Bf 109 types, it’s a bit hard to tell which one you want to build. Most people usually try to go with the Bf 109F, with maybe some modifications around the engine cowl and the undercarriage vent. However, given that I had Academy kits within easy reach after my time in Seoul, I decided to just go with the Academy Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6.

The build:

Well, the build itself was pretty straightforward. The Academy Bf 109G-6 kit is detailed enough, but not particularly challenging. The biggest change was adding a DC motor to turn the propeller. I’ve done that many times in my Area 88 1/144 projects, but this was the first time to attempt it in 1/72. It might seem odd to have a propeller turning without a pilot in the cockpit, but I’ve always imagined these builds as part of a “Musée Imaginaire de Tintin” collection.

After painting the interior with Tamiya XF-63 German Grey, I got the fuselage put together. The colouring in the Tintin album is a bit hard to match, but I decided on an underside of XF-53 Neutral Grey and top coat of XF-67 Nato Green (it’s just the name!). Since the kit isn’t designed for “wheels up” it was a bit of a challenge to sand down one side of the wheels to get them to fit in the wells, but mostly just a challenge of patience.

One other painting trick I put to good use here is to give the yellow (XF-3) parts an undercoat of pink (X-17 Pink). It seems counter-intuitive, but it really works! It makes the yellow very bright, with very few coats.

The hardest part was getting the Blue Rider decals cleaned up. The registration was a bit off, which was annoying, and there was a bit of silvering, but what was most disappointing was that the waxy “protective” paper seems to have stuck to the top side of the decals. It was quite difficult to clean them off without smudging them around and potentially ripping them.

Finally, I also wanted to make this build a bit special. As I mentioned, the fact that EVERYONE builds this one had kept me away for a while, but that scene where Tintin flies through the search lights is so iconic it gave me an idea. Using some scraps from my spares box – including a plastic noisemaker, the wheels from a Tamiya motorized racing car and the small wheel chassis from the Fiat 600 “pull back” car that was the mis-fire I had with my Studio Ghibli Fiat 500 project, I was able to scratch together a passable spotlight.

At least it doesn’t look like everyone else’s Tintin Bf 109 project, but feel free to tell me what you think.