Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6
| Kit: | FineMolds, 1/72; bought for $34.98 in 2023. Model finished on 2023-11-29. |
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| Aircraft: | "MT-487", HLeLv 23, Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), Rissala AB, Summer 1947 |
"MT-487" (W.Nr. 166007, ex-"KW+YG") served in the Finnish Air Force from July 1944 through three crashes (belly landings) until a decision was made after the last mishap in May 1952 to no longer repair the aircraft. My model represents the aircraft in 1946-1947 when it served with HLeLv 23 (or HLeLv 11, apparently the surviving documentation is not entirely clear on this).
I found several pictures of this aircraft, taken both during and after the war [1, pp. 212, 213, 290, 291, 297], these were an invaluable reference. Apparently, over the years, more and more of the overpainted German markings were revealed due to paint wearing off.
Basic construction completed
Standard 74/75/76 camouflage
German crosses painted
Rest of the markings will be decals
Construction Notes
The model was built from the excellent FineMolds' kit more or less exactly like my earlier 109s (see the Grand Messerschmitt project). In the cockpit I added Eduard's PE seatbelts and a fuel line from Evergreen rod. Guns and the pitot tube were replaced with brass parts from Master Model. Also useful were Barracuda Studios' 3D-printed aileron mass balances, since I always seem to lose some of these in the process. The kit is accurate and is easy to build. Painting this model is a completely different story, however...
I started the painting process with the standard Luftwaffe 74/75/76 camouflage. The splinter pattern was masked and airbrushed, and while I used Mr.Color lacquers, I wanted to tone down the contrast so I followed with a filter (10% paint, 90% thinner) of a mixture of their RLM 75 and RLM 74. After this, the mottle pattern was airbrushed (with low pressure, maybe 10 PSI) using Mr.Color RLM 75 and Tamiya XF-24 as RLM 74. I masked the canopy using a mask set I created for an earlier project (available from this page). But this was only the beginning...
There are several photographs of this aircraft, taken both during the war (in the summer of 1944) and post-war in 1946-1947. In the post-war pictures the aircraft is in rather worn condition, and clearly the old German markings had started to show through the chipped and worn paint. Old Finnish emblems had been overpainted and new smaller roundels added. To replicate all this, I cut masks for the German crosses and the aircraft's old tactical number behind the cockpit. I also painted circles (with medium gray) where the old Finnish swastikas had been, and afterward painted smaller white circles for the roundels. Worn and chipping paint was simulated with Mr.Color Aluminum, and heavy exhaust stains were airbrushed with highly diluted flat black lacquer. Additional staining was applied using AK Interactive's "Engine Oil" and "Earth Effects" lacquers. Various paint patches were added in different colors, as I think the original aircraft was repaired using whatever paints happened to be handy.
I created my own decals for the rear fuselage serial number. Other decals came from the kit's decal sheet.
References Used
I covered most of the useful Bf 109 reference material in a blog post in 2021, but the MT-487 pictures were found in this book which I did not have available earlier:
- Stenman, Kari: Mersu - Messerschmitt Bf 109 G Suomen ilmavoimissa; Koala-kustannus 2019.
MT-487 in 1946