Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 (late)
| Kit: | Premium Hobbies 1/72; bought in 2021 on Amazon for $13.99. Model completed on 2022-04-07 |
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| Aircraft: | MT-456, "Yellow 6" 1/HLeLv 24, Ilmavoimat, Lappeenranta, June 1944. |
The model depicts an aircraft flown by ltn. Otso Leskinen during the massive Red Army offensive in the summer of 1944, stationed in Lappeenranta near the eastern border of Finland. The aircraft is a late model G-6 with the tall, wooden tail and the "Galland hood". This is the 5th and final installment in my Grand Messerschmitt project.
Construction Notes
Unlike the other three Bf 109Gs in this project, I built this one from the Premium Hobbies' kit, as an experiment. The kit is actually the old Academy Bf 109G-14 with new decals. My initial analysis of the kit suggested that it could be turned into a good model. Fair amount of work was needed, though.
The biggest flaws of the kit, as far as accuracy goes, are the horizontal tail (too "pointy", see the photo below) and the shape of the "chin", the line from the propeller to the ventral intake scoop (too straight, but I corrected it; see the photo below). I super-detailed the cockpit with some Eduard photo-etch, so of course I had to leave the canopy open.
The starting point.
Original kit part on the right, corrected one on the left.
Starting the cockpit detailing.
Super-detailed cockpit.
G-model fuselages of my project; the Premium Hobbies' kit is at the top.
Correcting the nose. Note the photo-etch scoop outlet.
Like all German aircraft with a mottle camouflage, this one took a lot of effort to paint. I mostly used Mr.Color lacquers, some Tamiya acrylics, as discussed in this blog post. Painting the white circles underneath the national insignia, I made a mistake with the fuselage and made the circles about 0.2 mm larger in diameter that the decals, and did not notice until I had the first swastika on the aircraft. I had to remove the decal, patch-paint the circles, and re-apply a new decal.
I constructed the tail number from a sheet by inScale, and took the low-visibility swastikas from TechMod's excellent sheet (purchased from Dauntless Hobbies aka Scott's Model Workshop, a great source of kits and decals). Stencilling came from old Hasegawa and FineMolds kit decal sheets. As usual, I first applied Alclad II Klear Kote Gloss (medium needle, 20 psi pressure), then the decals, then re-applied a clear coat, and finally sprayed a mixture of Testors' Glosscote and Dullcote to get the final semi-gloss finish.
Final act was to attach the canopy and the antenna wire (EZ-Line). I used CA glue for both, and carefully applied some of the Testors' mix with a brush afterwards to get rid of the glossy appearance.
Masking the tactical number.
Tactical number painted.
References Used
General references for the whole project have been discussed, for example, in one of my blog posts. Pictures and a color profile of this individual aircraft can be found in [1].
- Suomen ilmavoimien hävittäjät - Historia, maalaukset ja merkinnät 1939-1945 (Stenman & Hołda); Koala-kustannus 2015 - this is a Finnish translation of the Mushroom book "Finnish Fighter Colours vol.2"