Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10

by Francisco Carlos Soldán Alfaro
 

Hasegawa's 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10 is available online from Squadron.com

Feldwebel (Sergeant) Horst Petzschler received orders to leave his base on the banks of the Weichsel river and transfer to the Island of Bornholm. The surface of the aerodrome was in very bad conditions and when taking off, two of their companions crashed whereas the Messerschmitt of Petzschler lost its ventral fuel tank leaving him without sufficient fuel: barely for one hour and twenty minutes of flight.

It never got to its destination of Bornholm. Due to a directional error, when he flew over the airport of Bulltofta in Sweden, Petzschler landed, thinking that this was the airport at Copenghagen. Although already practically without fuel, he managed to land the Messerschmitt without misfortunes.

The plane was sent to Bromma the 8 of August of 1945 to be given to the Soviet authorities. Nevertheless, during the flight trials, on 27 of August, the plane crashed and was left for taking apart.

Petzschler remained interned in Sweden until January of 1946, when he was sent to Russia by boat. It remained during three years in different prisoners of war camp until it was repatriated the 22 of September of 1949. At the moment, Petzschler lives in the United States.

The Bf 109G-10 as flown by Petzschler was the fastest version of the series Bf 109 G, with a top speed of 690 km/h at 7,500 meters. The power plant was a Daimler Benz DB 605 DCM that developed power at takeoff of 1,800 h.p.

As almost always, I turned to possibly the best version on the market of the famous German fighter, Hasegawa, in this case, reference JT 64 corresponding to the Bf 109 G-10.

I decided to make this version due to an accidental encounter. Staring at the profiles of Luftwaffe Fighter Aircraft Profile Vol. One, of Claes Sundin and Christer Bergström, I ran into with the profile of the plane of Petzschler. (pag 126/127). I now had a photo of the real aircraft and a magnificent profile (although the interpretation of the colors that makes the author is not of consensus). Because to me I like the warplanes that raise the challenge to present/display hard punished them by the conditions of the time, I decided to successfully obtain the maxima information possible and to investigate if granaries in the market exist. To first helped me my good Juliá Herrero friend; as far as the second, those of EagleCals #16 which presented markings for this particular aircraft. Analyzing the few existing photos of the real aircraft and the documentation available, I decided to get to work.

First, the cockpit.

My good friend Diego Lopez provided me with the KMC resin cockpit for Hasegawa's Bf 109G-10 - magnificent like always. I painted it with the usual RLM 66 and, as always, with acrylics of Vallejo to obtain to the effects of depth and light required to compensate for the dark German cockpit interior. I detailed and decorated different dials, handles and cables with the assistance of abundant references..

Once finished in the cabin, I secured both fuselages cleanly, only as it they can do these kits - and added the wings.

To improve the plane, I used the excellent photoetched set from Eduard for Bf 109G. So from the wings I came to detail to the wheel well and the radiators, as well as the entrances of these, with the excellent PE of Eduard. It is an arduous work, but the result makes the pain worthwhile due to the great quality of the finished product.

Once basic construction is completed, we come to the controversy about the colours of this aircraft.

According to several publications, the colors vary from RLM 81/83/76, to RLM 83/75/76. I chose this last one, first choosing between the sources that to my to understand were more trustworthy, and later analyzing photos of planes with these two camouflages and comparing with the apparatus of Petzschler. Like always, in this subject nobody has the last word, and the final result will be a personal selection.

Due to the hard conditions where it operated, a forward airfield and at the end of the war, I decided that this Bf 109 G10/R3 would have a good dose of operational weathering, which I dispatched to taste with the painting effects.

I consider that nothing has to do the finished ones that they are due to give to the apparatuses of principles of the war in the Front of Poland and France, of the Campaign of England, those that fought in Africa or the East, and the planes of end of the WWII. We must be adapted to every time and make storing of the greater amount of documentation possible to be able to choose the degree of wished wearing down. In this instance, the chosen aircraft showed a great deal of weathering and wear from the conditions in which it was forced to operate.

Painting

First I painted the lower fuselage and the sides of the aircraft with Gunze RLM 76 Light Blue, with progressive weathering coats of grey.

The wings were the airbrushed following the original camouflage pattern for aircraft in service at this time. I sprayed progressively lighter shades of the upper surface colour to create the illusion of fading . After I finished with the airbrush, I added more weathering with oils and acrylics. These were applied with the aid of a fine brush. I also applied desconchones, in particular around the wing root and the entry to the cockpit.

The nose required subtle work of mottling and simultaneous stain produced by the exhaust. These late motors created a lot of staining, due to their loss of oil and the great production of smoke. These, as suggested my good friend Diego, were represented by a red-brown color due to its mixture with the mud, applied with the airbrush. For the heavy exhaust stains I started with black Vallejo paint. Once dry, Rust from Gunze is used, but thinned in its dissolvent, and it is applied of irregular form to brush. Once dry, washes were applied with thinned Burnt Sienna and Black oil paints, but in an irregular form. The effect is quite realistic.

Weathering is more accentuated on the lower surfaces of the aircraft. I worked it over with washes of Burnt Sienna and Black oil paints to represent oil streaks and general weathering.

Markings

With the main part of the aicraft painted, I masked and sprayed the wheel wells of the undercarriage in RLM 02 and washed them in oils to emphasize the structures and rivets. The undercarriage legs and the cockpit are decorated to part to blend them at the end of the work in RLM 70. The spinner was painted black and the white spinner spiral was made with masks.

I varnished the model to the complete one with Marabú polish, which I find to be excellent for decal preparation. The wing and fuselage crosses were applied in a group using masks, because for me it is easier to obtain good effects of faded paint. Nevertheless, the Yellow number 5 , the Werkenummer and stencils were sourced from the magnificent EagleCals decal sheet - very recommendable!

Once finished the tedious work of applying the decals, I sealed the work with a new layer of shining Marabú, followed 24 hours later by a flat coat.

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2003 by Francisco Carlos Soldán Alfaro
Page Created 11 September, 2003
Last Updated 17 March, 2004

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