Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10

by Scott Samo

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10

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This is the Revell-Monogram's 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10.

Despite its age, this is a great little 109 kit and until the recent Hasegawa G-10, it was the one of the best G-10's available. The best thing about this kit has to be the price. I picked up several of these kits at a show in San Antonio, TX for about $2.00 each!

What a deal!

At first I just wanted to have a quick build, out of the box, built G-10 on my shelf, but as I was browsing all the vendor tables at the show I spied the Cooper interior detail set, Ultracast exhausts, Squadron vacform canopy, True Details wheels, Aeromaster decals... oh well!! So much for an out of the box model.

Anyway, this kit actually has great fit, excellent G-10 lines, nice engraved panel lines and an absolutely unbeatable price. Those darn detail sets... turned my $2.00 model into a $40.00 model. Unfortunately I built this kit several years ago so I cannot remember every single detail of the construction process. I do remember the kit fitted together very well and I did not use any putty.

On to the model!

Cockpit and Fuselage

I first prepared the kit interior to accept the Cooper set. There was a lot of sanding with the Dremel to get the sidewalls thin enough so the detail set would fit properly. Once the sidewalls were sanded the fit was perfect.

The interior was painted with Gunze RLM 66 and given my usual wash and dry brush treatment. The fuselage fit well and I did not encounter any problems. The panel lines matched up nicely and from there I moved onto the wings.

Wing Detail

Once the fuselage was together, I carefully dry fit the wings and I was surprised to see a perfect wing root fit. I remember saying to myself, “This can’t be an old Monogram kit. The wing root ACTUALLY fits? Cool!!”.

At the time there was not a flap detail set that I knew of, so I just cut the flaps and posed them in the down position. The plastic was fairly thin and it did not take too much effort to make a nice cut. The wheel well area could use some work, but all in all the fuselage wing root fit was excellent.

Next I moved onto my favorite thing... painting and weathering!

I painted the model according to the Aeromaster decal sheet # 48-385 “Augsburg Eagles Part VII” and I used Gunze RLM colors for the Luftwaffe day fighter scheme. RLM 76, 75 and 82.

Once the model had the standard scheme applied, I shaded several panels and applied the decals.

The decals were great!

They were thin and settled down nicely with a small amount of setting solution. Before I applied the decals I tried something different from the usual Future gloss coat. I began using (and still today I use) microscope lens paper to polish the paint to a sheen and I did not need a gloss goat. Gunze is really soft paint and the lens paper will make it shine like you wouldn’t believe! My belief is the least amount of gloss and flat coats you use, the better the finish will look. Try it! It takes a little longer than a gloss coat, but the results are fantastic.

Once the model was painted and decaled, I used the airbrush to shade and weather the panel lines, exhaust, etc. By the way, the spiral on the nose went on great! Usually spirals are notoriously difficult and time consuming to apply. This decal was awesome.

Once the weathering was completed, I moved to the final stages of construction.

Some of the little extras were the nice tall tail wheel from Cooper, Squadron Erla Haube canopy, True Details wheels, surgical suture antenna, solder wire DF loop antenna, wire for other antennas and canopy brace, robbed Galland Panzer headrest from a Hasegawa kit and a Prisma silver color pencil for the chipping.

All of these extras fitted well and were easy to install.

Once the little items were added, I used Polly Scale Flat for a final coat.

This was a great little kit.

I have not built the new Hasegawa G-10 but this one could give it a run for it’s money, no pun intended! Anyway, with all the details added I think this kit was a fun kit to build. The detail sets fit well and the decals were superb. All in all I really enjoyed building this kit. I hope you enjoy it.

PS..... like I said before... If only Hasegawa would build a 1/32 G-10!!

Happy modeling!

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Model, Images and Article Copyright © 2003 by Scott Samo
Page Created 20 October, 2003
Last updated 17 March, 2004

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