Hasegawa's 1/32 Scale
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6

by Ian Robertson

Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 is available online from Squadron.com

This model depicts a Slovakian Bf.109G-6, Bratislava, Slovakia, June 1944. Never mind that the trees don't have leaves in these photos - maybe there was a caterpillar outbreak!

The scheme is based on a color profile in Histoire & Collections "Messerschmitt Me.109 Volume II". According to the reference the Slovak Air Force began receiving Bf.109G-6s early in 1943 to fend off attacks on the capital by Russian fighters.

The model is Hasegawa's 1/32 Bf.109G-6. Additions to the kit include a replacement spinner, cockpit, and ETC rack from MDC - all of which are excellent and reasonably priced given their level of detail. (In the future I would give pause to using a replacement cockpit on a model with a closed canopy.

Nevertheless, the detail of the MDC cockpit is fantastic and remains surprisingly visible on the model). The kit's exhausts were replaced with Moskit's hollow metal exhausts. The plastic loop antenna was replaced with a piece of copper wire.

This aircraft is described as having a camouflage scheme of RLM 75/82 over 76, with yellow theatre markings under the wing tips and around the fuselage. The cockpit was painted RLM 66, and the undercarriage and wheel wells RLM 02. All camouflage and interior painting was done with Polly Scale acrylics and an Iwata HP-C gravity feed airbrush. Prior to adding the camouflage colors the model's panel lines as well as some panels were pre-shaded in black.

I am not aware of any Slovakian markings available in 1/32nd scale for the Bf.109G. However, creating your own markings can be done relatively easily using paint, masks, and decals. Once the camouflage painting was complete, I masked around areas that corresponded to the size, shape and position of each Slovakian national marking, and then sprayed them with Tamiya gray surface primer. Red Tamiya acrylic was then sprayed in the center of each cross, allowed to dry, and masked with a round piece of Tamiya tape cut from a template. Tamiya Royal Blue acrylic was then painted in the remaining area of each cross. When the masks were removed I was left with a dark blue cross with a red dot in the center.
Because the Slovakian crosses on the upper wings were the same size as the Luftwaffe crosses, I used the kit's Luftwaffe decals to create the white outlines on the Slovakian crosses. The same applied to the underside crosses, except that it was necessary to remove the black centers from the Luftwaffe decals. On the tail I carefully measured and cut angles of white trim to fit the unusually-sized crosses.

The "white 5" on the fuselage was painted and masked with Tamiya tape.

To create the mask I enlarged the color profile from Histoire & Collections to 1/32nd scale on a photocopier. The fuselage was painted white in the appropriate area and then masked with the number until the camouflage had been applied.

The MDC spinner was painted 1/3 white and 2/3 RLM70 (black green). The propeller blades were also painted RLM70.

Exhaust stains were made by spraying highly thinned black paint. Some additional "post-shading" over the model was done in a similar manner, although much more lightly than the exhaust stains. Scratches and scuffs were made near the root of the port wing to simulate wear caused by the pilot entering and exiting the aircraft. Panel lines were darkened slightly using a thinned mixture of burnt umber and raw sienna enamel.

The antenna was made from stretched sprue.

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Slovakian and Bulgarian Aces of World War 2 Aircraft of the Aces 56 Author: Jiri Rajlich Illustrator: John Weal US Price: $19.95 UK Price: £12.99 Publisher: Osprey Publishing Publish Date:  February 25, 2004 Details: 96 pages; ISBN: 1841766526 Shop Buy it from Osprey Publishing

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2004 by Ian Robertson
Page Created 09 April, 2004
Last Updated 12 May, 2004

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