1/48 scale Revell & Hobbycraft Kitbashed Messerschmitt
Bf 109G-6/AS

by Floyd S. Werner Jr.

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6/AS

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Background

The Controversy

About two months ago someone asked on Hyperscale about a 109 with a different paint scheme. I had just received my copy of the Jet & Prop magazine from Germany that had an all black 109 in it. I suggested this to the guy who posted. It just so happened that Luftwaffe im Focus was going to release a limited edition decal sheet of this particular airplane’s markings, which were very unique. The unit emblem had not been previously released and consisted of an owl on a strange shaped shield, as well as, the aircraft number “5”. Jet and Prop called for a “Green 5”. Pictures were posted to the net of this particular airplane from the J&P article. It was suggested by Jerry Crandall that the markings may, I repeat may, have been red. Someone then posted a personal attack against Jerry. It was quickly removed but the venom with which the posting was written was unmistakable. A political comment: boys and girls it is just a hobby and people are entitled to disagree with someone’s findings. Unless you were there, it could have been…

Off my political soapbox.

Not to be one to shy away from controversy, especially when it comes to German aircraft I decided then and there to make one.

Background

The Model

Why did I choose the 1/48 scale Revell-Monogram fuselage?

Well, I got to tell you, every once in a while a model just refuses to be built. That is what happened to this particular fuselage. It was originally envisioned to be a G-6/AS from JG-27 with the red legs and wheels using the KommanDeur decals. I needed small bumps for the wheels so I decided to use a Medallion conversion set which included new upper wings. Well the conversion set I had was so old and the resin had shrunk so much that it was very difficult to get a proper fit. I made all the changes to the fuselage, but when it came time to put the wings on I just screwed the pooch and did not like the results.

While it was waiting for me to get remotivated to try and fix it, it “flew” off the stand and shattered the wings from the fuselage. I took this as a sign from modeling gods and I trashed the wings. Saving the wheels and the fuselage. I couldn’t get rid of the fuselage as I put some nice work in the Cooper Detail cockpit that I couldn’t get out. I used the fuselage to practice paint techniques on until I stumbled on a hint on an Aeromaster sheet that suggested that you mate the fuselage from the Monogram kit to the wings of the Hobbycraft kit. That seemed easy enough. Let me tell you how I screwed it up.

The AS conversion

First off, the AS conversion is a sly rascal to say the least. Three different type of tails, may have a long or short tail wheel, may or may not have bulges on the oil cooler panel, may or may not have the Type 110 cowling, occasionally even has the larger oil cooler but generally the AS versions were not G-10s. The G-6 and G-14 were the more common versions. I’m going to speak in general terms here.

The G-6 had a larger tail which is a unique shape made of metal, the wings contained small kidney bulges for the “normal” G-6, short tail wheel strut and no bumps on the oil cooler. The G-14 seemed to contain the longer tail strut, normal G-10 oil cooler bumps, and the tall tail made of metal (occasionally wood) but retained the small wheels. Confused? Most 109 freaks, I meant to say experts, myself included, have a hard time telling the difference as the work was accomplished alongside of “normal” aircraft. I’m sure I’ll hear about that!

What I did was sand the bumps off the nose, used the shallow and spread the oil cooler from the Fujimi kit, as well as, the Fujimi AS tail. This seems to depict the aircraft in the photos.

How I managed to screw up a model and learned to live with it

The Monogram kit is still, in my eyes, a great value and a great kit. The interior is sparse but with the addition of the Cooper Detail Interior, now Jaguar the kit builds up nicely with good fit all around. I think the Cooper Detail set is one, if not the best, 109 cockpit available. I wanted to try the new Eduard Color Etch seatbelts. They fit great looked nice and were quick but I think I like to paint my own and weather them myself.

The AS conversion required a new type of tail. I asked myself, “Self, I’ll bet the Fujimi AS tail would fit on that kit, maybe even the oil cooler” I frequently talk to myself when modeling. I’m not sure it is healthy or not but the voices inside my head say that I’m alright and they are correct most of the time. Well they were correct this time as well. I just cut off the Monogram tail just above the panel line and along the vertical hinge area and scabbed on the Fujimi tail. Perfect fit. The oil cooler was just as easy. It fit like it was designed for the kit.

The Hobbycraft wings fit the Monogram fuselage real well. I did need some shims of plastic on the front and back but it was a decent fit. I couldn’t not let well enough alone and just attach the Hobbycraft wings, I had to articulate the flaps with the KMC control surface. This was my Waterloo.

First off, the wings are made of a brittle plastic, especially around the oil coolers and I ended up breaking the plastic while sawing off the kit control surfaces. Superglue on the inside fixed that. When you saw the Hobbycraft control surfaces off you have to do the upper and lower surfaces separately. The bottom of the wings and the top of the wings don’t line up. You can’t tell on the model when the control surfaces aren’t articulated, but you sure can when they are. This created a problem, but not too bad. The real problem came when I had the surfaces off and then glued the wings to the fuselage. The wings were flexible with the control surfaces but with them gone they were positively flimsy. I managed to induce a warp into them, one that would not go away. This in turn caused the control surfaces not to line up when they were attached.

The KMC control surfaces are nice but not perfect. The inboard flaps are very nice. The outboard ones are too thin and too small. Since this was the second iteration on the wings I said the heck with it. I’m building this for me and I don’t mind too much. I couldn’t hook up a Hasegawa wing as the panel break is in a different spot, the Monogram, Hobbycraft and Fujimi being in a more logical place, at a panel line and Hasegawa being in the center of a panel. The problems kept building as I stated the outer flaps are a little thin and could use a .005 on top and bottom of the flap, but this didn’t prove easy to do. What I eventually settled on was adding the .005 to the top and bottom of the wing with a bend so the KMC part had a place to sit and the see through effect would vanish. I did add an Eduard photo-etch wheel well insert to the top wing. This prevented me from having to fill the wing bumps attachment points and they fit real well.

The landing gear actually fit real well. I attached them early on as the whole airplane is black from the photos. It was time to paint.

Painting and Markings

The airplane is BLACK, top and bottom. The pictures seem to show at least a glossy finish, but I figured in scale a semi-gloss finish would be fine. I wanted to break up the monotony of an all black finish. After cutting off the Cutting Edge spinner and blades a coat of Tamiya Flat White was painted to the prop spinner and tips. The white tips are unusual for a Luftwaffe airplane. The Cutting Edge Spiral Masks were used to paint the spiral. I liked the results. If I had to criticize them it would have been that I would have liked to see what each spiral looked like before I applied them to the spinner, but they worked like a champ. I loved them and I will use them again. The blades were masked and Tamiya’s new Black Green was used to finish off the Cutting Edge blades.

I used Brett Green and Chris Wauchop’s method of mixing Tamiya 50% black and Tamiya 50% Red Brown. At first it looked very red, but subsequent coats brought out the black. Once that was done I added some straight black to the panel lines. It looked okay but it still lacked the difference I was looking for. Milton Bell shared a tip of using Polly-S Dust thinned applied to the center of the panels. When done correctly it looks very convincing. Milton is much better at it than I am, but the results looked nice. Then an overcoat of Future prepared the aircraft for the decals.

Luftwaffe im Focus provides decals in the three major scales, 1/72^nd, 1/48^th, and 1/32^nd on this sheet. You can save money buy having two or three guys pitch in to share the sheet. A word of caution, these decals are limited to 500 examples. When they are gone, they are gone. The Luftwaffe im Focus decals went on without any problems. Initially I thought I would use my ALPS printer and change the color of one side to red and leave the other green but that was too Christmassy. One problem I noticed almost immediately was that all my dust and panel highlights went away. After all the work it was gone. I applied Model Master Semi-Gloss to the whole kit and then used the dust again. Now I was happy with the result. It is slightly shiny and not too monotonous. Hopefully that comes out in the photos.

Weathering was as per the photos. All panel lines were given a wash of Burnt Umber. An exhaust of Tamiya Flat Earth and Flat Black were airbrushed on the aircraft.

Finishing Touches

One thing that you will notice about the real aircraft is that it has a window cutouts on each side. I wanted to replicate this but after checking I found out that none of my vacuform canopies were for the Monogram kit. I don’t know if the Falcon canopies would have worked as mine was previously used on an unknown kit. The Squadron one is for the Otaki/Arii kit. The Monogram cockpit is slightly smaller fore/aft and slightly lower vertically. I would have to use the kit canopy even though this was really thick. The windows themselves were easy to accomplished. I used Dymo tape to outline the panel and then drilled out around the perimeter. Final cleanup was done with files and each side was aligned. The cuts are nice but I really want to do it on a thinner canopy. Once cut the whole thing was dipped in Future. The canopy was masked with EZ Masks, which made the job real easy. The canopy was attached with a drop or two of CA and white glue. The CA anchors it and the white glue fills it and gives it strength.

Conclusion

That is it. Done an all black Bf-109G-6/AS. What could have been done next time? I would use the Hasegawa G-10 kit with the Fujimi tail, plus an aftermarket canopy. That is the easiest way. To be totally precise, an MDC G-6/AS conversion nose. See my article at http://hsfeatures.com/bf109g10type110fw_1.htm for this conversion part.

As far as aftermarket stuff goes the Cooper Detail interior is beautiful and is the standard I judge all others by. The Luftwaffe im Focus decals worked great and looked the part of the real aircraft. The Cutting Edge Spinner and Prop blades were excellent and fit beautifully. The Black Magic Spinner Spiral worked as they were designed. The Eduard Color Etch seatbelts were very nice and very easy to use. The EZ Masks are very fast and fit perfectly. I highly recommend all of the aftermarket stuff I used, except for the KMC control surfaces. If you are going to use the Hobbycraft wings just stick with controls in the up position.

I may redo this airplane again another day. If somebody wants to go in on the decals I only need the 1/48^th scale set. Bottom line: Remember modeling is fun. I like the look of this aircraft in my collection. It is unique and guaranteed to start a conversation, even with the wing warp. What more could you ask from a model?