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AZ 1/72 Messerchmitt Bf 109G - twin build (Romanian/Hungarian)


Mitch K

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Since I bought an AZ Bf109G Joy Pack, I have two more to play with and since I really rather enjoyed the Slovakian Bf 109G-6, I dived straight into the other two.

 

Here are the fuselages, with the razor saw cuts made to add the spacer wedges to deepen the nose area.

 

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The Joy Pack only includes a single glazing, "early" type fully framed canopy, plus two of the later "Erla Haube". These both have early glazing so it was a case of hawking around for some suitable canopies. I'd used Rob Taurus vacform items before, to build a Royal Yugoslav Air Force Bf 109E-3a, so that seemed like an obvious route to follow.

 

The small black items are mouldings each carrying three of the small air scoops noticeable on the lower leading edges of the canopies in some versions of the Bf 109G. 

 

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I've build a lot of vacforms (albeit many decades ago!) but that initial cut out from the sheet still gives me anxious moments!

 

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Even after the initial, early sanding to shape suggests that fit shouldn't be an issue.

 

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Just for laughs, here's a shot of the spare parts left from building all three aircraft! Lots of stuff that might come in for other builds - not just canopies and weapons, but tailplanes, wheels, props and other things that can be reshaped//cannibalised/bodged!

 

 

 

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The kit-supplied cockpit is actually really nice, and with only a bit of work, I think it's good enough. Not much is visible unless you open the canopy, which was actually a well-recognised problem on the real aircraft.

 

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The base colour is RLM 66. This is Tamiya, with the instruments done in fine-point drawing pen.

 

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The seatbelts are made from foil, with buckles made from fuse wire. After detail painting, the whole thing was given a wash of dark ink diluted with Klear, a very light drybrush, and finally a coat of matt.

 

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Out of interest, here's the pile of spares you get from a Joypack once you've sorted out all the bits you need for your three specific Bf 109G's. Lots of useful stuff like props, wheels, control surfaces and the like to be adapted or re-shaped for other builds!

 

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3 hours ago, Smudge said:

Is it really necessary to deepen the cowling, is there a fit issue?

 

Those seat belts look great, nice work.

Smudge, the fit isn't bad, generally, with these. As Troy says, there's an issue (or at least a perception) that the cowling at or around the wing leading edge is too shallow, which gives the model an "emaciated" look not present on the original. I think there is some truth in this, although I don't go into swivelly-eyed screaming fits about "massive inaccuracy" or "unbuildable models (like some reviewers have), especially when:

1) I lack plans/drawings etc that I consider to be sufficiently reliable themselves to compare the model to and quantify the issue; and

2) the fix is so simple. 

 

Thanks about the belts! I use the plastic-coated metal foil from the tops of jars of instant coffee, laminated where necessary and using little bits and strips for adjustment buckles. 

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Onwards! The Romanian aircraft is a Bf 109G-2, and as it used the early, thin, wheels, it has no bumps, bulges or pimples on the upper wing.

 

First stage was to carve away most of the bump:

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Paring, scraping, filing and sanding followed:

 

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Finally, working through various grades of micromesh got me to a nice, glassy finish.

 

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Assembly proceeded relatively slowly from here. The addition of the nose fillets obviously affects the fit at the wing roots and the underfuselage to wing joints. It's a case of buttoning up seams one by one, checking, filling and sanding, re-checking, re-filling, re-sanding then moving on. The interchangeable nose sections require quite a lot of care, as the real machine doesn't have a seam at this joint. My own feeling is that the modeller would be better served if these components went down to the exhaust stack, where the cowl opening line is.

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Most of the filling can be accomplished with a squirt of Vallejo putty, smoothed back with a clay shaper or a damp q-tip, then polished up when dry.

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Brake lines are made from lacquered wire. If the lacquer is roughened up a bit, the wire takes glue and paint well.

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I think they look all right painted up.

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Unfortunately, I think I've managed to lose the pictures of the fitting of the vacform canopies, so the next post will be paint and the like!

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With RLM 04 yellow on, ready for the underside colour. The pictures show essentially no colour contrast between the paint and the yellow tape!

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After the RLM 76 went on, the sides/top of the fuselage and the underwings got a coat of RLM 74.

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Here's the Hungarian aircraft, which had the "normal" German-style camouflage, with a high fuselage colour break.

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This is the Romanian aircraft. These were assembled by IAR Brasov, and had a quite different paint scheme, the "Home Defence" pattern, with a soft-edged bands of RLM 74/75 on the wings and stabilisers, then the fuselage camouflaged with spiral patterns of RLM 75 over the pale RLM 76.

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As ever, there's a little bit of dodging in where things have infiltrated under masks, but it's onto painting the mottling on the Hungarian aircraft and the spirals on the Romanian one. Gulp!

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Here's the Hungarian one, with the mottling of RLM 02, 74 and 75. 

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The Romanian example, with whorl/squiggle pattern of RLM 75 over the RLM 76.

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The yellow wasn't an unqualified success. The photos don't show it, but there was a lot of patchiness, poor coverage and tonal variation.

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The large patch under the nose on the Romanian aircraft was the worst.

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So it was careful sanding back and a then coat of very pale grey to even all the tones and surfaces:38492428256_44cf1f27b0_k_d.jpg

 

Then a re-do with the yellow:

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Everything was much more even the second time around and now they're ready for some gloss ahead of the decals.

 

In the mean time, all the undercarriage bits got finished:

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And the spinner were sprayed gloss white ahead of the painting of the blades and main colours on these.

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Now we're getting somewhere!

 

The Bf 109G-6 is an aircraft of the Royal Hungarian Air force (Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő (MKHL)), W.O+21, of the 101st Home Defence Air Wing (101. Honi Légvédelmi Vadászrepülő Osztály), known as the "Red Pumas". Post war, the success of the Red Pumas against the Soviets was not an acceptable topic, and many of the pilots were severely punished for their ctions during the war. However, the unit was reborn in 1988, and has since then proudly flown MiG 21 and 27 fighters and is now moving onto Saab JAS39's

 

The Red Pumas were considered an elite formation, and their successes (albeit at high cost) fully support this designation. This aircraft, W.O+21 was the mount of Lieutenant Lászlo Dániel. His aircraft is unusual in that it sports kill marks. Where the display of victories on aircraft was pretty much de rigeur on USAAF, Luftwaffe and even Soviet aircraft, it was almost unheard of in the MKHL. The bars on the tail show Dániel's early kills against the USAAF in the period of June and July 1944: a P38, plus another shared, two shared B-24's and a further individual p-38, claimed but unconfirmed. He went on to score a further six kills against the Russian in 1945, and survived the war.

 

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Once that lot had hardened off, some stencils were added. All of these are PrintScale decals. These were easy to soak off the backing, were tough and flexible with excellent opacity and colour, and seem to have gone down onto the panel lines exactly as anyone would want with just a touch of Decal Fix. The aircraft will need the decal adhesive residues removing, then a coat of gloss to seal everything, but then it's onto final assembly and finishing!

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Here's the other one! Number 227 was assembled at IAR Brasov, and issued to Grupul 7 Vânătoare of the Royal Romanian Air Force (Forţele Aeriene Regale ale României), and flown by Lieutenant Ioan Dicezare. Dicezare was a high-scoring Romanian ace, with 16 confirmed kills and three probables. All of his aircraft carried his personal monogram, the "IDC" marking below the cockpit, and the words "Hai Fetitu!" on the cowling.

 

"Hai Fetitu!" translates as "C'mon little girl!", and refers to a racehorse (a filly) with that name. Dicezare was apparently a real horse racing enthusiast and was a part-owner of this horse. Dicezare survived the war, and died in 2012, just short of his 96th birthday. He was arrested and imprionsed after the war, but was rehabilitated later, promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-general and appointed Patron of the Air Force.

 

The Prinstscale decals, again, were superb to handle. The only kicker is the "blue" on the tail and on the national cockades. As printed, this is close to violet (hence "blue"!), but should be cobalt blue. To be honest it isn't hugely noticeable, but it bugged the hell out of me once I finally noticed (it's even less apparent when the decals are still on the pale blue backing sheet).

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When I added the stencils, I made a start on altering the violet bits to cobalt blue (I'm using artist's acrylics with a touch of Klear to make them flow). So far I've done the tail and the circles in the cockades. The lines at the edge of the national cockades will have to wait for an evening when I'm less tired and have more time!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally done! Finishing things like exhausts, landing lights, aerials and everything else seems to take me an inordinate amount of time compared to basic assembly and painting!

 

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