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Bf.109G-6 Early Profipak (82113) 1:48


Mike

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Bf.109G-6 Early Profipak (82113) & Overtrees (82113X)
1:48 Eduard


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There must have been billions of words written on the Bf.109 over the years, which was the mainstay of the Luftwaffe's fighter arm, despite having been superseded by the Fw.190 and others during its service life. It kept coming back to prominence due partly to it being a trusted design, the manufacturer's sway with the RLM, and the type's ability to be adapted as technology advanced.

The G or Gustav as it was known was one of the later variants, and probably one of the better ones, with improved armament that give it a distinctive pair of blisters in front of the windscreen, plus mounting points for the 210mm rocket tubes used to disrupt the bomber streams in long range attacks using timed detonation. The other minor changes were targeted at defensive means, removing the mounting points and hardware for long-range tanks etc.


The Kit
We reviewed the G-6 Late earlier (here), and now a bit later, we review the early. Confused? Yeah, me too. The kit arrives in the usual Profipak box, and consists of four sprues of grey styrene, a clear sprue, two decal sheets, a sheet of masks, a small pre-painted Photo-Etch (PE) sheet, plus the instruction booklet with painting & decaling guide found to the rear. If you have the G-6 Late, then you have already seen the sprues. What's different however are the decals and small changes to the PE sheet, which we'll go over later.

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Construction proceeds in an almost identical manner, with the first differences in the tail assembly, where the choice of fin is limited to the standard part, as is the rudder. This will leave you with a few other options in the parts bin after, which is always handy. The trailing aerial fit under the starboard wing is omitted, and a PE patch panel is added just aft of the wing root under the fuselage, and the canopy choice is limited to two type of windscreen part, and two types of aerial on the aft canopy section, with the Erla canopy left on the sprue. All the rest is the same as the Late, so I won't repeat the construction steps here.



Markings
Of course, the markings are going to be different, and as usual with the Profipak boxing, there are five colourful and different options that should entertain most folks, and test your airbrushing skills as all examples have at least some degree of mottling that is difficult (but not impossible) to achieve with a brush. From the box you can build one of the following:

  • W.Nr. 15919, Flown by Maj. Hermann Graf, CO of JGr 50, Wiesbaden – Erbenheim, September 1943
  • W.Nr. 20499, Flown by Lt. Erich Hartmann, CO of 9./JG 52, Nove Zaporozhye, October 1943
  • W.Nr. 18107, Flown by Uffz. Georg Amon, 7./JG 53, Torazzo Airfield, Sicily, June 1943
  • W.Nr. 440190, Flown by Lt. Alfred Hammer, CO of 6./JG 53, Wien – Seyring, February 1944
  • W.Nr. 160756, Flown by Uffz. Rene Darbois, I./JG 4, Santa Maria, July 25, 1944

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Both decal sheets are printed in-house on a very blue backing paper with super-shiny carrier film, but the register, colour density and sharpness is excellent, with a pair of complete swastikas on one corner ready to be cut off if local laws could be a problem. The usual halved versions are the other side of the dotted line in this event, so you can suit yourself.

Conclusion
As I might have mentioned in the earlier review of the late, it's good to see a company taking notice of their criticisms and reworking a kit to improve it substantially. A superb quality moulding with plenty of good decal options makes for quite a compelling purchase.

Very highly recommended.

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Overtrees
If you're not familiar with the concept, this is a cut-down boxing that just includes the styrene, no instructions, decals or PE in a white box, to allow the modeller to get more kits for a little less money. It's great news if you want to build another decal option, or have your own decals, don't care about the PE parts, or for any other reason. You can however buy the stencil decals and PE separately, if you wanted or change your mind about the purchase.


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Overtrees Bf.109G-6 Early
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Stencil Decals
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Overtrees Photo-Etch

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Review sample courtesy of
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Maybe the "most Messerschmitted Messerschmitt of all Messerschmitt", as Vladimir Sulc said, but Ed managed to give us some of the most interesting colour options, with Graf, Hartmann, Amon and Darbois machines.

Great!

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:lol: I liked Graf's red nosed one & the green job... both very appealing :) Also, it was lovely to see a Mossie making a bee-line for Graf on the box art. You can't beat a bit of Mossie ^_^

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:lol: I liked Graf's red nosed one & the green job... both very appealing :) Also, it was lovely to see a Mossie making a bee-line for Graf on the box art. You can't beat a bit of Mossie ^_^

Also, did you notice that it looks like a FB.VI?

I thought that JGr 50 was mostly after PR. or B. type mossie.

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:lol: I liked Graf's red nosed one & the green job... both very appealing :) Also, it was lovely to see a Mossie making a bee-line for Graf on the box art. You can't beat a bit of Mossie ^_^

Do you think including a Mossie on the box art is a subtle hint from Eduard ? Maybe a Limited Edition on the way - or am I just dreaming ?

BillyD

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...probably more a case of the Mossie being after him then? :pilot: I didn't look too closely at the type, I'll admit :)

Unlikely, JGr 50 lasted only a few months in 1943, and was based in Germany to tackle high flying mossies.

And at this time, Mossies above the Reich were mainly PR. and B. version.

FB. were flying Intruder and Ranger mostly right above the deck, and mostly over occupied Europe.

Do you think including a Mossie on the box art is a subtle hint from Eduard ? Maybe a Limited Edition on the way - or am I just dreaming ?

BillyD

You're dreaming.

So far no agreement between Ed and Tamiya.

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