Review Build Border Model Bf.109G-6 1:35

[Mike]

When we received the new Border 1:35 Bf.109G-6 we got it reviewed PDQ so that people could have a look at this sort-of new scale venture, from a relatively young company, and you can see it here.  We're used to 1:35 AFVs, and a few helicopters that have been scaled to go into AFV dioramas, but this is one of the first mainstream kits of traditional winged aircraft, and that's worth a look.  Could this be the new de facto larger scale that attracts the AFV modellers so they can have everything in their cabinet in the same scale?  I know that's an attractive proposition, as I seriously considered 1:48 armour when I first got interested in the genre thanks to @Dads203.  I went with the de facto 1:35 for my AFVs on his advice, and stuck with 1:48 for my aircraft.  1:72 scale modellers have had that for a while now, although there's not a huge range (that I've seen) of new kits coming out in wee scale.

 

Anyway, I'm wittering. It's my first 1:35 aircraft, and my first Border Model kit, so I was interested to see how things went.  It's well-detailed, has plenty of parts, a complete engine with optional clear cowlings, some weapons, and a few goofs, which I've already outlined in the review.  I'm not one to throw up my hands and scream "unbuildable", as we're all human and therefore fallible, so I just shrug my shoulders and carry on.  If a thing bothers me enough, I'll see if it's fixable, or I'll leave it if it's too hard or I'm not feeling particularly adventurous.  Here we go!

 

The first item up was the engine, which goes together quite well.  I've left it in a few sub-assemblies to make it easier to paint, and be aware that there are a few pins that are slightly larger than their sockets, so keep a pin-vice with a drill bit handy, and test fit everything, which is a good idea whatever you're building, be it shake-the-box or short run.  The details on the top of the ancillary "block" can be put on at the wrong angle, so check the instructions carefully before you apply the glue.  F23 needs to point slightly upwards, which won't happen if you put them on upside down, and D62/63 need to be set square, as there's no key on the pin.  Get that right, and you'll be smiling.  The little tanks on the sides of the engine block have tight pins, so adjust those accordingly (they're not in the picture).  Also, the centreline gun can be put in at any orientation, but check the humps and bumps then compare them with the instructions before you glue them in.  Here's a pic of the majority of the engine, surrounded by supercharger, engine mounts, cowling, pilot and so forth, all ready for priming.

 

 

You might notice that there are some seams on the exhaust stacks, which I added from stretched sprue, because the perfectly servicable moulding seams that are on them at outset have to be sanded away to remove one of the sprue gates on the elbow.  it didn't take long to do the job, and I know it's a bit over-scale, but I quite like the look of them.  Be sure to set all the exhausts to the same angle to the engine, or you might have some issues with slotting them into the cowling later on.  If you let them sag, it'll bite you in the bottom.

 

I've also knocked up the insides of the cockpit walls after filling the ejector pin marks, only two of which are visible, as I suspect the ones at the front will be shrouded in darkness.  There's a bit of filler behind some of those detail parts, so learn from my wasted effort Detail is nice in there too, so I'm looking forward to painting that little lot up.  The figure is especially nice, as you could probably tell from the pics in the review, but the pic above came out a bit soft because I've focused on the IP and engine, so focus was drifting off a bit.  You can see the IP coaming on the left of the pic, with the basic nose gun bay visible with a few un-filled ejector pins.  Frankly, I'm ok with that, as I'm going to leave the Beule closed up and opaque.  I'm not yet decided on the clear cowlings, whether to use them or not.  I might.  I might prop one cowling open or leave one cowling clear.  Who knows?  Not me. It's nice to have options though

 

 

I also knocked together the wing inserts that hold the wing guns' ammo chutes, which are drawn back-to-front on the instructions with the slots for the ammo chutes in the front, and as I found the design odd and intriguing, I first nipped off those parts from the sprues while I was writing the review.  It took a wee while for me to figure out what was up, but once I did it was a simple enough fix.  The artist got it backwards, and also drew the cylinders in slightly the wrong place.  No harm done if you read the review or this build thread before you start gluing.  If you're interested, I've been giving feedback to Border on the kit via Albion to assist them with future projects, all being well.  Go me!    You can see how they should go together in the pic below.

 

 

Since then I've been filling the ejector pin marks on the inside of the flaps and the head armour, and I've also been making up the landing gear.  The main gear having movable oleos is cool, but in reality it also leaves a little bit too much "slop" in the strut, allowing the axle to twist round a few degrees each way, so I set them to minimum and flooded it with glue, which also made fitting the scissor-links easier, as there was one less moving part in the equation.  Check the width between the receivers on the strut before you start gluing the oleo parts in, as I had to adjust mine with a swipe of a skinny sanding tool - one of those cool stick-on Galaxy Tools ones.  We likes

 

The wheels build up really well, and they look great once done, and I'm just waiting for the glue to fully cure before I sand off the bead of plastic I squeezed out, with a similar technique used for the drop-tank.  The last sub-assembly made up so far is the prop.  I got the metal blades in my goody bag, but I opted to use the styrene ones anyway, as I'm lazy.  There's a bit of prep-work on the metal blades, so I left them in favour of the plastic ones.  Both plastic and metal blades fit into the two halves of the boss very well, with the pins ensuring they're all at the same angle and the correct way round.  I clamped them closed while the glue set, and have another tiny bead of melted plastic to remove tomorrow.

 

I foresee some primer in my near future

 

Don't forget to smash that like button & subcribe, as it really helps me out.   No wait, that's not me.  Ignore that part.

[Sturmovik]

Which G-6 will you be modelling? If it's Hartmann or Barkhorn, their aircraft didn't carry the underwing cannons.

[Mike]

3 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

Which G-6 will you be modelling? If it's Hartmann or Barkhorn, their aircraft didn't carry the underwing cannons.

I want cannons, so it’ll be the other one, unless I get scared of the scheme

 

EDIT: Checked, and it doesn’t frighten me  I’d love some 1:35 stencils though. Anyone? Bueller?

[Sturmovik]

8 minutes ago, Mike said:

1:35 stencils though

You could steal the stencils from a 32nd 109G and trim accordingly.

[SafetyDad]

7 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

You could steal the stencils from a 32nd 109G and trim accordingly.

 

 

+1 for this idea definately.

 

I'm sure that I'm not alone in having noticed variations in decal size from time to time between manufacturers producing items such as national markings and codes that should be the same? Unit badges seem particularly 'variable' in size sometimes in decal form.

 

And being pragmatic, you'll have so much more choice!  

 

SD

 

 

[Mike]

2 hours ago, SafetyDad said:

And being pragmatic, you'll have so much more choice!  

 

I am trying to stick to a relatively OOB build though, so people get an idea of what's in the box, rather than what's in my stash of aftermarket I think if the AM companies don't come up with 1:35 stencils in time though, I might consider pinching some 1:32 stencils, as long as they don't look too out of scale  

[Mike]

You might all think I've not been doing anything after the initial flurry of activity, but I've been busy with various things, including creating and painting various sub-assemblies to save myself from having to change colours too many times.  Silly me painted the cockpit RLM02 first though, so I've got to redo that, as it's more likely to have been grey by that time of the war.  It shows that I've not done much modelling lately

 

Anyway, the motor was given an all-over coat of the darkest grey, followed by a black enamel wash, then a bit of detail painting.  There's still some to go, but I just needed to prove I've not been sat on my bum!    I painted the instrument panel the same colour and did the same wash, followed by some drush-brushing, and then shoe-horned in some Airscale instrument decals, which were a bit large as you'd imagine.  I cut a toothpick to use as a squisher, which folded up the edges and allowed the decals to sit at the bottom of their recess.  I've still got a couple of additional gloss coats to the dials, but I'll do that at the end.

 

 

There's a lot of RLM02 parts knocking about the workshop right now, but none of it is really ready to be photographed.  Especially the cockpit, which is the complete wrong colour    I'm also trying to decide on the colour to paint Mr Pilot's overalls, either brown or the muted grey/blue.  I'm erring on the side of brown, as it's a change from the (ahem) grey of the cockpit.

[Mike]

I finally got the cockpit painted the correct colour, and did a little detail painting to get things moving toward closing up the fuselage.  Shouldn't be long now

 

 

I think I might have missed a trick by not participating in the STGB that's going on now

[Mike]

More bits and bobs have been done, and it occurred to me that I'm going to have to paint the figure before I can close up the fuselage, as I suspect his legs won't go inside any other way.  I've got the wings done, the engine almost ready, and all that an' everythin', so here's a couple of pics:

 

 

 

I've basecoated the figure with my airbrush, including a bit of a top-down "spotlight" coat, and have blocked in his face so far.  I've also dug out my wet-palette so I can do a bit of face painting.  No, I'm not going to look like a tiger after I've done it.  At least I hope now, anyway 🐯