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Bf 109 G-6***FINISHED***


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Many years ago I built a couple of the Airfix 109 G-6 kits which were released in the mid 1960's and thought they were not bad. When I saw that they had released a new mould in I think 2009 I bought a couple but they are strange.

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In some respects they look like upgraded versions of the old mould though the detailing and panel lines are better. They have included a modified pilot seat, but there is no other cockpit detail which is most odd given the date of release - even the old Emil had a cockpit floor, stick and IP! Oh, well, not hard to improve that but you have to wonder what they were thinking. There are two canopies - "Standard" and "Erma/Galland" and decs for Luftwaffe, Italian and Finnish versions. I have "borrowed" the underwing rocket launchers for other builds so these will either be clean or have gondola mounted cannon. I don't know if I will build both of them, but at the very least I will probably go for a late "Defence of the Reich" version.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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Hi Pete,

 

I built one of these when it first came out, and was. Like you, a bit disappointed with the kit. Supposed a new tooling it does have many similarities to the old tooling. Still builds up well though, and there is nice marking options.

 

 Cheers Greg 👍

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Too many as usual Col!

One I-16 and one Seahawk waiting for a coat of varnish, 4 x Bf 109 in construction, and one La-5FN about to join them, but they are all small single engined planes so the construction should not be not that difficult - I hope. I have made a start on the cockpit.

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I have inserted the kit seat, together with a rear bulkhead, and made a floor which can be fitted from underneath once the fuselage is closed as will be a DIY IP. The stick will go in from the top.

 

Pete

 

Later,

 

Just for Col😆

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The La-5FN is easy as it is white but I am going to have to be careful with the 109's to make sure I put the right bits on!

Edited by PeterB
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That's an interesting line-up Pete and shows not only the minor differences in construction between the various 109 kits but also how chunky the LA-5 was in comparison.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Basic assembly complete and primed.

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The panel lines are a bit on the heavy side as is normal with the more recent Airfix kits. I am going to finish it as a "Defence of the Reich" plane with underwing cannon, having used the rocket tubes from both my kits on other builds. I was considering doing it in the late war RLM 81/82/83 colours but research shows that it was more likely to be in 74/75/76 as the late scheme seems more appropriate for G-10/14 and K-4 machines.

 

So with the first 3 finished I can press on with this.

 

Pete

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Hi Pete,

you are sure moving fast!

It looks very good, even with only a coat of primer.

Wasn't there as well a problem with the weapons' bulges in front of the cockpit being depicted as a single one, rather than two individual fairings?

 

I have shied from this kit, although each and every kit deserves to be built!

 

Have fun!

 

JR

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Hi Jean,

 

You are right about the bulges - I am considering what to do with them as they are moulded as a sort of "Saddle" over the top of the fuselage.

 

Pete

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2 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi Jean,

 

You are right about the bulges - I am considering what to do with them as they are moulded as a sort of "Saddle" over the top of the fuselage.

 

Pete

Good luck Pete,

 

I am afraid it may involve surgery....

Have fun!!!

 

JR

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Hi Jean,

 

I have filed it down so the bulges are only at the sides and not all the way across the top. Crude, but looks a bit better. I may not after all go for a true "Defence of the Reich" version but rather a variation on one of the kit options flown by Kurt Brandle of II/JG3 based at Schipol in Holland shortly before his death in October 1943, with a standard 74/75/76 finish.

 

Pete

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Bit of tidying up to do but the basic 74/75/76 scheme is on  - next I will start on the  74/75 mottle.

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Painting in this weather brings back memories of the early 1960's when I was still living with my parents. My dad had built me a modelling shed from a combination of old packing cases  and cement asbestos sheet and on a day like today it would be like being in an oven. I can remember painting the waterline of my Airfix 1/600 HMS Warspite in Hu33 black and it was dry an inch or so behind where the brush currently was!

 

Speaking of those bygone days, I started building kits of planes in around 1955, before the internet existed and at a time when books on aircraft that I could afford were few and far between. As far as I and my friends knew all Luftwaffe planes were painted green on top and blue underneath, and the models available at that time – Airfix and Frog mostly, did nothing to change my view. However, as time went by I discovered that in the case of fighters that was not entirely correct. When Humbrol released their “Authentic” range of paints in the mid 1960's they included not just RLM 71/72 and 65 but also RLM 74/75 and 76 and I discovered that the grey scheme came in (I thought) in late 1941.

 

Since then I have found that one of the greens was often changed to RLM 02 by the start of the Battle of Britain and that they were experimenting with grey schemes before it ended, with 74/75 being standard by early in 1941. Then, about 20 years ago I came across references to 3 “new” colours, RLM 81/2/3 which were green/brown colours though there were variations in the exact shade and also the unofficial common names depending on the maker of the paint and the aircraft manufacturer using them - RLM 81 was variously called Braunviolett, Olivebraun and Dunkelgrun, RLM 82 was Hellgrun and RLM 83 Dunkelgrun it seems. My initial understanding was that this was a switch to “ground camouflage” due to the loss of air superiority and increased losses through strafing and came about in the latter part of 1944, though I now find that Ullmann says the colours were developed during the end of 1942 and early 43, and that orders were issued for them to be used as top colours on new production from August 1943, either on their own or replacing one of the greys. However, manufacturers were allowed to use up existing stocks of paint, and sometimes ignored the instruction it seems, so the new colours do not appear to have been in common use until mid 1944 onwards.

 

As the war drew to a close, shortages of paint and the pigments to make it, together with time and cost considerations resulted in orders to cut back on painting both the interior and the undersides of aircraft and at some stage one final new colour seems to have made an appearance – a sort of slightly greyer and faded looking version of RAF Sky. I have seen it on profiles of several late Bf109, and in his book “Augsburg's Last Eagles”, Brett Green shows pictures of an unrestored airframe in Australia which seems to have been painted under the fuselage in this colour, but there is considerable debate about what exactly it is. Some sources have christened it RLM 84 but AFAIK there is no evidence that such colour officially existed. A more common opinion is that it is either some gash paint mix used because the proper paint was not available – Green suggests several possible combinations of “normal” RLM paint, or maybe it was a version of RLM 76 which Merrick says changed colour quite a lot, perhaps due to pigment shortages. I am inclined to go with the latter interpretation but you can take your pick!

 

Anyway, this is the standard grey scheme but my 109K will be in the later colours.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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Mottle could be a bit heavy but it will do.

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I have read that the "Earla-Haube" canopy started to be introduced in late 1943 and the one I am modeling in October of that years seems to have had one. Airfix do provide one as an option but have really screwed up the framing. The "horizontal" frames at the top are totally straight when in fact they curve down at the rear as I have painted them. Also, it had the so called "Galland Panzer" armoured glass head protection but Airfix do not provide one - instead they provide a spurious frame line where it would be on the canopy top and a curious short "headrest" on top of the seat. Anyway I have made one from scrap packaging and you can just about make it out in the pic. I have since taken the kit canopy off as I have just remembered I have some spare Erla canopies from a Falcon set which should look better if they fit!

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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That is a big improvement. The rear end  of the canopy is the correct shape with only the apprpriate frame lines moulded.

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The Falcon canopy is meant to be for Hasegawa/Heller kits but with a little adjustment it fits this as well. I had to put a taller armoured glass panel in as the vac-form canopy is a lot thinner than the kit one and the first one I made was a good 1mm short of reaching the roof.

 

A bit of touching up and it will be ready for decals.

 

Pete

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Just about done - just needs a final coat or two of varnish.

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This is meant to be a plane flown by Major Kurt Brandle, Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG3 "Udet". After spending almost a year in Russia, they moved back to Germany on August 12th 1943 to re-equip and train, and a month later moved to Schipol Airport near Amsterdam, presumably to help attack the increasing allied bombing raids, so not the formal "Defence of the Reich" but near enough. Brandle was shot down and killed on on November 3rd 1943 over the sea, his body washing ashore on the Dutch coast on December 30th. He was credited with 180 kills and had the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). Earlier that day he claimed 2 P-47 from the escort of a force of B-17's attacking Wilhelmshaven. Later, a force of B-25 Marauders attacked Schipol and II/JG3 scrambled to intercept - it is assumed he fell victim to the RCAF escort.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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  • PeterB changed the title to Bf 109 G-6***FINISHED***

And done.

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Not the best of kits in some respects and Airfix missed out badly by not doing a proper cockpit.  Still, it does not look too bad.

 

Pete

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Well done Pete. As you say this isn't one of Airfix' better kits but it'll look good along side all your other 109 :thumbsup:

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