HASEGAWA 1:72 MESSERSCHMITT BF 109G-2

 

Reviewer: John F Kelley  (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:  4 December 2001

Aircraft:
Messerschmitt’s Bf-109 was probably about as famous an aircraft as can be imagined from the World War II era.  It got its baptism of fire during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930’s and continued as a front line Luftwaffe fighter all the way through the Second World War.  Even though it was outdated by the end of the war, in skilled hands it remained a very potent weapon.  The world’s top scoring ace of aces, Erich Hartmann, flew 109’s exclusively, ending the war with an incredible total of 352 aircraft shot down.

The version represented in this kit is a G-6, the most numerous of all the variants of the 109.  I chose to modify this kit to represent (at least fairly accurately!) an earlier G-2.  I’ll describe below, in the construction area, the modifications I did and those I fudged on.

The Kit:
This kit’s instructions are dated 1993.  As is usual with Hasegawa, you get crisp moldings, finely scribed panel lines, good detail and engineering, and little or no flash.   Enclosed you’ll find five sprues molded in light gray and one sprue of clear parts, which if my memory serves, was not bagged separately.  You are provided with two canopies, both thin and clear, a standard framed one and a later Erla haube.  The Erla is not to be used if building one of the three aircraft represented by the supplied decals.  The tail is molded separately from the main fuselage which allows the manufacturer to easily provide for the later tall, wooden tail.

Instructions:
Typical Hasegawa four-fold type with an introduction in Japanese and English.  Construction is shown in 9 steps and offers no surprises to anyone who’s built a 1/72 single engine WWII fighter.  Painting instructions use the Gunze-Sangyo and Mr. Color references like most Hasegawa kits.  RLM numbers used where appropriate.

Construction:
Construction starts with the interior.  Fairly Spartan as usual with Hasegawa, just a floorboard with some detail, rudimentary rudder pedals, control stick, instrument panel with decal for detail, no sidewall detail and a seat.  The only detailing I did in the interior was to make seatbelts/shoulder harnesses out of masking tape.  I painted the interior with Model Master enamel RLM 66, assembled it, added the seatbelt details and applied the instrument decal.  After a coat of Testor’s Dullcote, I applied drops of Future over each instrument to simulate the glass.  Installation of the interior can wait until the fuselage halves are together, which I then did and sanded the seams.  Fit was good.  The tail wheel is separate and can be added later.  I elected to paint this separately and add it towards the end.  

At this point I began some modifications to make this aircraft represent a G-2.  The cowling bulges for the G-6 are molded separately from the fuselage and were simply left off.  The G-2 did not have the MG 131 heavy machine guns that made the bulges necessary.  The top of the cowling is a separate piece and, after gluing it in place I sanded the seam down sufficiently enough as to make it disappear.  The G-6 had a visible seam there but the G-2 did not.  One misrepresentation that I did in this area concerns the top of the cowling.  To be perfectly accurate, I should have removed the molded-in guns and replaced them with smaller, scratch-built ones.  Additionally, the area around the gun troughs needed to be scribed.  Both options seemed a bit too much for me in this small scale so I decided to let it go.  

At about the same time, I removed, by sanding, a small oil cooler cover on the starboard side of the fuselage near where the bulge would have gone.  On top of the fuselage behind the cockpit is another piece that needed to be removed.  It is a small bulge for the DF loop antenna used in later versions.  On the left side of the aircraft, just forward of the tail plane is a small, oval access panel.  This was filled and sanded, as it was not introduced until the G-5 and 6 versions.  This particular model was the second Hasegawa 109G series that I have had experience with.  One thing I had noticed from the first was the shape of the top of the cowling as it angles down to the spinner.  There was a noticeable step back up to the spinner as you follow the lines of the top cowling from back to front. It should be a smooth, uninterrupted line.  SO…I added a bit of filler to the top and sanded/smoothed it down until it blended nicely with the spinner (see photo of completed model below).  One more slight difference between the G-6 and G-2 was in the area of the tail wheel.  The G-2’s tail wheel was retractable and, therefore, had a space in the tail into where the wheel retracted.  The G-6’s tail wheel was fixed in the down position and the open area for retraction was covered.  The area that was covered up had to be sanded off.  After all modifications were done, I dropped in the interior and glued it in place. 

I then glued the wings together and attached them to the fuselage.  One more modification might have been necessary for most G-2’s in this area.  The bulges on top of the wings for the later, larger wheel types would usually be removed.  The references I had showed them on the particular aircraft I was planning on doing so I left them on.   This aircraft was equipped with underwing cannon gondolas and at this time I assembled them and glued them to the wings. 

The horizontal tail then came next and then it was time for painting.  I used MM enamels and painted a scheme of RLM 79 Sandgelb with a mottle of RLM 80 Olivegrün over RLM 78 Hellblau.  The RLM 79 for this aircraft, according to my references should have been the later, darker variety.  Since Model Master does not offer this, I mixed up a batch of my own, using MM Military Brown to darken it up.  I used Eagle Editions’ Luftwaffe Color Chart paint chips as my guide, which was very helpful and highly recommended. After a couple of coats of Future I was ready for the decals.  The decals I used were Aeromaster, from their Mediterranean Bf 109s of JG 53 set.  I chose a G-2/R1 Trop flown by Lt. Wilhelm Crinius, Bizerta, Tunisia, January 1943.  They went on fine with Micro Set and Micro Sol.  After a coat of Dullcote, I finished up all the details such as landing gear, prop, antenna (which I had scrounged from my spares box, as the antenna provided represents a shorter one, used in later versions), and unmasking of the canopy.  

The wheels enclosed with the kit are the hubbed type, which was incorrect for the G-2.  I “borrowed” a set of spoked wheels from a Hasegawa E-4 kit and used them.  I suppose that, technically, this wasn’t quite right as the actual aircraft did have the wing bulges for larger tires but, all in all, I thought it looked correct.  My references showed that many G-2’s of JG 53 had the tail wheel covered even though it was retractable so I elected to use the tail wheel provided.

Options:
The kit includes an optional fuel tank, tropical filter, underwing gun gondolas and the above-mentioned Erla canopy.  Also provided is a clear piece used for the pilot’s head armor if you need the type with armored glass.

Versions & Decals:
The decals provided give you three options.  The first is “Yellow One”, flown by Oblt. Erich Hartmann when he was Staffel Kapitän of 9/JG52.  Next is Hptm. Gerhard Barkhorn’s aircraft with double chevrons when he served as Kdr. II/JG52.  And finally you could choose “Red Thirteen”, flown by Obfw. Heinrich Bartels of 11/JG27.  All aircraft are painted in standard camouflage of RLM colors 74/75/76.  Decals are typical Hasegawa, a bit on the thick side but usable in my opinion.  The whites of the decals are off-white, which I actually prefer over an unrealistically bright white.

Accuracy:
To me, the model looks great.  As I said above, the top of cowling needed a little filler to smooth out the lines to the spinner.  I’ve read some reviews about this particular mold that mention the shallowness of the fuselage towards the tail.  After comparing the model to pictures I would have to agree that it is true but not glaringly so.  All in all, I think it captures the essence of the 109 very nicely and I think it looks great on the shelf. 

Overall:
I think this was an enjoyable model that anyone could build with no problems.  After looking at the antenna I added, I believe it is a tad too long.  I plan on adjusting that when the inevitable happens!  Detailers would certainly go after the interior and perhaps the wheel wells, which are not quite enclosed.  Beginners would have no problem with this kit and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone looking to add a G-6 to their collection.


© John F.Kelley 2001

 

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