FINISHED - 1/32 ProModeler Bf 109G-4/R6 Regia Aeronautica

[doogsatx/]

Started this one back in late July out of nothing more than a desire to have a Hasegawa 109 fresh in my mind when tackling Revell's new tooling. I'm glad I did - what essentially turned into a double-build revealed the strengths and weaknesses of both kits. The Revell is good...far better in certain respects...but definitely worse in others (gear struts, canopy fit, some WTF engineering choices that lead to unnecessary headaches). Ultimately, I'll probably build both again, but my next 109 is going to be a Trumpeter. I haven't built one yet, but I like the way it's engineered far better than these two, accuracy issues aside.

Anyway, the ProModeler. It represents W.Nr. 19426 serving with the Regia Aeronautica's 364 Squadriglia, 150 Gruppo Autonomo, based at Sciacca in June 1943. Like many Italian 109s, the one had the German insignias oversprayed with Grigio Azzurro Chiaro. This one went a step further with some dark green mottling atop the Italian light blue gray.

Paints were Gunze and Tamiya, with a dash of Vallejo and Alclad.
Aftermarket included Eduard's interior PE, Quickboost exhausts, gunsight, gondola gun barrels and control stick, Eagle Editions spinner, and North Star's beautiful late-F/early-G wheels. Oh, and Eduard/HGW microtextile belts.
Markings are from the Chris Busbridge decal set, which ultimately proved thick and difficult to "vanish" into the surface. Too bad.











Thanks for looking!

[Deleted]

Fantastic result,really nice to see a 109 in these markings too 

is this the Revell tooling that has on just been released? I've heard good things about it so I'm surprised at the fit issues.

[doogsatx/]

Well, this one's the Hasegawa boxed by Revell/Monogram. But yeah, the Revell referenced above is the new one. Not so much fit issues as just really unfortunate choices. Such as making the gear struts these weird, three-piece assemblies that 1) cost you in detail as you clean up the seams 2) have a tendency to warp on the sprues, 3) are far weaker and flexier than the Hasegawa struts and 4) use a more technically correct shoulder-type attachment, but one with so much play in it that getting the gear aligned is a giant PITA.

Still, it does build well enough, and most of the problems are ones that can be addressed by some smart aftermarket, theoretically.

Here's the Revell:

[venom1]

Bloody beautiful! You've done it yet again Doogs!!

Cheers,

Sam

[Deleted]

I was thinking of buying one of these new Revell kits and now I know I will, superb build buddy. Lovely stuff 

I'll also take another idea from you and look for some alternative decals as I prefer not to use swastikas if I can help it.

[doogsatx/]

Sept 16, 2013 14:08:22 GMT -5 @stevem said:

I was thinking of buying one of these new Revell kits and now I know I will, superb build buddy. Lovely stuff 

I'll also take another idea from you and look for some alternative decals as I prefer not to use swastikas if I can help it.

There are some very interesting schemes out there that aren't German...Finnish, Romanian, and Swiss markings are all pretty sharp.

[wbill76]

Nice finish to this one Doogs. The mud on the main gear and tail wheel (including the spatter on the lower rudder) is a nice little detail touch.