Airfix 1/72 Bf-109G-6

By far the most widely build 109 was the G series and of the G series, the G-6 led the crowd. Those pilots who flew long enough to fly the earlier Fs always thought that the G was a bit of a step back, however, as aviation technology moved forward, so did the 109. The G-6 had several improvements over the earlier versions. First off, it had a more powerful DB-605 engine, a requirement thanks to the additional armor and equipment added to the plane. It removed the rifle calibre 7.7mm cowl machine guns and replaced them with 12.5mm guns.

It was also able to handle a wide array of weapons slung under wings and fuselage. In addition to a drop tank, the centerline rack could carry a variety of bombs. Under the wings could be installed podded 20mm guns or even 21 cm rockets. Both of those were effective against bombers, but made the already less than nimble 109 not only more sluggish, but also ate speed. As the G series was produced, even more improvements were added to the airframe including more powerful engines as well as a taller wooden tail unit and an improved Erla designed canopy section. The G-6 was also built under license by the Hungarians and exported to a variety of nations including Finland, Rumania, Switzerland, Croatia and others.

I honestly do not keep up with new releases like some others, so I saw this kit in the LHS quite a few weeks ago. Thinking it may be the old mold, I passed on it, but then realized it was a newly done kit so decided to pick it up for this preview.

I was frankly a bit surprised that it was nearly $10 retail, even though it is a series two kit (which means two decal options). The kit is indeed a new tool with somewhat large engraved panel lines. The external detailing is fairly nice and like previous kits molded in India, has somewhat soft and thick plastic.

There is no cockpit to speak of, with only a seat and pilot. The seat attaches to the sides of the fuselage with pegs and has the head armor molded to the back of it. It is totally inaccurate for the type. To make matters worse, the set was missing from my kit. It looks like it was torn away during packaging and fell on the floor somewhere as it was not in the sealed bag.

Wings have wheel clearance bumps that look like afterthoughts which were added to the wing instead of being smoothly molded into the upper wing surface. There are no aileron mass balances nor is there a pitot tube. Slots in the underside of the wing for the gun pods or the inaccurately designed 21 cm rocket tubes are already opened up. The lower fuselage rack, which is too small, is molded to the bottom of the single piece lower wing. There are two large pegs used to install either a drop tank or bomb.

The main landing gear is molded into the main gear doors and the wheels have smooth tires. The tail wheel is separate. A set of retracted main gear is also provided for those who wish to purchase the optional stand. Other bits include an oil cooler housing for under the nose that has a large and very visible peg at the intake. There is a separate supercharger intake piece that needs to be drilled out. Two canopies are provided. One is the standard framed version for use with this kit. The other is an Erla canopy that has a cross brace across the top that was never part of the actual canopy. Where they came up with that is beyond me. Propeller blades are all one unit with a separate spinner and no spinner backing.

Markings are provided for two planes, both in RLM 74/75/76 with mottled fuselage sides. One is the box art plane from 9./JG 3 in late 1943. The yellow lower cowling, spinner and gun covers need to be painted by the builder. The spinner spiral is provided on the sheet. The other is one of several used G-6s sold to Switzerland to keep the secrets of a night fighter that landed there from falling into Allied hands. For this aircraft the various red bands on the fuselage, lower wings and rudder will need to be painted. The decal sheet is very nicely done and will work just great with setting solutions. The builder will need to find swatikas elsewhere.