1:24 Bf 109K-4

The last Messerschmitt and the question of when to go bigger

The K-4 version was the final mass-produced form of the Bf 109. It received the supercharged DB 605D engine, a retractable tailwheel, longer doors for the landing gear bays and a sliding canopy with a minimum of frames, known after one of the famous commanders as the Galland hood. It entered service at the end of 1944 and the Luftwaffe of the time could no longer make use of its potential, because it was running out of fuel and of trained pilots.

Inside lie film for both surfaces of the canopy, three complete sets of insignia for spraying and turned metal barrels.

The choice of kits in this format is narrow, usually a single box from a single manufacturer. That is precisely why the center of gravity of the work shifts elsewhere on large models: you are not choosing between variants of a kit, but between the ways you will equip your own piece. A supplementary set is therefore the main route to standing out, whereas in small scales a modeler gets the same work simply by choosing a different box.

With fewer frames there are also fewer places where an inaccuracy can be hidden. Where an older version has four narrow bars and the eye takes them as a whole, here two long straight edges are left. They have to be accurate along their whole length, because every ripple reads in the paint as a flaw in the molding. Pre-cut film solves that task by exactly what makes it different from tape measured out by hand.

• The sliding part of the cockpit has few frames, so the edges have to be all the cleaner.
• Three sets of insignia for three marking options.
• Machined metal gun muzzles.

A model of the aircraft is not included; the set serves for the build.