1:32 Bf 109E-4

A winter finish that was meant to wash off

The E-4 version is told from the early Emils by its angular canopy with flat panes and by its heavier armor. It also served on the Eastern Front, and there a finish appeared that no other theater used: a white winter layer. This was not proper paint but a lime or distemper wash applied straight at the airfields, often with a brush or a fire pump, and it was meant to be washed off with water in the spring. That is precisely why it behaved unusually and precisely why it is so rewarding on a model.

What that white looked like after a week

The layer held badly. It wore away where the ground crew walked, that is at the wing roots, at the cockpit entry and around the filler points. Behind the exhausts the hot stream tore it off and it formed lengthwise streaks with the original green showing through beneath them. Around the insignia the mechanics often wiped it away on purpose so that they stayed legible. On a model this is achieved by finishing the whole ordinary paint job first, then laying a heavily thinned white over it and finally removing it partly in strokes from the leading edge backwards. The order is essential; the reverse procedure gives an even white area that never existed.

Box contents

The angular canopy of this version has straight frames, on which the eye picks out an uneven line at once. Cutouts in film keep it straight and mask the glazing from both faces. The national insignia masks supplied let the crosses arise by spraying, so a winter layer can convincingly cover them in part. The model and paints are not included.