1:32 Bf 109G-14

An attempt at a single standard

The G-14 version came about out of the simple need to bring order into the factories. The individual plants delivered Bf 109s in so many small variations that spare parts were ceasing to fit one another. The new version was to have fixed what had until then been fitted at random: injection of a water mixture for a short-term increase in power and a lightened cockpit canopy with a minimum of frames. The unification succeeded only in part, however, so even within this batch the machines differ from one another in the shape of the fin or the engine cowling. They flew from the middle of 1944 to the end of the fighting.

List of the contents

In the package there are two masks for the glazing for both sides of the part, a pair of insignia films, decals and a pair of metal barrels.

How a barrel is made on a lathe

A wire is clamped in the chuck, spun, and a tool takes material off it step by step until exactly the required profile with its steps is left. Drilling the cavity from the face follows and finally the finished piece is parted off from the rest of the rod. The whole procedure runs on one setting of the machine, so the second piece comes out the same as the first and the hundredth the same as the second. It is precisely this repeatability that matters with a pair of weapons: both barrels have the same length and the same diameter, so once fitted to the model they look symmetrical by themselves. On injected parts the accuracy gradually fades as the mold wears and later batches come out softer at the edges. Nothing of the sort shows on metal, because the tool always runs the same path.