1:48 Bf 109G-6

Bulges over the gun breeches

The Bf 109 G-6 became the most numerously built form of the whole line. Over the breeches of the large-caliber machine guns in the nose it had to be given a pair of bulges, which were nicknamed the bulges, and it is they that change the outline of the fuselage just ahead of the windscreen. The machine was at the same time built as a universal base: gondolas with cannon were hung under the wings and rockets under the fuselage, and a light fighter thus became a heavy destroyer of bomber formations. With this version a modeler chooses whether to have a slender interceptor or a laden defensive variant.

The films in the box

Two films cover the glazing, one for the view from outside and the other for the inner face, and one mask for the national markings belongs with them. The cut follows the outline of the frames, so nothing is measured or trimmed. On the angular canopy of the Gustav, where narrow bars converge in sharp corners, taping by hand tends to be most treacherous precisely in those corners.

The color under the insignia decides its saturation

Against a decal, sprayed markings have one weakness that goes unmentioned: the base shows through them. A light border of a cross laid straight onto dark camouflage will always be soaked with a cold tone and will never come out as cleanly as on the real machine. One extra layer helps. Before the film goes on, a small patch of opaque light paint is applied to the place of the future markings, freely and with a soft edge, because the mask will hide it anyway. Only onto this whitened base does the mask go, and over it the final shade. The covering power rises so much that two thin coats will do instead of five dense ones, and the edge stays flat. Anyone who leaves the intermediate step out gets markings that merge with their surroundings from a distance, and in trying to cover them will produce exactly the heavy load they wanted to avoid.