1:72 Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2

Gustavs with the Finnish blue insignia

Finland received its first Messerschmitts of the G version in 1943 and sent them into the fighting that decided the fate of the country. They were flown by pilots with an enormous number of sorties, used to improvisation, frost and airfields hacked out of the forest. The Finnish machines carried a system of inventory numbers of their own with the prefix MT, so they are told apart from German aircraft of the same type at first glance.

Subjects of the years 1943 and 1944

The set offers a machine with Werknummer 14754, which carried a white 3 and the inventory number MT-213 with the 2nd flight of fighter squadron 24 in May 1944. The second possibility is the aircraft with Werknummer 13528 still in its German acceptance markings, as it arrived at the Helsinki airfield of Malmi in May 1943. The same machine is then worked up a third time, by now repainted to the Finnish MT-222 with a yellow 2, in the state of July 1943, when one of the most successful Finnish fighter pilots was flying it.

One airframe in two forms

The combination of the acceptance and the later service state of the same aircraft is unusual for a set of this scope and is worth making use of. Anyone building two models gains a vivid pair on which it can be seen how a machine changed after being handed over, not only in markings but in the overall shade of the camouflage.

Masks for the quick-recognition markings of the day

There are two masks in the package. The first covers the canopy, the second makes it possible to spray the yellow band on the rear fuselage, the propeller spinner and the wingtips, that is the quick-recognition markings of the Eastern Front. Apply the paint to them only after the basic camouflage finish has dried and in several weak layers, because yellow covers badly on a dark base and a heavy application would emphasize the edge of the mask.