1:72 Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2

A Gustav with cannon gondolas under the wing

The accessory designated R6 added to the Messerschmitt a pair of 20 mm cannons hung in gondolas under the wing. The firepower against bombers rose at a stroke, but the aircraft lost part of its agility and pilots liked to take the gondolas off before combat with fighters. It is precisely this variant that forms the basis of what this sheet offers.

Four machines from two ends of the front

The first subject is the aircraft with the yellow 11 of the 9th Staffel of JG 52, as it looked in September 1942 at the Pitomnik field airfield near Stalingrad. There follow two machines of the 6th Staffel of JG 5 of March 1943, a yellow 3 and a yellow 12, both from Petsamo in Finland above the Arctic Circle. The fourth variant is the black 1 of the 15th Croatian Staffel of JG 52 of the summer of 1942.

Two very different theaters

An airfield near Stalingrad and bases beyond the Arctic Circle represent the two extreme poles of the type's deployment. In the south the fighting in September 1942 took place in the dust over a baking steppe; in the north the takeoffs were from a frozen surface in a setting where the engines had to be helped along with preheating. The state of the finish of the two groups of machines therefore differed.

What building the R6 variant involves

The gondolas are not part of this sheet; only some kits hold them, and otherwise they have to be obtained as a resin accessory. Before gluing them on, check that both have the same angle relative to the axis of the wing, otherwise the model looks twisted when seen from the front. Lay the markings themselves down after spraying and clear-coating, and with yellow numbers on a dark camouflage reckon with the thin film letting the base show through, so it is better to leave a lighter finish beneath them.