1:24 Bf 109K-4

The last winter over Germany

The machines of the K-4 version reached combat units in the autumn of 1944 and their short career falls into the half year when the sky over Germany was already full of enemy formations. The colors matched it: matte gray-green shades, patterns sprayed on within the units themselves and national markings simplified to a bare outline with a thin white line. A cross like that is awkward for a decal, because it is largely transparent, the carrier film cannot be hidden on the model and seen from the side it casts a shadow of its own.

Markings a decal cannot manage

That is exactly why this set has three sets of masks for national insignia. The paint is applied only where the line is meant to be and the rest of the area stays the original camouflage, so the result works exactly as the machines of the end of the war looked. No glossy square appears around the marking and the cross does not stop working even on a rough surface.

Two layers of framing

The glazing itself is simple on this version, but it has nowhere to hide a mistake. The set offers parts for it from the outside and for the reverse side, so the frame looks just as good from the cockpit as from outside. The package holds masks, not the plastic parts of the machine. The builder obtains the paints and the kit himself according to the scheme he wants to work out. On the late machines it moreover pays to reckon with a coarse and uneven surface finish, so the model will take bolder transitions of shade than would suit an aircraft from the beginning of the war.