1:32 Bf-109 G-10 - In & Out (for Hasegawa Kits)

The Erla Haube from two sides

The late Messerschmitts received a lightened canopy which, after one of the production plants, was called the Erla Haube. Compared with the older canopy, the transverse stiffener above the pilot's head disappeared from it and the thick armored windscreen glass moved inside the cockpit, so the pilot's view to the rear and to the sides improved fundamentally. It is precisely because of that cleanness that it pays to leave the cockpit open on a model, and precisely for that reason what lies under the glass will be visible on it too.

The package therefore contains doubled masking. The first sheet handles the outline of the frames from outside, the second is mirrored for the reverse side, where the paint has a different shade than the upper surfaces of the airframe. Mirrored does not mean identical, though: the reverse shapes are smaller by the thickness of the glass. Discs for the tires are usually included as well.

Into the open cockpit of a late machine a surprising number of things are visible. The rear armor plate behind the seat, the headrest, the frame of the instrument panel and the tubular structure along the sides. If the frames are painted only from outside, that whole space loses its depth and looks like a printed picture.

Besides the frames it is also worth masking the armored headrest, if the kit offers it as a transparent part; on late machines that stays clearly visible even with the cockpit closed.

A practical note: the reverse side is sprayed before the cockpit is glued together. Tweezers leave marks on finished paint that are hard to cover in this scale and harder still to paint over.