1:32 Bf-109 K-4 - Space (For Kotare Kits)

The last link in a long development

The K-4 version closed a line of development that had begun in the early 1930s with a slender all-metal monoplane. It reached production in the fall of 1944 and brought an engine with a higher boost pressure, an enlarged wooden vertical tail and a one-piece hinged canopy with a better view. A large-caliber engine-mounted cannon fired through the propeller hub, and a few hits from it were enough for a heavy bomber. The type no longer had any influence on the outcome of the war, because both quality fuel and trained pilots were missing, and many airframes ended up on airfields they never took off from. Production meanwhile ran in parallel in several plants, and the small differences in equipment were so great that two machines with the same designation can be told apart in period photographs.

An interior from the printer

The package covers the instrument panel and the side walls of the cockpit. Layered color printing on film gives the dials a depth that the printing of a flat sheet alone could not reach, and the glass faces of the instruments stay glossy. Steel seatbelts round it out, and they can be given a natural sag with tweezers.

The recommended handling

Paint the inside of the cockpit and let it cure thoroughly; only then transfer the parts. The base has to be smooth, otherwise cracks appear in the layered print. Moisten only the backing paper under the part, do not submerge the film in water, lift the part off with tweezers and fix it with white PVA glue; its position can still be corrected for a while, and excess moisture should be drawn off with the corner of a paper towel. Do not bring a decal softener into the work, as it would attack the layered print made of resin. In 1:32 even an observer without a magnifier can see the difference against a hand-painted interior.