1:32 Bf 109E-4

Sand over green, not instead of it

When the fighting moved to North Africa, the fighters were given a desert palette: sand yellow on the upper surfaces and light blue below. What matters, though, is how it came about. Most machines flew across the Mediterranean in their European finish and received the new color only on arrival, by overspraying. The original green therefore went nowhere, it merely hid under a thin layer that abraded in service. On the leading edges, at the wing roots and around the panels the mechanics' hands reached, it showed back through.

The desert is poor in color but rich in surface

Sand is treacherous on a model: on its own it is dull and an area with no relief looks like a toy. What makes it convincing is therefore not the shade but what happened to it. The sun bleached it from above, fine dust settled in the shadows of the panel lines and the wind wore the edges down. A white band around the rear fuselage and white wingtips belonged with it, that is theater markings meant to make the machine stand out instead. The combination of abraded camouflage and a conspicuous band is typical of this theater and on a large model it pays to build it up in thin layers.

What is inside

Besides masking of the glazing from both faces, the set offers three national insignia masks and, with them, decals, so the markings can be combined: the large crosses by spraying, the small numbers and symbols from the sheet. Sprayed insignia take subsequent abrading and dusting better than a film, which is exactly what suits desert machines. The box contains neither the aircraft model nor paints.