1:24 Bf-109 G-6 - Interior Set for Airfix

The most widespread Gustav of them all

Of the whole Bf 109 family, the G-6 was built in the greatest numbers, over twelve thousand examples. It came about because of the heavier synchronized machine guns of thirteen millimeter caliber, whose breeches would not fit inside the cowling, so it was given two characteristic bulges above the engine which the Germans called Beule. It flew from the autumn of 1943 on every front and became the image of the late era of a machine that had begun as a slender racing design and ended as a heavily armed interceptor.

Why metal and not plastic

An injection mold cannot produce a wall thinner than roughly half a millimeter, because the material will not flow into a narrower cavity, and besides, the tool cannot do without draft angles. In 1:24 that means a lever which ought to be as thin as a wire by scale comes out of plastic as a squared-off post. Photochemically etched sheet solves the same thing at two tenths of a millimeter and stays sharp even at the cut edge. Here lies the real dividing line between the two technologies, not in which material is prettier.

Working with metal

Make the bends over a metal ruler and press with the flat of a blade, not with your fingers; metal bent twice in the same place breaks. Before the paint comes, degrease the surface and lay a thin primer, because bare sheet will not hold a sprayed coat.

The dimensions are taken from the Airfix kit for which the set is designated; with a model from another company, count on the panels not seating. The airplane, paints and cyanoacrylate glue are not in the package.