¹⁄24

Polish Bf 109G-14

first a bit of history

Jesi airfield, mid Italy, May 1945

"Hey, buddy!"
A man having a sunbath on the Fairchild's wing raised his head and blinked instantly to get used to the bright sunlight. He noticed two American soldiers standing in front of the plane.
"What's up?"
"There's business to do. Would you like to buy an airplane?"
The offer was so ridiculous that he laughed loudly. However, in a moment he become more serious. He had at least two hours until his commander will be back from briefing. So be it! Joking or not, what's the harm to see...? he thought and jumped down from the wing.
"Ok, show me what you have."
They lead him to the nearby hangar. In the corner of this great hall he noticed two dusty airplanes. One of them was biplane, a Bücker – elementary training plane of Luftwaffe. The second one...he instantly recognized the silhouette of the plane; he had seen it many times in real action, but never this close before.
"This is a Messerschmitt 109!" he yelled.
"Yup, buddy, you're right. She's been here at least a month or so." said one of Americans.
"How much do you want for her?" asked the Pole.
"Give us a bottle of whiskey and she's yours."

This is just a short story of how the Bf 109 was handed over to 318 (Polish) Squadron.
But let's get back to reality.

the model

My model I used was Bf 109G-10 made in 1:24 scale by Trumpeter. Unfortunately to make it resemble the G-14 we have to rework gear covers on the upper wings surfaces and level the covers under the engine. Covers for the wings I got from a fellow modeler. The bulges under the engine were removed by simply using sanding paper. The kit is typical Trumpeter with a quite nice fit. I wondered whether to open the engine but in comparison with documentation it occurred that too much work would be required to make it look correct. Beside, open hoods would make invisible very distinctive details of the model, like polish white-red chequer which makes a significant contrast to Bf 109 itself.

What I was most concerned for was a proper choice of colours. Upper surfaces, obviously, were Dark Green and Ocean Grey but it was not so obvious with lower surfaces. After a detailed analysis and many talks with fellow modelers I decided to use Azure Blue. Why, you may ask? In my opinion this colour was the largest leftover from the Medditernean Theatre. When you modify photographs into black-white my assumptions confirms.

Markings and code letters were painted using masks which I drawn myself in Corel Draw. The chequers and emblems were made by a colleague.

To sum up briefly, Trumpeter model kits made just out of the box may deight your eyes with their size and general look. If you spend a little extra time and effort you can easily make a very good looking model kit.