Hasegawa 1/48 scale Bf 109G
Night Fighters Times Two

by Tim Both

 Hasegawa's 1/48 scale Bf 109G-10 is available online from Squadron

Here are two recently completed Hasegawa 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf109s. I built both almost at the same time in differing nightfighter schemes. Having built many of these kits before I was looking at the painting challenges each kit provided.

I wont bore you with the construction details, suffice to say both had excellent fit and caused no headaches of any kind.

To the model I added True Details wheels, Ultracast G-10/K prop blades, Eagle Editions MW50 bulge as well as an MDC cockpit.

All the aftermarket goodies were outstanding. I scratchbuilt the exhaust dampeners and the tiny rearview mirror using sheet styrene and used the small wheel bumps from a Fujimi 109 as this G-10 had the smaller wheels but extended tail wheel. An error I made was not to add the sliding window on the canopy. This I was going to scribe but too late now…

Painting and Markings

I was aware that painting the model in straight RLM 76 would be too plain so I started with an overall coat of RLM 78 and I highlighted the inside of panel lines with RLM 76 to create some contrast. This was further enhanced when I post shaded the panel lines with Gunze Smoke. This spinner had a unique appearance to it so I painted it RLM 75, applied the decal spiral and then edged the decal with black paint by hand. It looks okay and does bear some resemblance to the one photo I have of this plane.

Decals and Markings

Decals were from EagleCals and proved to be excellent.

Minimum stencilling was applied and I added paint chips with a silver pen and toothpics and some exhaust staining with highly thinned acrylic matt black. A coat of Testor's Dullcote finished this one off.

To this model I added TD wheels again, an MDC cockpit combined with the MDC specific 109G nightfighter instrument panel which I thought was a nice touch.

I replaced the underwing cannons with brass tubing, added exhaust shields from styrene sheet and fabricated the whistle on the port exhaust shield from a leftover exhaust stack from another 109. I had no clear picture of this so I fudged it!

Painting and Markings

This presented by far the greatest challenge for me. My Tamiya Sprayworks airbrush wasn’t up to the job of doing freehand lines so I chose a method that was the reverse of how the Germans did it all those years ago. I sprayed a Gunze RLM 75 undercoat and waited for it to dry thoroughly. I then rolled thin lines of Blue Tak into strips and placed them in what I thought was the correct location on one wing and sprayed a coat of RLM76 to make the squiggle pattern. Once I removed the Blue Tak I found my first effort to be incorrect so after respraying the RLM 75 I committed myself to thinner rolls of Blue Tak and to take much more time to lay them down accurately. The second effort more closely resembled the two photos I had although still not perfectly. I found it important to spray the RLM76 from one direction only otherwise you would get some ghosting when you changed the direction of the spray. I masked and painted the horizontal surfaces first and then the fuselage. In all it took me three nights to get all the painting done.

Decals and Markings

The decals were from EagleCals which I believe are out of print. (Thanks to Craig at Aeroworks for those!)

After the challenge of the painting, applying the decals and some light weathering seemed a breeze. I toned down the crosses with a light overspray of RLM 76 as the photos I have of this aircraft shows them somewhat faded.

I tend to build my models in threes, and these two 109s and a Fw190 took three months altogether.

I was very happy with the way they turned out and the use of excellent aftermarket items made them a pleasure to build.

I hope you enjoyed reading about and looking my two night fighters.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Messerschmitt Bf 109 Modelling Manuals 17 US Price: $17.95 UK Price: £12.99 Publisher: Osprey Publishing Publish Date:  January 25, 2002 Details: 64 pages; ISBN: 1841762652 Shop Buy it from Osprey Publishing

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by Tim Both
Page Created 11 January, 2005
Last Updated 24 December, 2007

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