Messerschmitt
Bf 109 G-14/U4

Zoukei-Mura, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Vincent Kermorgant

with a summary and photos by Brett Green

by Vincent Kermorgant

My first aim was to verify that there are parts allowing all versions from early G-6 to a final G-14 (with of course the exception of the AS versions) and the answer is no. What you can do with the parts supplied in the box is a G-6 from start to around October 1944. Same thing for G-14 and since most were produced after this date, that's not many of them.

Variants

A very quick rundown of what of it means :

• Early G-6 : 3 parts canopy / metal short tail / Short tail wheel / Long antenna mast / small steel inserts cowls (Erla) and large  steel inserts (WNF/MTT) / Revi 12c gunsight / belly with slanted fume extraction vents / foot and hand rests on both side / Engine priming tank in cockpit / Metal stabilizer.

• Early mid production G-6 : 3 parts canopy / metal short tail / Short tail wheel / short antenna mast / small steel inserts cowls (Erla) and large  steel inserts (WNF/MTT) / Revi 12c gunsight / belly with slanted fume extraction vents / foot and hand rests on both side / Engine priming tank in rear tail with dedicated hatch / Metal stabilizer.

• Late mid production G-6 : 3 parts canopy or Erla Haube factory install (both styles) / metal short tail or metal tall tail or wooden tall tail / Short or tall tail wheel / short antenna mast / small steel inserts cowls (Erla) and large  steel inserts (WNF/MTT) / Revi 16B gunsight / belly with fume extraction punched slots/ foot and hand rests on one side (depending on factory - fill with CA) / Engine priming tank in rear tail with dedicated hatch/ Metal or wooden seat bucket (not 100% sure if this is the intended parts) / Metal or wooden foot rest /Metal stabilizer.

• Late production G-6 : Erla haube (both styles) / wooden tall tail / Tall tail wheel / short antenna mast / small steel inserts cowls (Erla) and large  steel inserts (WNF/MTT) / Revi 16B gunsight / belly with fume extraction punched slots/ foot and hand rests on one side (depending on factory - fill with CA) / Engine priming tank in rear tail with dedicated hatch/ Metal or wooden seat bucket (not 100% sure if this is the intented parts) / Wooden foot rest /Wooden stab /Metal stabilizer.

• G-6/U4 (WNF produced) - all needed parts present.

• G-6 MW50 - all needed parts present.

• Tropical versions - all needed parts present

• Early G-14 : Erla haube (both styles) / wooden tall tail / Short or tall tail wheel / short antenna mast / small steel inserts cowls (Erla) and large  steel inserts (WNF/MTT) / Revi 16B gunsight / belly with fume extraction punched slots/ foot and hand rests on one side (depending on factory - fill with CA) / Engine priming tank in rear tail with dedicated hatch/ Metal or wooden seat bucket (not 100% sure if this is the intented parts) / Wooden foot rest / Luggage hatch with battery cover / Metal stabilizer

• Late G-14: Erla haube (both styles) / wooden tall tail / Short or tall tail wheel / short antenna mast / small steel inserts cowls (Erla) and large  steel inserts (WNF/MTT) / Revi 16B gunsight / belly with fume extraction punched slots/ foot and hand rests on one side (depending on factory - fill with CA) / Engine priming tank in rear tail with dedicated hatch/ Metal or wooden seat bucket (not 100% sure if this is the intented parts) / Wooden foot rest / Luggage hatch with battery cover / Wooden stabilizer.

Kit Quality

Molding is very nice in grey plastic, even tiny and thin parts are perfectly molded. Only thing that got me a bit wondering is on the fuselage right half where there seems to be a kink between the cockpit area and the rear area. Not sure if it is a mold issue or if it was designed as such. The left half which is on the same sprue is not showing the same kink

Gunsights are molded in transparent plastic, which is a logical idea with the lenses have a mold gate on them and it might turn out to be easier to just redo the lenses in acetate

Some of the thinner parts will prove challenging to separate from the sprue and clean up so top quality tools will be required. Fuselage sides are wafer thin, as well as the cowls so the scale effect will be nicely rendered

The instructions are perhaps the weaker side of the kit as there is confusion in part location for a proper G-14 version but the needed parts are mostly there so it will be just a question of picking the right part and place it at the right place (if you wish to install them as most will be invisible unless you built a factory/maintenance diorama)

Let's start talking about accuracy now and let's start with the fuselage.

Fuselage

It is a known fact among 109 purists that the Hasegawa kit is a bit too short in the area directly in front of the cockpit when compared to the factory drawings. Rear fuselage of Hasegawa kit is spot on in shape and dimension.

I compared the ZM fuselage to both the Hasegawa kit and the factory drawings

So, how is the ZM kit ? ZM kit is good in all dimensions and shape as far as the fuselage is involved. It adds the missing 1.8mm from the Hasegawa kit in the right place.

Tails & Horizontal Surfaces

Tails are accurate in shape and dimensions, as well as the horizontal surfaces.

Regarding the horizontal surfaces, I noticed that only the metal ones are provided in the kit, the later version, made of plywood like the tall tail and found often (often but NOT always as for ex WNF used mostly metal stabs up to their very last G-10s)  on late G-6s and G-14s is not in the box - perhaps it is planned to be released with other versions of the kit (?). Dimensionally it is identical to the metal one so if needed, a bit of CA, sanding, scribing and drilling will turn the kit's part into a plywood one.

Cowls

Cowls are correct in dimensions, shape and surface details. You'll just have to be careful if you want accuracy as the kit provides 3 versions of the main cowls :

• G-6 Erla early

• G-5 Erla, installed on a LOT of regular WNF, MTT and Erla G-6 and G-14

• G-6 MTT, WNF and Erla late

Cowl Steel Inserts

The area surrounding the machine gun opening has to be made of steel to withstand the heat and blast. Erla produced cowls were the steel part is "minimal" in surface while MTT and WNF used steel for the entire top part of the cowl, probably to save on alclad. Erla later switched to that style of cowls except for the G-5 ones where the stocks appears to have been large and long lasting.

The oil radiator housing which has always been a hot topic is largely identical to the Hasegawa kit, but its front area is closer to the real thing. Is it perfect ? I won't go into that as photos can be deceiving depending on the angle and the lens.

Accuracy of the wings will be a bit more difficult to assess as they are broken down into so many parts that you really need to build them before measuring

Engine

This is an area that has traditionally separated Z-M from other manufacturer in that Z-M tries to give you an as complete engine as possible. So, how is that DB605A ?

Dimensions are correct and surface details are quite impressive. Three things caught my attention however:

• The coolant tank on the right side is molded with a filler port, which should be deleted (easy)

• The oil breather on top of the engine is molded as a cone when it was in fact both conical and cylindrical (this will prove harder to fix)

• One of the oil line from the breather is missing (on the left) but a section of solder wire should fix that in no time
  Purists will of course add the fuel lines from the injection pump and the engine control rods from streched sprue as well as some of the MW50, drop tank and hydraulical lines around the compressor

Unfortunately the decal sheet contains no decals for the engine area, so you'll be missing the big 605 A stencil on the engine top, serial number digits on the side and the data plates and coolant mix instructions.

All in all, apart from the oil breather shape, you are provided with all the needed elements to model a very accurate DB605A setup, well in line with what an resin aftermarket kit would provide and of course much easier to build.

Cockpit

I have to say that the cockpit conception is quite clever, and in fact, it is more like building a real 109 G than a kit

And here the dilemma starts.

In one hand, you have the Hasegawa approach, providing fairly basic details with no attempts at accounting for the evolution of parts during the production history. You don't get a wooden seat bucket and a metal one, you get "a" seat. You don't get the late wooden foot rest, you get the early metal ones. And so on. This is frustrating for detail obsessed folks but coherent (and cheaper to engineer).

On the other hand, ZM tries to provide a fair amount of variability in the parts, in particular when it comes to cannon covers, rudder linkages, ammo bins and wooden substitutes. But some details have been missed (on purpose or by mistake, I can't tell).

The most visible (relatively speaking) ones concerns the fuel priming pump and the MW50 pressure gauge: You don't get the MW50 gauge (for the G-14 version) - you'll have to scratch it and you get the early version of the fuel priming pump

The fuel priming went through three iterations on the G-6 & G-14

• early version, as on the G-2 and G-4, which is in the kit

• mid version, when the 2l tank was moved in the tail area and the cockpit retained only the pump mounted on a U shaped bracket

• late version, when the pump was installed in an assembly designed to also hold the remote flare launcher (that was never installed)

You can create the mid version from the kit part by sanding the star shaped cork on the assembly and hollow the assembly side but for the 3rd version you'll have to get the plastic card out.

Erla Haube - Both Styles

The canopy is retained by a bar that goes across the rear deck of the cockpit and where the canopy rear lug locks in when closed. Depending on the manufacturer, the space for that bar was achieved by either a "bump" in the canopy left fairing or a cutout. Both versions of the canopy are present in the kit

First style, the "bump" (there was 2 variations of this bump but the one supplied in the kit is the most common one)

Second style, the "cutout", which was most commonly seen on planes with a retrofitted Erla canopy BUT the kit does not provide the U shaped bracket that was installed on the rear cockpit deck for that option so I'd skip using the cutout canopy unless you know for a fact that the plane you are modelling was a retrofit and you're willing to scratch the bracket. The bracket might be offered on subsequent versions of this kit - I don't know

https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/proxy ... c060e888a3

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Thumbnail panels:

As far as the exterior is concerned, you're good to go for nearly all G-6 but you'll have to watch out for the correct cowl set. For the G-14, you'll have to deal with the absence of wooden stabilizer, using the one supplied in the Hasegawa kit as a model for ex.

It is also worth noting that WNF seems to have never fully switched to the wooden stabs, even on its latest G-10s. Another WNF speciality, the common use of fletners on the ailerons, is not provided as an option. 

For the cockpit, it is however safe to assume that most people would not spot the differences between the version apart from the canon cover

Purchased by Reviewer

Review Text Copyright © 2022 by Vincent Kermorgant
Summary and Images Copyright © 2022 by Brett Green
Page Created 12 September, 2022
Last updated 12 September, 2022

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