Scale Aviation Modeller International — February 2018

Tamiya 1/48 Bf109G-6 (Test Shot) by David Francis

L

ast month we were fortunate

to receive a sample of the

new Bf109G-6 from Tamiya.

I was immediately impressed

with this new kit and intrigued by

its ability to swap the cowling to

expose or hide the engine. Over the

Christmas break I thought I would

easily have enough time to get this

kit together before the deadline

for this issue. I was wrong!

CONSTRUCTION

As you would expect, construction

starts with the cockpit, which

takes up the first seven stages of

the instructions. This is very nicely

detailed, especially the side wall,

which has a number of separate

parts to be mounted to the fuselage

halves. Other than some careful

painting and a heavily thinned

wash to lift out the details, there is

not really a lot more you can add.

I did use some of Eduard’s steel

prefinished Luftwaffe belts, as I

felt that the decals that Tamiya

supply did not do the rest of the

cockpit justice. Once I had shaped

the belts to drape realistically, I

gave them a quick coat of thinned

brown wash, which picks out

the moulded detail and makes

them look just a bit worn.

One word of warning: at the

front of the port fuselage there

is a large moulding that becomes

the base of the engine later. At

this stage of construction this

part is quite vulnerable, so be

careful not to damage it as you

move your model around.

With the cockpit completed,

you can glue the fuselage halves

together, but you may feel that

you’re missing something...

Surprisingly, the instrument

panel does not make an

appearance until Stage 25!

This is due to the fact that, in

order to show the engine cowlings

BF109G-6

QUICKBUILD

38 • FEBRUARY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

BY SACCO DE VRIES

BF109G-6 (TEST SHOT)

BY DAVID FRANCIS

1/48

038-41-QB-Bf109G-0218.indd 38 12/01/2018 11:58