Revell Pro-Modeler 1/32 Bf-109G-4 ‘trop’
By Jeffrey Brundt
This is a re-pop of the excellent Hasegawa ‘new tool’ 109. The only difference between this kit and the Hasegawa Gustav is the inclusion of spoked, resin wheels and a tropical air filter. Other than that it’s the same kit. It also builds the same as the Hasegawa 109 so I won’t re-iterate what’s already been repeated dozens of times already regarding the fit and detail of that kit. It’s also worthy to mention however, that the price of the Pro-Modeler boxing can be had for often times half the price of the Hasegawa one.
I opted to do a freelanced scheme on my 109. I knew I wanted a desert cammo one but I also wanted to use the kit decals (both to save a bit of money and the fact that I didn’t find and G-4 decals that were appealing to me). I tried to capture all the elements of a desert based 109. Painting was accomplished with PollyScale acrylics. RLM 76 for the undersides and RLM 79 for the upper with RLM 81 blotching. The white fuse band was sprayed as well since I didn’t trust the color density of the decal. The only extra I added was a set of CE posable seatbelts for the cockpit. Once the decals were applied an enamel wash was used to highlight the panel lines. Exhaust stains were accomplished with PollyScale grimy black. For the prop I use an extra dark mix or RLM 71. Straight RLM 71 is usually too green to match the almost black color of Luftwaffe propellers. The model was then given an overall coat of PollyScale flat to seal everything in. The antenna is fishing line superglued in place with a few drops of thick CA to represent insulators.
All in all a satisfactory build. You can’t go wrong with one of these kits to be sure.
© 2005 Jeff Brundt
This article was published on Friday, September 27 2013; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016