Trumpeter 1/24 Bf 109G-10 “Erla”
By Andrea Ferrari
My Trumpeter 1/24 Bf 109G-10 converted to a rather nondescript, late-war, Erla-built ship belonging to 10/JG 300, Juterbog-Waldlager, found by Allied troops on Wunsdorf airfield in April 1945. Engine cowling and sides in RLM 76, fuselage in RLM 84, topside surfaces and fuselage light mottling in RLM 81/82, lower surfaces left in bare metal with control surfaces in RLM 76. As with all the other 1/24 Trumpeter 109s I have built, modelling was a breeze, with delicate, well-molded parts and perfect fit. Converting the kit to Erla standards basically required building the new unmistakable slab-sided engine cowling panel on the left side with plastic sheet and puttying/sanding the chin bulges and the lower chin profile to get the subtly squarish shape characteristic of Erla-built 109s, plus a few other minor modifications. Markings were either scrounged from the spare decals box or airbrushed, with paints, as usual, being a combination of Gunze/Mr. Color and Xtracrylics for the upper and side surfaces and Alclad for the lower ones. The sombre livery of Willy Messerschmitt’s late creation is somewhat enlivened by the blue-white-blue Reichsverteidigung fuselage band, with weathering and fading being kept to a minimum given the (presumably) very short operational life of this plane.
© Andrea Ferrari 2020
This article was published on Wednesday, March 04 2020; Last modified on Wednesday, March 04 2020