Trumpeter 1/24 Bf 109K-4

By Andrea Ferrari

Trumpeter’s 1/24 kit of the Bf 109K-4 fighter was met with heavy criticism when it came out in 2005 due to several accuracy issues. In fact, none of these appears to be particularly serious or difficult to correct, simply requiring a little filling and scribing to obtain a reasonably realistic model of Willy Messerschmitt’s last-of-the-line and potent “Kurfurst”. For those interested in such issues, in any case, a complete list of the kit’s mistakes can be found here . When I built and finished mine as a machine belonging to 14/JG53 and found by Allied troops at Holzkirchen in April 1945, I was not aware of the kit’s most obvious faults (a slightly misplaced oil filler hatch on the nose, which should be moved a few millimetres upwards, and a trapezoidal hatch on the left fuselage which in fact should be perfectly rectangular) so I did not correct them. I’ll fix these and other little faults in my next build of this kit, which as all other 1/24 Bf 109s offered by Trumpeter ends up - in any case - as an impressive model and as a wonderful canvas for those interested in late war Luftwaffe camouflage schemes. In this typically mismatched case, paints (a mixture of RLM 75, 82, 84 and 77 with bare metal undersurfaces) were a mix of Gunze, Xtracrylic and Alclad, while decals were scrounged from the spares box.

Trumpeter 1/24 Bf 109K-4

By Andrea Ferrari

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