Pend Orielle Model Kits | 1/35 Bf 109G-6
Reviewed by Saso Knez
This is not exactly 1/32 scale, but the kit might appeal to 32nd scale modeler, so I decided to make an exception an review the kit on the site. First of all I must thank Lionel at POMK for the free review sample.
No history lesson is needed here, we all know Bf 109G-6, very well, so let's get down to the basics. The kit has 33 resin parts, 2 metal parts and 4 clear vacuform canopies. It also includes one decal sheet with the option of two aircraft.
The right radiator is in place, while the left is in the center and you can also see the where is goes in the wing.
First to the resin parts. The wing is cast in one piece of white-coloured resin. The details for the wheel well are very nice, and so are the external details. The panel lines are engraved and are excellent. The thing that I like best about the wings are the way wing radiators are made. See the photo.
BUT the wing is the biggest error of the kit. Compare the following photos:
You can see the POMK wings. They look like they are in a hard pylon turn.
This photo (with a bit of imagination) shows the angle of the wing. A smaller angle then in the above photo.
You can see that the wing's dihedral is too big. Please note that this might be a malformed part in my sample.
*it has been pointed out to me that this dihedral thing is wrong only in my sample, and it doesn't exists in the other samples*
The fuselage has the same level of details as the wing. It is cast as two halves with a separate tail unit. The halves have no placement pins, so take your time when fitting the model. As you can see the buele is correct. There are two items to be added to the fuselage. That is the supercharger intake and the lower oil cooler. Both are the right sizes.
The spinner and the propellor blades are cast as one, and I don't like that, BUT I didn't notice any particular failures or inaccuracies with this part, so I guess it is OK!
The tail assembly is a bit tricky, but that is so because POMK offers two sets of tails-the tall wooden one and the normal metal part. With this you also have the option to reposition the tail control surfaces. Sand it carefully, dry fit it often, and you will make a very nice tail unit from it.
A thing worth mentioning here is that the wing to fuselage joint is a made in a very unusual way, that look that it will prove a great trouble maker, but when the kit is dryfitted it proves itself that this is a high-light of the kit-excellent fit!!
The big parts are warpage free and are cast without bubbles.
Then to the smaller parts:
The cockpit is made up of five parts. The back console and the floor are one part. This part is well detailed, but I think that the pan seat is a bit to low. The seat belts are molded on and require a bit of cleaning. Otherwise all the parts in the cockpit are well detailed, but maybe they fit better for the early G standards. Also a nice touch would be a PE panel and rudder pedals.
Other smaller detail range from excellent to not so hot.
Here is the example of both.
Here you can see the wheel-which is of excellent quality...and the smaller parts, which require clean up, but are better built from scratch.
Smaller details include the gunsight, aileron counter balances, pitot tubes etc.
The struts require cleaning, but are otherwise good. They also seem strong enough.
The decals provide the option for two aircraft one of Erich Hartmann and one from JG 3 'Udet'. They appear to be OK, but the swastika is a bit complicated and the tulip nose emblem might require quite a fair amount of setting solution. It is highly advisable that you spray the whole decal sheet with matt varnish. They seem to disintegrate when eased of the backing sheet. The matt coat will provide additional support, but of course you will have to cut through the coat to be able to remove the decal from the rest of the sheet.
One of the high lights of the kit is the choice of two types of canopies (Erla haube and the normal green house one), and you have two of each, so there are 4 vac canopies.
Conclusion
This is not a kit for the exclusive 1/32 scale modeler. I sellotaped the parts together and found that it does stand out when put on the shelf with other 1/32 scale models. But if you like big scale aircraft, this is a very nice kit for you. It has very, very nice details, but I guess that you should have a few resin kits under your belt before grabbing this one. If you can correct (or simply ignore) the angle of the wings, then you will be fine.
If you are a diorama builder-GO FOR IT!!!
© Saso Knez
This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016