Slipping the Bonds
by George Paterson

 

Bf 109G-10-JG300-rev7.1

Introduction

In May I presented an image of a Bf 109G-10 of 3.JG300, derived from a model by Scott. As a secondary, I introduced another model-derived G-10, also from JG.300. My work on these two models overlapped, though I started on this “Green 7” before I tackled Scott's model of “Yellow 5”.

The Initial Image

I couldn't get any information about the author or the kit he used. It's a big image, 1600 pixels wide, and the main interest is a model of a G-10 of JG301. I preferred to work on the smaller model because it has much less perspective distortion. Maybe I'll try and make something of the foreground model later.

Treatment of the Image

The idea of putting the models on a black background caused problems for me. I found it difficult to see the profiles of the parts that are in shadow, and I had to rely partly on my familiarity with what a Bf 109 should look like – not a very reliable procedure. The “spur wheel” is painted matt black, and viewed from this angle needs to be elliptical; I had to guess its shape. Apart from that I was able to select the different parts of the airframe without further problems.

The generous pixellation of the image allowed me to dispense with selecting many of the finer internal details.

The fuselage forward of the engine bulkhead is finished in what appears to be the mid-war RLM75/76 combination. I felt that the upper colour (75) was too bright relative to the soffit colour (76), so I darkened it considerably. The rest of the fuselage is in the late-war combination of RLM81(Brown), and RLM82(bright Green), as are the wings and tailplane. Scott's model was basically similar, but with no green at all.

When I pasted the image of the model onto a background I saw that the spinner seemed to be too big. I cured this by reducing its diameter by a few percent.

Conclusions

I'm left wondering why I needed to take the cavalier step of reducing the spinner to get the final image to look right. It may be connected to my difficulty in finding the correct profile of the forward fuselage caused by that pesky background.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with the final result.