Fine Molds 1/72 Bf-109G-6 "Regia Aeronautica"

Another warrior of WWII is the Bf-109 and the most produced version of that is the G model. This introduced the DB 605 engine at about 1,500 hp, enabling the aircraft to overcome most of the additional weight that inevitably gets added onto an airframe as time goes on. Of course, this was at the expense of maneuverability, something that was basically gone by the time that these later planes were built.

The G model is also one that was pretty heavily exported to countries either allied to or friendly to the Germans, including Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland, and Finland, who operated several hundred over the war years.  The type was even flown post-war and manufactured in both Czechoslovakia and Spain, though with other engines as the DB 605 became very scarce once the war was over.

This is a continuation of the superb 1/72 Bf-109 series from Fine Molds. All these kits are based on at least one common sprue (sometimes two) which includes the wings and most of the general parts like wheels, interior, landing gear and the such. Each kit then gets any specific sprues needed to do the variant being kitted. If you read the G-10 article, you've seen all the bits that this one gets. In addition, there are 'G only' parts, all assigned to their own specific sprues, and these come packed in their own bag. In this case, as you can see by the image, it is the prop, tailplanes and wheels, engine cowling, lower cowling, drop tank, wing mounted 20mm pods, supercharger intake and a number of other smaller bits.

The general molding is quite good. I'd say pretty close to Hasegawa in quality. The wing sprue has some flash thanks to being common to all their F/G 109 kits. The rest of the parts are well molded. Experience has shown that one needs to be a bit careful removing some of the smaller parts from the sprues. It is a good idea to test fit some of the bits. Those parts that attach to drilled out holes have some pretty large attachment points so you'll need to drill the holes larger than you normally do to get a good fit. But once in place, it looks great. It is also nice that Fine Molds makes an attempt and providing engine detail, but frankly, most of us will simply close the cowling sections.

This is a limited edition boxing and unlike the other kits I have, it comes in an end opening box onto which various stickers have been placed to indicate the specific markings option. Indeed, the kit comes with but a single option along with a 'standard' Luftwaffe sheet from which one gleans the instrument panel decal and the stencils. Instructions are from kit FL8 and comes with an addendum sheet specific to this boxing. There are some substitute construction steps on the additional page along with the painting instructions for the box art profile plane.

One thing I noticed about this kit is that it is less expensive than the standard boxings. Fine Molds 109s are some of the best around in this scale and while it would be nice to get more markings options, there are other aftermarket sheets out there you can use if you so wish. The lower price may be incentive enough for some to give one a try. They really are quite nice.

July 2019

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