Review & Build: Messerschmitt's late war warrior – Revell’s 1/32nd scale Bf109 G-10 Erla

Nic has already built one of the new Revell 1/32nd scale Bf-109G10 kits and it turned out so nice  we thought we’d give him another to build. This time he included one of the Barracuda Studios new G-10 Erla sheets into the finished product to give it that little bit extra..

Review: Revell Messerschmitt Bf109 G-10 Erla

Kit N°: 04888

Kit type: injection Moulded

Scale: 1/32

Sprues: 12 styrene + 2 clear

Part count: 157

Decals for 2 different markings: 1 JG52, Mj. E. Hartmann and 1 “Yellow 7” JG300

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en @RevellGermany or facebook.com/revell

After building my first Revell Bf-109 G-10 i was asked “Would you want to build another?” “Sure” I replied, I had constructed one a few months ago and it was a very pleasant build. Since the first one, I learned a few things about the G-10 Erla and I wanted to change a few details on it. Included with the fact I got a set of BarracudaCals decals in the mail I was ready to give it another go. 

Revell has chosen to produce a G-10 Erla, a model of the famous Bf-109 that wasn’t available in this scale before. These Erla built G-10’s were flown with either small wheels and wheel bulges on the wings or big wheels and large bulges; Revell selected the latter in this box. 

Construction of the kit is pretty logical, although some care has to be taken with the wings and the landing gear.

The cockpit is pretty impressive from the box. The belts are moulded on the seat parts, as is often the case with Revell kits, but with this one-o-nine, when painted they look the part. A lot of A.M. cockpit sets are available since the release of the kit for those that wish to go hyper-detailed, but if you use the kit parts, it will look convincing too!

I scratched a couple of extra parts in the cockpit – some tubing and a bit of plastic card, nothing too complex – and after just one hour, I could get the paint out for the cockpit. I used Gunze acrylics and my trustworthy Harder & Steenbeck Evolution airbrush.

The tools...

The trade...

With the cockpit painted, I glued the fuselage and wings. I omitted the back-plate of the cockpit; in the very well researched Aero Journal Special of 2008, covering the Bf109 G & K, I learned that this backplate was flush with the fuselage, so in stead of using part 23, I used a very thin part of plastic card and scratched the box on top of it. It’s a little thing to do, but benefits the end result.

With everything glued, I had to use a some putty. On the wings, but also on the wing bulges and fuselage, where the kit had some irregularities due to the moulding process. I guess I was unlucky with my kit, the first one I did didn’t have those... But a little putty shouldn’t slow you down, right?

Using some flex pads, sanding and polishing was done to get the kit ready for paint. Masking the canopy and cockpit and the time was right to get the airbrush out again!

Around this time, the BarracudaCals arrived. Yumm !! SEVEN G-10’s to chose from. Take care when you pick one though, some have the small wheel bulges, so you need some replacement parts for the wings - which are available from Barracuda too (handy). I picked “Blue 1” of JG301.

BC32144  Erla Bf 109G-10s - Part 1

Bf 109G-10 (Erla built). Blue 1- JG301. Pilot Unknown. Base Unknown. Spring, 1945

This sheet has seven new schemes for the Erla G-10 research by Anders Hjortsberg, with further assistance by other notable 109 experts, these sheets reflect the very latest knowledge on the Erla G-10s. Anders has produced superbly detailed and accurate profiles, and larger versions can be downloaded from the Barracuda Studios website to assist you in recreating the fascinating camouflage schemes. .Extensive and detailed painting notes highlight a number of interesting points about the finish of these very late war Gustavs. These sheets are printed by the best in the biz - Cartograf of Italy and they include 2 full stencil suites and two complete sets of national markings and spinner spirals.

I started with the fuselage and finished it before I got working on the wings. It’s not a logical thing to do, but I do this often. I keeps me motivated, I guess. I am not very good with decals, in the past I have messed up a few kits because of them, but these BarracudaCals went on like dream!

Next came the wings – I used the basic Gunze colours RLM 74/75, and mixed it with black and white to get some different shades to bring them to life.  The underside of the wings was painted in metal colours and RLM 76.

The panel in front of the windscreen was masked with some tape and painted a shade lighter.

Next came the smaller parts in front of the airsbrush; spinner, prop blades, gear doors, wheels, ... I have to say that the shape of those wheels is very nice indeed. Good marks to Revell for those! The loop antenna I scratched with some left over photo-etched parts. It makes the kit look just that little bit sharper.

The decal I feared the most was the spiral on the spinner. No need, as it turned out, with some care and decal setting it went on without any problem. Big relief !!

Because these aircraft were introduced late in the war and most of them flew not too often due to lack of fuel or because they were shot down quickly after delivery, I wanted to keep the weathering rather modest. A little dirty, not too much chipping. I like to us Vallejo Model Color leather brown for some very mild mud or chipping, rather then silver. This is the finished result:

I found one little mistake in the instructions of the kit and that is with the position of part 26, behind the pilot’s head. Some G-10s were equipped with a heating system to defog the canopy – not all of them ! - and part 26 is for this system. It’s a nice touch that this Revell kit contains the part, but it is actually attached to the armoured plate behind the pilot. If you open the canopy, make sure you see this – the instructions tell you to glue it to the bottom plate, which is good when the canopy is closed, but wrong if you open it.       

Here are a few shots of the newly finished G-10 next to the one I built earlier. Just before finishing the kit, I received the resin replacement parts for the spinner, prop-blades, supercharger intake, air intakes and exhausts from Barracuda and they do look amazing! It does mean however, that I will be building a third G-10 Erla soon! Fortunately, I still have some decals left on this sheet. Maybe I’ll build one with the small bulges this time!

Time for the verdict on this Revell G-10 Erla: Well, that’s an easy one: it is a great kit and when finished, it looks the part. True, there is some work on the wings and the landing gear looks a bit fragile, but it isn’t really. It truly is a modellers kit. Very nice details, fun to build and it can be done quite quickly. The decals in the box are great (I used them on the first one I built) but the BarracudaCals are at least as nice and offer a larger choice. Another positive thing about this kit is its unbeatable price – wow!

Nicolas Deboeck

Many thanks to Revell for providing the kit for this build and as well to Roy from Barracuda Studios for the decals.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en @RevellGermany or facebook.com/revell

Barracuda Studio’s new erla sets  and a number of new resin sets for both the new 1/32 Revell 109G-6 and G-10 are available from Barracuda Studios