Swiss Me 109’s,
especially those with a full set of neutrality stripes, are amongst the most
colourful variants of Willy Messerschmitt’s diminutive futuristic fighter.
Unfortunately decals for these aircraft are few and far between, and if any are
available, the Swiss cross markings are invariably incorrect. As such it is no
wonder that the out-of-production Cutting Edge set is now demanding steep
collectors prices on Ebay.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Following a request by Roland
Hoefling of http://www.Fliegerbuecher.ch,
Rising Decals have been persuaded to re-release their decal sets for Swiss Emils
in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale. Although this sheet is not as comprehensive as that
of Cutting Edge, it does offer five attractive variants, two of which (J-311 and
J-371) cover machines with white noses and full neutrality stripes. Decals are
also provided for J-345 with an attractive shark mouth, J-318 with nose-art for
Fl.Kp 9’s “witch flying on a broom”, as well as “L’Seducteur” of the
same fighter group. In addition stencils are provided for the leading edge
slats, VDM logo’s and white stripes on the Escher-Wyss propeller units and
octane markings. The instructions provided are exemplary, being in full
colour, and care taken to point out minor issues such as stencil locations etc.
Unfortunately the
1/72 scale sheet provides markings for a spurious shark-mouth Bf 109G-6
“J-713”, for which no reliable documentation exists, thereby perpetuating
this myth in modeling circles. On the plus side, Rising Decals appears to
have the correct dimensions for the Swiss cross markings, something which even
evaded Cutting Edge. A minor quibble is that very slight bleeding of the
black dye is seen on the 1/48 scale sheet. This should, however, not detract
from the overall quality of this product. As this is a limited re-release, those
interested in some unusual and colourful 109’s should not hesitate too long
before placing their order. Both sheets are available directly from http://www.Fliegerbuecher.ch.
Sinuhe Hahn
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