The kit just arrived. I have to wash the plastic the start detail painting right after I order some RLM66 paint. I will be using the kit decals for white 44 an overall RLM76 night fighter.
Great choice, following along. There is a slight chance White 44 may have had a rear view mirror. I did White 43 and too late found a photo that it had one. Here's a photo of it after it was captured and may or may not be a mirror
I just did a reverse search and the photo is all over the web so finding the original is nigh on impossible. White 43 has a really small rear view mirror so this may or may not be one. I found a profile on Britmodeller that showed a mirror
George I found another image of White4 44. Picture is from May 1945, it doesn't show the rear view mirror however the modeler who built this plane on Britmodeller added one.
I agree with Andy. It is too small to be the back mirror. What is more it seems to be a kind of scoop rather because it is set towards the front, If it would be the mirror it had the air streamlined case attached towards the air inflow rather. But who knows ...
And here is another shot of the "White 44". Also in the shot the piece isn't seen but it should be noticed with the angle and distance.
OK. No problemo, Andy. Joke or not joke but I was trying to find any chint or image of a such thing though. However I didn't find anything. Most of the late Bf 109Gs with the Erla Haube didn't have this mounted. So no evidence it was mounted in a factory.
I think it was a mirror, also I built a 1/48 Revell G-10 as white 44 once BUT the Revell kit had the large bumps on the wing which were wrong. I also remember scribing a small window on the port side of the forward canopy, saw it in one of the images above, was it for a flare gun?
That's possible. It can be noticed that both the "mirror" and the slided back small rectangular window are the modifications to the Erla hood , not used for other Gustavs.
Certainly the small sliding window on the LHS of the Erla Haube is unusual. For recognition flare gun, the port just below the starboard quarter-light was fairly standard with an Erla Haube.
Thanks, paint ordered and should be here early next week. I have another Bf109G-10 question, I have built the 1/48 Revell kit several times. What is it? I looked over it's parts and molding and my best guess is a Diana built machine? Never understood that kit.
IIRC the Diana facility was part of WNF. However it was a separate workshop from WNF's Vienna factory. It was located in not used railway tunnels in Czechoslovakia, The serials of the Bf 109G-10 bulit there were of the 61xxxx range while the WNF ones of the 77xxxx. All of the Diana G-10 kites were the G-10/U4 sub-type armed with the MK 108 cannon.
I'm no expert on anything, let me say that upfront, but I have some books about airplanes and quite a few about the Bf 109. Especially the K version; it does mention that some models of the Erla had a vent at the top of the front part of the canopy, and it also appears that modifications were made to the rear parts of the canopy to create a vent that would be used to fire flares.
A small start. The paint came in and the Vallejo German Gray looks pretty close to RLM 66. I am going to use some PE but not all of it. Some cockpit detail is hard to see , instrument panel will be decals I do however like the looks of Eduard's belts and harnesses.