Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG 27) Afrika was a fighter wing of the Luftwaffe during World War II. It served in the North African Campaign, supporting the Afrika Korps. The Geschwader Stab (headquarters staff) and I. Gruppe/JG 27 were formed in Handorf, Germany on 1 October 1939. The emblem of I Gruppe, featuring a map of Africa, originated with the Gruppenkommandeur in 1940, Hauptmann Helmut Riegel (killed in action 20 July 1940) was born in German South-West Africa. II.
Gruppe was formed in January 1940 in Magdeburg. In July 1940, I./JG 1 was transferred to JG 27 as III. Gruppe. From July 1941, a Spanish contingent flew with the Geschwader as 15./JG 27. IV. Gruppe was formed in June 1943 in Kalamaki, Greece.
JG 27 saw considerable action both during the Battle of France as part of VIII. Fliegerkorps, scoring heavily against Allied bombers during the crossing of the Meuse river. 285 claims for aircraft destroyed were made, Hauptmann Wilhelm Balthasar (of 1./JG 1, by July renamed 7./JG 27) becoming the top scorer of the campaign with 24 air kills and 13 ground kills. Hauptmann Adolf Galland the Geschwader adjuvant to Geschwaderkommodore Oberst Max Ibel, also made 14 claims during the campaign.
Based near Cherbourg for the Battle of Britain, JG 27 had a relatively inauspicious campaign, claiming 146 aircraft downed although losses of pilots were heavy with 83 Bf -109Es lost, and 58 killed, missing or POW by December 1940. In November JG 27 redeployed back to Germany for re-equipping and rest. From 24 September – 5 November, JG 27 was based at Saint-Inglevert, Pas-de-Calais
WWII German Luftwaffe’s fighter.
• Includes 20mm MK108 cannon, drop tank, bomb and air filter for various building options.
• Build as G-6 or G-2 variant
• Cartograf decal included
• It contains eight marking options printed by CARTOGRAF.
• Street Price (Approx) $27.99 USD
THE KIT
This week I finished one of the latest releases from Academy. This is the 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf109G-6/G-2 “JG 27” Kit No⋅ 12321. It is a very straightforward build with easy to following steps and for this kit, in particular, you’ll be done in 10 steps.
Academy has been shipping their kits for around the last 2 years with double instructions set. One is reserved for the assembly while the second instructions set are usually reserved for decals. However, some kits with much more parts count can make use of the second instructions set for more building steps. There are no posable ailerons on the kit as you can see from the pictures.
MARKINGS
As noted on the Kit Features above, the Academy1/48 Messerschmitt Bf109G-6/G-2 “JG 27” comes with a whopping 8 marking options and the decal set is printed in high quality by well known Cartograf. After choosing which markings are to be used on this build, the model builder will have another 7 markings left-over for a different version of the popular ‘JG 27’.
The kit has a very good fit in general. Some left-over parts will be more than welcome to the spare box including the umbrella for the ‘tropical version’ which will make a good radar on a scratch built space ship 😉
I had to add however a bit of filler on the wing to fuselage connection. No a big deal! You can solve this minor issue with the filler of your choice. In my personal case and toolbox I have to option that can do the trick in 5 minutes or less. One is Vallejo Plastic Putty 401 and or A+B PC-7 Epoxy. It can be cleaned with cotton swabs moistened thus no sanding is required. Other than that, the kits builds up without a hitch.
The cockpit is a bit sparse and bare but then again, that’s how must of these cockpits in real life were. It is up to the modeler if he/she wants more crisp detail and I can assure you, there’s room for further detail.
PAINTING THE ACADEMY Bf109G-6/G-2 “JG 27”
The paintwork on this model was done entirely with Mission Models colors. It was done basically freehand with the old Testors A-470 airbrush. The colors used for this kit are the following ones:
–MM8-003 Gray Primer
–MMP-090 Gelb RLM 04 Lft. WWII
–MMP-051 Lichtblau RAL 76
–MMP-049 Graugrun RAL 74
–MMP-056 Grau RLM 02
My sincere thanks to Model Rectifier Corporation for this kit sample.
Many thanks also to Mission Models US for providing the colors needed for this project.
