Me-109F,G,K bomb rack

[LSP_Mike]

Did anyone make a bomb rack for a G model 109?  I have some Hase kits.

[MikeMaben]

I've looked for those too Mike , but never found one. I plan on modifying the drop tank mount.  

[Radub]

MDC has one https://www.modeldesignconstruction.co.uk/details-conversions/14-me109-ect-drop-tank-rack.html

hth

Radu

[pvanroy]

The Bf 109 E-K all used the same bomb racks - the ETC 500 IX/b which could take a 250 kg bomb; 4 ETC 50 VII d racks which each could take a 50 kg bomb; and, up to the G-14, a special dispenser for 24 SD 2 butterfly bomblets. However, use of the SD 2 rack was rare after the E, as there were problems with release of the bomblets; the SD 2 rack was subsequently replaced by cluster bombs containing the bomblets as submunitions, and it was outright discontinued on the G-10 and K. The only difference between the E and later versions is that in some cases, the front of the aerodynamic cover for the ETC 500 IX/b rack was slightly modified to prevent spent casings from the machine guns over the engine from colliding with the cover.

 

Eduard has a bomb set for the 109 E which with little or no modification can also be used for later versions:

 

Eduard bomb set

 

AML also includes the 4 x ETC 50 VII d carrier in their Israeli S-199 conversion, but if you mail them they might be willing to sell it separately:

 

S-199 conversion with ETC 50 VII d

 

2 hours ago, Radub said:

MDC has one https://www.modeldesignconstruction.co.uk/details-conversions/14-me109-ect-drop-tank-rack.html

hth

Radu

 

 That is an ETC rack for a 300 l drop tank, not a bomb rack.

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by pvanroy

[Radub]

1 hour ago, pvanroy said:

 

 That is an ETC rack for a 300 l drop tank, not a bomb rack.

 

 

Apologies, I misread the request. 

The bomb rack used on the E is not suitable for the K. The bomb rack fairing used on aircraft armed with MG 131 machine guns had chutes added at the front in order to allow the spent links to eject towards the back. 

You can see the chutes at front here:

 

And here is the rack used on the aircraft armed with MG 17 - the spent links were not ejected outside the aircraft, so no need for chutes. 

 

If I recall correctly, I included drawings of the "MG 131 bomb rack" in the scale drawings that were published in Brett Green's "Building the Revell Bf 109" book.

The chutes can be scratch-built and added to the earlier rack. 

Hth,

Radu 

 

Later edit: here is one more photo showing the chutes at the front of the rack as fitted to an Avia S-199: 

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Radub

[Troy Molitor]

The Hasegawa Bf-109F-4/B `Jabo' kit comes with a bomb rack.    Kit #08228.   

[Rick Griewski]

Dang I love this place!

[pvanroy]

38 minutes ago, Radub said:

 

Apologies, I misread the request. 

The bomb rack used on the E is not suitable for the K. The bomb rack fairing used on aircraft armed with MG 131 machine guns had chutes added at the front in order to allow the spent links to eject towards the back. 

You can see the chutes at front here:

 

 

And here is the rack used on the aircraft armed with MG 17 - the spent links were not ejected outside the aircraft, so no need for chutes. 

 

 

If I recall correctly, I included drawings of the "MG 131 bomb rack" in the scale drawings that were published in Brett Green's "Building the Revell Bf 109" book.

The chutes can be scratch-built and added to the earlier rack. 

Hth,

Radu 

 

Later edit: here is one more photo showing the chutes at the front of the rack as fitted to an Avia S-199: 

 

 

 

Indeed, as I noted, later versions had some modification to the cover to accommodate the ejected casings - but it would not seem too difficult to modify the the ETC 500 IX/b cover provided in the Eduard set to make it suitable for the G-5/G-6 onwards. In any case, the Eduard rack can be used without modification for any variant up to and including the G-4.

[LSP_Mike]

Thanks for the info. I may add a bomb to a G2, and maybe a G6.

[Jboldt007]

love the last pic. it's like my aborted G-6 build i screwed up. I took my frustrations out on it and it looked like that in the end... and i felt bad about it. I've started another one

 

[MikeMaben]

I'm confused   I don't see any single bomb racks unless it's this one ? ...

 

If that's it, it doesn't look much like the single bomb racks in any of the pix I've seen.

 It's way too narrow and doesn't have the correct openings.

What'd I miss  ???

 

 

[Troy Molitor]

Let me know if you need any pictures of the Bf-109F-4 JABO Hasegawa offering.  Always liked that top Bf-109G-6, JG 3 picture kindly provided by Radub.  You don't see too many bombed up Bf-109's.   

[pvanroy]

11 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

I'm confused   I don't see any single bomb racks unless it's this one ? ...

 

If that's it, it doesn't look much like the single bomb racks in any of the pix I've seen.

 It's way too narrow and doesn't have the correct openings.

What'd I miss  ???

 

 

 

The rack you arrowed is the ETC 500 IX/b for a single 250 kg bomb. The other rack is in the lower left corner - this is the cover for 4 individually mounted ETC 50 VII d racks, each of which could carry a 50 kg bomb.

 

The reason why the ETC 500 IX/b on the sprue looks different to the ones in the photographs was already explained by Radu and me - it has to do with the ejection ports for the MG 131 casings. In aircraft with MG 17 guns mounted over the engine (i.e. all Bf 109s up to and including the G-4), the spent casings were collected on board, and there were no ejection chutes. These aircraft used the rack you arrowed (it can be seen in the second photograph Radu posted, which shows an E-1/B or E-8). With the introduction of the MG 131 over the engine in the G-5/G-6, the spent casings were no longer kept on board, but ejected through two chutes on the bottom of the aircraft. When the rack you arrowed was mounted, the cover of the ETC 500 IX/b rack partially overlapped the ejection chutes. To solve this problem, a chute or channel or whatever you want to call it was added to either side of the cover at the front, which connected to the ejection chutes on the belly of the aircraft and guided the spent casings out to either side of the rack. This is what you see in the first and the last picture Radu posted, and it is the reason why the rack covers used on the G-5/G-6 onwards were wider at the front. It has to be stressed that the ETC 500 IX/b rack itself remained the same for all aircraft from E-K - it was only the cover that was modified to accommodate the ejected spent casings from the G-5/G-6 onwards.

 

[LSP_Mike]

So, there is no available single bomb rack for the F, G, K 109s. If one has a Hasegawa F4(jabo) , you have an ETC 500 bomb rack, which only requires slight modification, possibly?

I was hoping someone made one.

[pvanroy]

1 hour ago, LSP_Mike said:

So, there is no available single bomb rack for the F, G, K 109s. If one has a Hasegawa F4(jabo) , you have an ETC 500 bomb rack, which only requires slight modification, possibly?

I was hoping someone made one.

 

Well, you should be able to use the Eduard rack, and the Hasegawa rack without modification for the F-1/-2/-3/-4, and the G-1/-2/-3/-4. In other words, you can use the available ETC 500 IX/b racks from Eduard and Hasegawa without change for any F, and for the early G versions that had MG 17 guns.

 

If you want to do G-5/-6/-8/-14/-10 or K-4 with an ETC 500 IX/b rack, you will have to add the chutes at the front. So, in other words, if the aircraft is armed with MG 131 guns over the engine, you need to modify the rack.

 

Hope this helps!