Louis very kind of you to accommodate, thank you, however...
We might need to check operational histories. Apologies for the tech fail getting pictures into text - here goes...
The plane in David's picture is an E7 (trop) from JG 27. It flew in Africa in '41. Then came the F4/Z Trop (which Hans Joachim Marseille flew for much of his African 'reign') and which he received at the end of '41. Marseille died in one of the first G2s to arrive in Africa in late September '42.
Having read Franz Kurowski's definitive HJM book recently I think this detail is probably reliable. As of October '42 the official record shows the Luftwaffe flying Friedrichs and Gustavs in Africa, although some Emils still operated as fighter-bombers and in tactical reconnaissance. What I don't know is whether the older variants would have made it to the Tunisian campaign - it is doubtful for no better reasons than the existence of the Spitfire Mk V trop, and the short lifespan of fighter aircraft in general (albeit that the allies prioritised killing bombers over fighters in combat over Africa).
The good news, and probably the point I missed, is that the photo in question represents the 'exaggerated' definitive version of a particular and somewhat enduring paint scheme in Africa. I say exaggerated because this snap almost certainly comes from a 'photo-call' for propaganda material - so the scheme is at its best! This pattern and other great paint jobs did last into Tunisia.
In short - my build for YOTC fits Africa but not Tunisia - someone choosing to exemplify this beautiful paint job in the BOKP group could look at bf109Gs (and probably Fs). Eduard's recent G4 profipack has decals for a Tunisia plane in the less striking DAK 'sand' scheme (which was the most common in the later Africa years and Tunisia). Pictured are Werner Schroer's F4 (pic 5) he of the great scheme used on Red 8 in Louis brilliant build of an E4/7, and the Eduard G4 (pic 2).
1/48 Tamiya Bf-109 E-4/7 Tropical, 8 / JG 27, “StaffelKapitan” Werner Schroer
However Eduard's recent G2 has a brilliant scheme from that period! (Picture 1)
And, using Osprey materials as a reference: when JG27 moved out of Africa, and JG53 and JG77 took up the baton (Tunisia years) there were some great schemes - including one pretty much identical to that used on the E7 in the original photo! (Picture 4)
I hope this 'clarifies' the situation, and doesn't qualify me as a fully fledged 'rivet counter' (!) I would love to be shown other info that goes further to answering this question and gets 'white 3' back in the game! Did Schroer ever fly it in Tunisia at an earlier point?
Even better it would be great if someone had a 109G2 or G4 in their stash...
