Eduard seems to get better with each release, and its 1/48 scale Bf 109E-1 is no exception. The kit is molded in olive and clear styrene, with finely engraved panel lines and rivets — in fact, some of the finest I’ve ever seen. Also included are two sheets of photoetched metal (one fret is prepainted) and precut self-adhesive canopy masks. The decals, printed by Cartograf, are in perfect register.
Clearly this kit is based on Eduard’s 1/32 rendering, with the same parts layout on the sprues, parts numbers, kit markings, and wonderful instruction booklet. Closer examination reveals Eduard has corrected some of the issues of the 1/32 scale kit. The lackluster, shallow, main landing-gear wheel hubs have been replaced by a two-piece hub with prominent spokes on the front half; it builds into a convincing replica of the main wheel assembly. You can display the engine cowling off, canopy open or closed, and choose from markings for five aircraft.
Construction was straightforward, starting with the cockpit. You have a choice between a prepainted photoetched-metal or injection-molded instrument panel; decals represent the instruments. (I went with the metal.)
The only issue with the cockpit was installing the tiny switches on the lower instrument panel. The kit provides two of each switch, but even with my finest tweezers I could not manage to place them before they shot off into places unknown.
I chose to display the engine on my kit and made the necessary modifications in assembly according to the kit instructions.
The only difficulty I had in the build was joining the fuselage halves. The exhaust stacks for the engine are molded separately, and they overlap each other and the cowl. To get the exhaust stacks to fit into their slot in the fuselage, I had to get the rear of the exhaust stack into the opening and “hook” it over the fuselage side, then carefully bend the front of the fuselage to allow it to clear the front of the engine and let the rest of the exhaust stacks fit into their slot in the fuselage. Due to the overlap and the front exhaust stack being covered by the fuselage side, there would be no way to attach them after the fuselage is closed up.
However, the rest of the kit pretty much fell together. I did not have to use any filler, only giving the seams a light polishing with a sanding stick. The Eduard precut canopy masks fit perfectly.
With all that wonderful engraved detail, a black sludge wash really made details pop! The Cartograf-printed decals performed wonderfully, settling down into the rivets and panel lines with no silvering. I did use a little bit of Micro Sol just to make sure of some of the larger decals.
I ended up spending a little more than 25 hours on my Bf 109E-1, mostly because of some of the tiny photoetched-metal parts. Overall, the quality of the molding and fit on this model is outstanding, and considering all the detail, decals, and canopy masks, it’s a lot of value in one box. However, due to the photoetched metal, I would recommend it more to builders with a moderate amount of experience.
There were a few leftover parts on the sprues, which suggests Eduard will be releasing other versions. Let’s hope so!
Note: A version of this review appeared in the September 2012 FineScale Modeler.