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Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4 - 1:48 Eduard ProfiPACK


Julien

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Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4

1:48 Eduard ProfiPACK

 

f401.JPG

 

 

The Messerschmidt Bf 109 is one of the iconic aircraft of WWII. The F-4 would use the 1332hp DB601E engine which would be fitted with a broader balded propeller for improved altitude performance. The aircraft would carry the new Mauser MG151 20mm cannon with 200 rounds per gun. Production of the F-4 would start in May 1941 and last a year with 1841 examples being built, 576 of these being the tropicalised version.

 

The Kit

This kit traces its roots back to the E-1 issued in 2012 and comes with new parts for the F-4. Construction starts shockingly enough with the cockpit. Various control wheels and the main control column is added along with the armoured seat back. Following this the seat pan and rudder pedals are added. A full set of photo-etched belts is provided for the pilots seat. Following this side panels and parts are added into the fuselage sides, including some photo-etched panels. The instrument panel is made up using the supplied photo-etched parts. Once all of these sub-assemblies are made up they can be placed inside the fuselage and this closed up. As well as the cockpit the tail wheel and exhausts need to be added before the closure takes place. One of the decal options uses different exhaust parts and this is not mentioned on the instructions so the modeller will need to check the profiles.

 

f402.JPG

 

Once the main fuselage is together the intake needs to be added on the side. For the tropical version this will need the additional filter adding as well. Construction then moves to the rear of the main fuselage with the tail planes and rudder being added. All of the control surfaces are separate so can be posed as needed by the modeller.

 

f406.JPG

 

Next up are the wings. The lower is one part with left and right uppers. The wheel well detail needs to be added into the lower wing and then the uppers can be added on. Once complete the wing assembly is mated with the main fuselage. Next up the leading edge slats and ailerons can be added.  On the underside of the wing the left and right radiators are assembled and added to the wing. The flaps can then be added making sure to get the radiator flaps at the correct angle.

 

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Moving towards finishing the model the main landing gear units are completed and added to the model. The wheels are a single part with a left and right hub. The gear leg is attached as is the door. The canopy parts can then be added not forgetting the pilots head rest & armour in the main centre part. Last but not least for the main kit the propeller and spinner are added. If needed a centre line bomb and rack are included. The bomb fins and sway braces are photo-etched parts which will look more in scale.

 

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Decals
Decals are in house from Eduard and should pose no issues. There is a main sheet and a supplemental sheet for the stencils, markings are provided for 6 examples;

 

  • W.Nr 7183 Flown by Hptm Hans "Assi" Hahn, III/JG.2, St. Pol, France 1941.
  • W.Nr 7243 Flown by Oblt Otto Kath, Stab/JG.54 Staraya Russa, Soviet Union Dec 1941.
  • W.Nr 13324 Flown by Oblt Viktor Bauer, 9./JG.3 Shchigry, Soviet Union June 1942.
  • Flown by Uffz Hans Dobrich, 6./JG.5, Petsamo, Finland Sept 1942.
  • W.Nr 7629 Flown by Oblt Frank Liesendahl, 10 (Jabo)/JG.2, France June 1942.
  • W.Nr 8693 Flown by Lt Hans-Joachim Marseille, 3./JG.27, North Africa Feb 1942.

 

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Conclusion
This is a welcome new F-4 release from Eduard. Not only is it available as the ProfiPACK kit but over trees and LEPT photo-etch sets are available if you wish to build more than one of the excellent decal options. Highly recommended.

 

ProfiPACK Kit bin.jpg

 

      Overtrees bin.jpg

 

LEPET1 Etch bin.jpg

 

Review sample courtesy of

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Hallo, everyone,

 

The kit is quite good, but I would like to point out a couple of (weird?) things for the readership's consideration. Some apply to this kit, some to its near-twin G. In both cases, I bought "overtree" kits; keeping them "permanently available" has been a smart move by Eduard's people, especially in consideration to the people who has bought the "earlier" flawed kit.

 

First, the fuselage and wings have been "corrected" (the amount of success of the correction I leave to everyone's opinion, much "à la" Kinetic F-16s) compared to the "earlier" kit,  and now have what looks like accurate dimensions (with a caveat I shall point out at the end of this post). However, the small parts sprues are exactly the same. I mean, not the same layout, THE SAME (only some fin parts, now redundant, have been blanked off). Both comparing the "new" F and G kits, as the "earlier" (flawed) and "later" Gs. Many of those parts do have an incidence on the size of fuselages and wings, like, for instace, spinner plate, cockpit floor, whell well insides and wheel covers, exhausts (which some have pointed out they are too big -just a tad for a G but more for an F). This edges an accuracy issue but not necessarily. My intention was just to point out the sprues are the same (to the extent that I am glad I didn't throw away the "old" G kit, for now I have spares!)

 

Similarly, the etched parts, which though very similar are not exactly the same, have exactly the same dimensions as the ones in the "new" kits. That's good, for you can use the fret in the "old" G kit in your "new" overtree kits (F fret is markedly different, but the size of the items is the same). Same with stencil decals (in this case, the sheet in both "old" and "new" G kits is exactly the same, down to the production number. It is not the same as the F sheet, but most of the items are)

 

Second, a couple of things I am finding while actually building one (in process).

 

The kit provides both "exhausts with shields incorporated" and "stand alone exhausts". There is a PE shield for the left one (the one that curves under the carburettor intake) Besides the art of folding PE in a smooth curve may exceed my modelling abilities, there is none for the exhaust in the right side.

 

The wheel wells, though composed of no less than four pieces, are not completely closed. Behind the strut, they are open, and a view of the fuselage innards looks possible. Something has to be done here (a procedure more related to Frog kits of the seventies than to a modern, state-of-the-art kit like this one undoubtely is) Moreover, the strut bay, though a separate part, lacks the four (infamous) holes, which are onlyslightly marked. I haven't yet decided to try open them (regulation procedure on Hase's kits), for the parts are very thick.

 

The MG17 stagger is reversed in the instructions.

 

Finally, the inclusion of both "Yellow 10" and "Yellow 7", with their special but very similar camos, looks like a weird decision.

 

SPOILER: some accuracy considerations (mostly comparing kits and not the dimensions of the real thing). 

 

Speaking strictly IMHO, the nose looks to still have a lot of volume. It must be said that the spinner plate (a key feature in the nose dimensions) is just a tiny tad bigger than Hase's and Zvezda's. The built up fuselage looks reaaaaally bigger than Hase's (though straight line dimensions are very similar -I guess Hase's nose is more slab sided, while Ed's is more rounded. Comparing it to Zv's is next to impossible without building the kit) Exhausts are bigger than both Zv's and Hase's (though it must be said that there is a second set in Zv's, which is intended for "a future G-kit", and in that case the difference is minimal) The exhausts in Ed's kit looks to have too much flare. Strut is about one mm longer, but final stance of the model depends on how they are inserted into the well. It must also be said that general dimensions match Zv's fairly well and shows Hase's lacking less than 2 mm in fuselage lenght, more noticeably from the cockpit forward.

 

Hope you found this remarks interesting, and would love to hear opinions.

 

Fernando

Edited by Fernando
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19 hours ago, Julien said:

This kit traces its roots back to the E-1 issued in 2012

I'd be surprised if anything in this kit was shared with Eduard's 'E' ?

 

52 minutes ago, Fernando said:

There is a PE shield for the left one (the one that curves under the carburettor intake) Besides the art of folding PE in a smooth curve may exceed my modelling abilities, there is none for the exhaust in the right side.

I think said curved shield was port side only. Presumably either to protect the engine inlet* or something to do with the swirl caused by the prop.

 

*Strictly speaking, being a direct injection engine the DB601 did not have a carburettor!

 

cheers,

Jason

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Looking at the decal sheet (on my mobile admittedly) it would appear that they provide whole swastikas as well as the two part ones à la Trumpeter et al. That would seem a little reductive eh? Unless of course they just cut out the 'full' versions for sale in countries in which such things are prohibited.

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5 hours ago, Blastvader said:

Looking at the decal sheet (on my mobile admittedly) it would appear that they provide whole swastikas as well as the two part ones à la Trumpeter et al. That would seem a little reductive eh? Unless of course they just cut out the 'full' versions for sale in countries in which such things are prohibited.

If you notice the whole ones are on a little triangle in the corner with a dotted lie on it. This area is easily removed for sale to certain countries where it is not allowed.

 

Julien

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On 25/11/2016 at 1:44 PM, JasonC said:

I think said curved shield was port side only. Presumably either to protect the engine inlet* or something to do with the swirl caused by the prop.

 

*Strictly speaking, being a direct injection engine the DB601 did not have a carburettor!

 

cheers,

Jason

Hi, Jason, 

 

Yep, your right. I wondered the intake for what it is then!

 

True that the curved shield is on the left side only. But there is a straight one on the other side. Now, that, is present on the F-4 etched fret, but not in the G-6/5.

 

Fernando

 

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1 hour ago, Fernando said:

Yep, your right. I wondered the intake for what it is then!

 

It's still the main engine air intake, it's just that it doesn't lead to a carburettor!

 

regards,

J.

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