With some well-known modellers seemingly declaring open-season on Eduard's 1:32 Bf 109E-4 before it's even hit the shelves, it's a relief to actually get a chance to examine the parts! So, donning my steel helmet in the midst of a range war, here's what I found...

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hi Rowan,

Nice review!

I have seen the kit in the flesh lately and, while I don't consider myself a rivet counter neither, I too think that the canopy is a bit off. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Eduard will do a correction. Wait and see...

Jean-Luc

I'm not sure they will Jean-Luc . They posted a letter on their site stating the canopy is fine and will remain as is . It has gotten a lot flak over this issue , but you never know ...............

Great re-view , now only if I did 32 scale ...........

Well some good news for Eduard...Italeri have released the Reggiane Re 2002 and the Hyperscale boys seem to have completely forgotten the Eduard Bf109 for now.

As for me it makes no difference anyway, the E-1 is the one i wanted and the canopy on that one looks fine to me.

I certainly don't object to people giving due critisism to a model kit and pointing out it's flaws as they see it. Merlin did that in the correct way in his review.
But much of this whole thing smells of a lot of people that don't actually know faeces from apple-sauce, and who haven't even seen the model kit for real, all just jumping on the good ol' bandwagon. It's no wonder Eduard's come back sounding a bit angry.

Very well put Andrew ! I'm by far any kind of expert on WW2 subjects , but it has been pointed out before , If it looks like a 109 then it is a 109 . I do feel that Eduard has out done them self on this kit . The detail of the parts are very well done . Build out of the box it will be one fine looking model ! Now if they would just do one in 48 scale ..................

Hi all,




This is what Eduard have wrote in their new newsletter of june:
"The canopy for our Bf109E-4 is, in fact, narrower than it should be. Since our E-4 canopy was an extension of the E-3, I would say that we erroneously chose the point at which the corner of the newer canopy is located. Unfortunately, we located said point at the halfway mark of the radius of the E-3 segment that forms the top of the canopy, rather than locating it in the extended sides of the canopy walls. This mistake unfortunately slipped through QC, which is, to an extent, the result of using the E-3 as the basis from which to develop the E-4. So, we will fix the canopy problem, but it will be in the future releases of the E-4 and the E-7, and likewise for the Bf109F-2 and F-4 that are currently under development. Of course, the correction will also be implemented on the 1/48th scale Bf109E that we are preparing for next year."

So what do we learn from that:
- Nobody is perfect!
- Eduard will correct the canopy in futur releases, however nothing is said about the current release (will they replace the wrong canopy parts?).
- They plan to do the F variant in 1/32 scale as well.
- They will do a 109 E in 1/48 scale next year. I'm already impatient to see the bonuses of the Royal Class box...

Jean-Luc

Hi J-L

many thanks for the pointers to the newsletter. The 1/32 might be a good Idea, but i think Hasegawa will be first, now that Vladimir has announced it. Wee'll see if the market can provide enough sale for both products.

Lets hope Eduard will extend the 1/48 scale Bf 109 line forward and not backwards, i.e. Bf 109A to E-1 I do not think they can beat the Tamiya kit (I'd love to be proven wrong in this though). The Hasegawa kit Bf 109F gets old and has some shape issues (nothing I do care about much, but they are there), so a new Czech approach is also welcome. I hope they try to get some of the Bf109-nuts on board to avoid further mistakes. The I-net will spread such news fast and several kits/companies already had their hands (and other body parts) burned ...

BTW a LOT more interesting stuff in that Newsletter!

cheers

Steffen