Eduard recently released a useful set of 1:48 national insignia for the Bf 109G-10. It's designed to accompany their own excellent boxings of the MTT (Regensburg) and WNF (Wiener Neustadt) sub-variants. While Eduard describe the set as "exclusively" for their own kits, it will obviously be applicable for other brands too.

The sheet offers a selection of plain and outlined crosses, plus the black "negative" crosses used on Hungarian Air Force machines. The differences in some of the markings are subtle, but distinct, e.g. slightly larger swastikas and fuselage crosses for the MTT option.

Speaking of swastikas, Eduard have designed them in both full and split forms, with the full versions printed in the corner of the sheet where they can be clipped off for countries where the emblem is banned. So, depending on where you live, you'll either find two sets, or just the split versions to line up yourself.

In terms of quality, I can't fault the decals in any way. They are gloss finished and beautifully thin, and the registration is pin-sharp on the sample sheet. While I have seen excess carrier film trimmed tighter around designs, it's so thin on these decals, it should snuggle down invisibly if you apply them correctly.

The sheet is divided into three main sections, grouping the markings for the fuselage and tail, along with the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. Be careful, though, there is a slip up, with the upper and lower surface crosses labelled in reverse on the decal sheet - the plain white crosses are for the upper surface of the wings.

The wing markings are shown correctly on the accompanying instructions - and it's important to study the diagrams closely, because there are some small differences in the position of the crosses that you could miss. This isn't made any easier, because only plan views are included to illustrate the two styles in markings, and these are very small. There aren't any accompanying notes to highlight the differences in the way the factories applied the insignia - in fact, the plan views aren't even labelled as MTT and WNF to distinguish them.

I normally find Eduard's instructions to be excellent, but I think they could be a good deal clearer in this case, so I'd have to rate them as barely adequate, because they assume you already "know your '109s", instead of explaining what to look out for. Experienced Luftwaffe "Experten" won't worry, but newcomers to the genre and casual modellers could struggle.

Conclusion

Apart from the slip-up labelling the wing crosses on the sheet, these are excellent decals - and definitely worth having in the stash for any serious Luftwaffe modeller. I think "serious" is the key word in describing them, because the minimal instructions assume the purchaser already has a degree of knowledge of the differences in Bf 109G-10 production. Clearer and fuller instructions could have made the set much more easily accessible to a wider range of modellers.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.