It's a pretty safe bet that when Eduard release a Weekend Edition kit, an accompanying Zoom etched set will be hot on its heels. So it is with the Bf 110G-4, with a neat set of pre-painted parts bridging some of the gap between the Weekend and ProfiPack nightfighter kits.

The compact fret contains 68 parts designed primarily to upgrade the cockpit, but also adding a number of items to the exterior.

Things kick off with perhaps the most obvious omissions from the Weekend Bf 110 - the seats. The pilot now gets an intricate 9-part shoulder and lap harness with beautifully pre-painted stitching. The gunner/radar operator's position is fitted with just the lap belts, but more importantly he now has something to sit on(!); the plastic kit only provides an empty frame for the woven seat, but included here as a pre-painted mesh with tabs to fold around the support.

The Bf 110's moulded instrument panel is very nice, but I have to admit the etched version really outshines it with it's pre-painted details. The main colour is a pretty convincing RLM 66, and if you're concerned that it might not quite match the overall colour you use for the cockpit, remember that the original aircraft used many pre-painted sub-assemblies, so there was some inevitable variation anyway. The pre-painting for the instrument dials is extraordinarily detailed and they should look perfect with a drop of varnish in each bezel to glaze them.

Further new parts for the cockpit include rudder pedals, plus more instruments, handles and brackets dotted around to produce a very nicely busy "office" and interior for the canopy. An etched frame is provided for the armoured windscreen, and a final neat touch is a pair of delicate ring-sights for the MG81Z rear machine guns.

Turning to the exterior, there are a couple of small rods to fit inside the lips of the underwing radiators, so it's maybe a little surprising that etched faces weren't also provided for the radiators themselves. However, a small grill is included for the leading edge intake on the port wing which will look much more convincing than the otherwise blank kit parts.

Lastly, Eduard supply the aerials under the rear fuselage, which again were omitted from the simplified Weekend Edition Bf 110G-4.

Conclusion

Eduard's Zoom set for the Bf 110 nightfighter is a very worthwhile accompaniment for the Weekend kit, not only providing some excellent extra details, but also including some quiet important items not provided in plastic. It's not an overly complex set (the windscreen frame is probably the trickiest item to use) so it should be suitable for any modeller with a little experience of etched parts.

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