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A Brief History
The Bf109E-7 was more or less the ultimate development of this series before being redesigned into the more streamlined Bf109F. The -7 was capable of carrying a 300 liter external fuel tank, the ETC 50 and 250 bomb rack, and was also often fitted with the DB601N engine with Nitrous system for additional power. With the German Luftwaffes’ appearance in North Africa a Tropical air filter was developed and fitted to Bf 109E4/7 models.
The Kit
Eduards’ release includes parts to build any version of the 109E-4 or 7. Included, as stated in my First Look, is the Tropical filter with the PE screens, and of course, the New corrected Canopies. Decals and markings are for 5 Emils as used in North Africa, and are well done. The issues surrounding the kit parts and their accuracy are well known, and were covered in my Build review of the Bf 109E-4 so I will skip the reiteration and suggest one look at the -4 article for further reference. I chose to build my kit as a Bf 109E-7 N. Jabo, as flown by Dietrich Wickop of 2/JG 2.
Construction
Construction begins with the Cockpit and
styrene strips for cowling fit
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Eduard provides all of the basics necessary. This being a later model Emil, I chose to paint the interior RLM 66 . Interior construction is straight forward but remember to remove about three rows of holes from the Oxygen Regulator, part #E 12 as this sits too high out of the box. In order to enhance the detail I chose to add a seat cushion made of Marine Putty, (similar to Milliput but harder to work with due to it’s fast drying time). I painted my cushion a light beige, a color I had seen used before, to offset the darker interior colors. Eduards PE Instrument panel was utilized and easily installed in the finished cockpit per directions. Once the interior is assembled and
seat pad styrene strip
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painted one must make the decision to either display the engine compartment opened or closed. As on my previous build I chose the latter. From experience gained in my build of the E-4, I chose to assemble the fuselage, and drop in the intake assembly for the lower cowl from above. (Parts E11, F7, F11, and PE parts 42/43). I still had to trim off the locating tabs from part F11, but overall achieved a much better fit to the fuselage, and ultimately to the wing. When assembling the fuselage be sure not to forget to install parts D4, D9, and F24 before assembly.
Next up is the Wing assembly. This is a very straight forward sequence with no issues in fit. I again chose to alter the Leading Edge Slats by removing about 2mm from the slats and adding the same to the well/wing surface. I used styrene strip laminated in the well, sealed with super glue, then sanded to shape. Some rescribing of panel lines was required after the process. The completed wing is then attached to the fuselage and
wing slat mod
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major construction is completed.
One of the drawbacks of the kit that I chose to try to rectify is the “Overdone” fabric on frame effect on the control surfaces. Being a WW1 modeler the similarity to the framework on the kit and the old “Aeroskin” kits came to mind. Utilizing spare sections of the tissue supplied in the Renwall kits I covered flaps, ailerons, elevators, and the rudder with this material, utilizing sections cut to shape and applied with Testors Liquid Cement, per the original Renwall kits. My experiment was fairly successful with the effect reduced, if not
elevators covered in aeroskin
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perfect.
Another area of concern fit wise was the Cowling. On my previous build I tried a spacer inserted inside the cowling in order to spread out the edges and get a better fit to the fuselage. This time I utilized a much more simple and effective method, just glued tabs along the inside edges of the fuselage as one would do with a vac form kit, and glued the cowling on. (sometimes basic building is using the easy way). This worked out quite well and the fit on this one is excellent
Bomb and Bomb Racks
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compared to my first build.
German Bomb Set
Along with my review sample of this kit, I received a sample of Eduards’ German Bomb Set. Included are an ETC 50 and ETC 500 bomb racks, along with examples of SC50 and 250 bombs. PE is included for the Bomb fins, braces, and some attachment brackets. This led me to choose to build the Jabo version as stated earlier. The SC 250 bomb was chosen along with the ETC 500 rack. Assembly is fairly
PE for Bombs/Racks
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straight forward and the only issue I had was fitting the PE stiffeners to the fins. In the end I utilized stretched styrene strip to represent this feature. It should be noted that this was probably my ham-fistedness more than the PE parts supplied.
With the bomb rack installed (don’t forget to open the appropriate holes in the wing before assembly), I moved on to a couple of scribing projects. The first was correcting the slightly off fuel filler access on the upper left fuselage. I utilized a Verlinden Template and my old straight Scribing tool. Having chosen to do an E-7 N I also found that I needed to add 2 access hatches to the fuselage. This was accomplished in the same way.
With major construction complete I now moved on to the painting phase.
Painting
Initially I was going to do an E-4 as flown by
Werner Macholds of 7/JG2 and utilized in the Jabo role in 1941. Finding appropriate markings became an issue so with the help of a fellow Hyperscaler I opted for the aforementioned 2/JG2 scheme as I could reproduce the rather rough outlined 11 on my Ink Jet printer and the leftover JG2 emblem from my previous 109E-4 kit . My references for this bird were Ronny Barrs' excellent profile, and a picture found while surfing the net. After study it appeared to me that the aircraft was finished in RLM 74/75, with a heavy non-standard mottle on the fuselage. In addition the Yellow nose and rudder of the “Richthoffen” Geschwader was apparent. I started out by airbrushing Testors Model Master acrylic RLM 76 on the undersurfaces and fuselage sides. I then airbrushed the RLM 75, followed by RLM 74, both also Model Master acrylics. The mottle was next and resulted in a finish I just did not like! In my opinion the Model Master RLM 74 is too green and too dark. To me the results of the scheme looked more like RLM 71 Dark green and gave an odd look to the scheme. In addition I tried every trick I knew and could not eliminate specs between the mottles. So I utilized 7000 grit polishing cloth and removed all of the paint from the fuselage. I then touched up the light blue and changed brands of paint for the 74/75 portion of the scheme. I happened to have some tins of Xtracolor enamels in the desired RLM colors. I first over sprayed the wings, then attacked the mottle again. This time the results were satisfactory. When dry, I masked off the nose and rudder and used Pollyscale RLM 02 yellow to cover this area. Weathering was accomplished using subtle washes of artist oils, burnt sienna and black, and oil pastels. The aircraft was given an overall coat of Future, and the decals applied. As stated earlier I made
my own # 11 for both fuselage sides by enlarging the image from a 1/48th decal sheet by Aeromaster, then printing on clear decal paper on my printer. This worked well for the rough look of the numbers on the original. Kit decals were used on the fuselage and under wing, with an Eaglecals sheet supplying the upper wing crosses. One item I have yet to make is the Ship victory Marking on the rudder. I haven’t found an appropriate decal yet so this will be added in the future. A final finish of Dull Coat by Testors completed the painting.
Final Construction
The last steps include attaching the landing gear, (I tried shortening the legs to show a little
weight but was a bit too conservative so this is not too noticeable). For some reason I struggled with the brake lines on this one, and will go back some day and redo them. Next the tail wheel assembly, canopies were attached with the center in the open position, the antenna mast was attached, and finally an antenna wire fabricated from Heat Stretched Sprue.
Tropical Filter: I have included photos of the assembled Tropical Filter utilizing the Eduard PE included in the kit. This is easy to work with and is effective in appearance. In My opinion, the filter looks a little too long but I am not certain I am correct.
Conclusion
The Eduard kit is still an outstanding kit which builds up well with little effort. Again correcting issues known to be inherent in the kit is up to the individual Modeler and to me do not take away too much from the kit. There are now other options in this scale but I still feel confident in Recommending this kit highly.
Thanks to Matt Bittner, IM, and Eduard for allowing me to review and build this kit.
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