Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1

Eduard, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Eduard's 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 Weekend Edition is available online from Squadron.com
 

Background

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 A, B, C and D were powered by the Junkers Jumo engine. The Spanish Civil War presented the opportunity to test these revolutionary fighters in action, and they proved their worth in combat with Legion Condor over the skies of Spain.

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 E series was the first of the family to be fitted with the Daimler Benz DB601A engine, resulting in a significant improvement in performance.

Two variants were manufactured in parallel - the lightweight Bf 109 E-1 which retained the wing-mounted 7.9mm machine guns of the earlier Bf 109 B, C and D; and the Bf 109 E-3 which was fitted with one 20mm MG FF cannon in each wing. Both variants featured two additional 7.92mm machine guns in the cowl.

1,183 Bf 109 E-1s were delivered. They saw first saw service with Legion Condor in Spain, then continued in widespread action alongside the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 in Poland, the Low Countries, across the English Channel in the Battle of Britain and in the Balkans.

Eduard released their new 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 back in early 2009. That kit included photo-etched parts and masks.

This new Weekend Edition is all-plastic affair, comprising 152 parts in olive coloured styrene; five parts in clear; markings for one aircraft plus full stencil data.

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Thumbnail panels:

The parts are very well moulded, with only a few shallow sink marks that will be visible on the finished model (most notably the front of the top wing halves near the wing roots).

Surface detail is state-of-the-art. Finely recessed panel lines are supplemented with even finer rows of rivets. These are barely visible at some angles, and are consistent over the whole airframe. Very nice indeed. Control surfaces feature raised "fabric strips" and stitching. Lighting for photography seems to exaggerate the effect, but they look great on the sprues and after the model has been built. Even so, if the fabric sag is too much for your personal taste, it will be a simple matter to fill the recesses with Mr Surfacer, or lightly sand the raised ribs.

Detail is good, even without the photo-etched parts. In this issue, the cockpit is made up entirely from plastic parts.

A full engine is supplied, but this is an optional element. Eduard has taken notice of customer comments about the complexity of some of its earlier kits including the 1/48 scale Fw 190 and Bf 110 families. In the case of this 1/32 scale Bf 109 E-1, the DB601A engine may be installed and displayed, or the cowl may be glued closed without the engine. Alternate parts are supplied to mount the propeller, the exhaust stubs and the cowl guns if the second option is chosen.

The engine looks good. Individual exhaust stubs are provided. These are hollow at the end and have raised weld seams down the middle - don't sand these off!

The cowl itself is supplied in four pieces - the main upper cowl, two rear side cowl panels and the gun deck.

All control surfaces are separate - the flaps, leading edge slats, ailerons, elevators and rudder. Flaps are moulded with tabs that will pose them dropped without modification, but it will be very easy to slice off the tabs and reposition if desired.

The main wheels are the new version that first appeared in Eduard's 1/32 scale Bf 109 E-7/Trop kit, featuring separate parts for a deeper and much more authentic-looking hub.

The main wheel wells are nicely done. The ceiling of the well features a ring of raised rivets and reinforcement strips. The sides of the main wells are boxed in with separate parts.

The early style canopy with the low horizontal framing is provided as three separate parts. External armoured glass for the windscreen is also included. Although it is not used on this kit's marking option, the external armour was sometimes retrofitted to Bf 109 E-1 and E-3s. The final clear part is the gun sight.

All the transparent parts are clear and free from distortion.

The self-adhesive canopy masks are a time-saving touch.

As usual with the Weekend Editon kits, one making option is provided:

• Red ‘1’, Hptm. Hannes Trautloft, 2./JG 77, Juliusburg, Germany, September 1939

Full stencil data is also offerd on the sheet.

Decals have been printed by Cartograf. Register is perfect, colours are glossy, rich and opaque, and visible carrier film is non-existent. They don't come much better than these.

In my opinion, Eduard offers by far the best Messerschmitt Bf 109 E kits in 1/32 scale, and this Weekend Edition version of the E-1 represents fantastic value for money.

Eduard's 1/32 scale Weekend Edition Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 features all the high points of the regular issue, minus photo-etched parts and masks, at not much more than half the price of the original.

I built the original Profipack version of this kit back in early 2009, and it was a pleasure to work on. It looked great when complete - accurate and with beautifully restrained surface detail. The Weekend Edition version should be just as nice to build.

Eduard's 1/32 scale Weekend Edition Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 will be ideal for metalophobes or anyone who plans to use an after-market cockpit.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2010 by Brett Green
Page Created 5 September, 2010
Last updated 6 September, 2010

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