Messerschmitt
Bf 110 G-2

Eduard Weekend Edition, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

Eduard's Weekend Edition 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-2
is available online from Squadron.com for only USD $12.99!!

The Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-2 was the first major Bf 110 variant produced after the failure of the type’s intended replacement, the Messerschmitt Me 210, and was a reasonably successful upgrade of an obsolescent airframe.  The G-2’s Daimler-Benz DB 605B engines delivered more power than the DB 601s used on Bf 110 C, D, E and F models, and its ability to carry a wide range of Rüstsätze weapons made it a formidable ground attack platform and – in the right conditions – bomber interceptor. 

Many of the nearly 800 Bf 110 G-2s produced in 1942 and 1943 were allocated to Luftwaffe Zerstörer units and employed against USAAF daylight bombing raids.  But while reasonably successful against unescorted bombers, the G-2s were spectacularly vulnerable to Allied fighters, which by early 1944 were being encountered on most missions.  Unsustainable losses quickly ended Bf 110 day fighter operations in western Europe, although G-4 night fighters remained a threat to RAF night bombers until the end of the war.

As I mentioned in my review of Eduard’s 1/72 Bf 110 G-4 Weekend Edition kit, Eduard has now released 1/72 Profipack, Weekend Edition and Limited Edition boxings of almost every major Bf 110 variant.  The Bf 110 G-2 Weekend Edition kit being examined here was released shortly before the G-4 Weekend Edition kit, with which it shares a majority of parts.  The only sprues not common to both kits are those containing the different G-2 and G-4 fuselage halves (sprues E and L respectively), and sprue M that contains G-4 radar arrays and is not relevant to the G-2 kit.  Many of the points I made about the G-4 are therefore also applicable to the G-2 kit.

Eduard’s standard 38 cm (15 inch) by 23 cm (9 inch) box is adorned with dramatic art of the kit marking option, a Bf 110 G-2 of 5./ZG 1, firing its tub-mounted MG 151/20s at an opponent.  The box is slightly too big for the kit it contains, which rattles around in all the space but is well protected in re-sealable plastic bags. 

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As with the Bf 110 G-4 kit, many of the parts here will go straight to the spares box, including wheels, fuel tanks, ammunition drums, centreline racks, bombs and vertical tail surfaces.  Whether needed or not, the parts are of uniformly excellent quality – well moulded and with no imperfections or flash.

A test fit of the main airframe components – fuselage to fuselage, fuselage to wing and wing to nacelle – suggests very good fit with no gaps or seams.  In particular, the potentially troublesome wing to nacelle join of Eduard’s 1/48 Bf 110 kits seems to be absent.  This is good news because any filling, sanding and scribing would risk damaging the fine engraved detail that is present on all external surfaces.

Interior detail is also good.  The G-2 cockpit isn’t as busy as its G-4 equivalent, lacking the radar and upward firing Schräge Musik installations, but what’s there is crisply moulded and with careful painting and weathering should look convincing.  The interior is certainly good enough to be displayed under an open canopy, the parts for which are very clear but will require careful installation.  Two close to mandatory extras are some aftermarket seat harnesses, and pre-cut masks to help with painting the canopy parts.

The instructions are the standard A5, black and white, 12 page booklet that Eduard supplies with its Weekend Edition kits.  They contain a brief history of the Bf 110 on the first page, sprue maps on the second, and then nine pages of clearly illustrated and logically sequenced assembly steps.  The PDF version of the booklet that can be downloaded from Eduard’s website is even easier to follow, for two reasons.  The first is that – on a tablet at least – the illustrations can be resized as necessary without losing any of their clarity.  This makes some of the busier assembly steps easier to follow, because you can zoom right in to the drawing to see exactly how and where the parts fit together.  The second reason is that the PDF version is in colour; areas that are an ambiguous grey in print are suddenly revealed as light blue parts location guides, while the full colour painting and marking guide is far superior to its printed equivalent.

Marking Option

The 5./ZG 1 machine for which Eduard provides markings, ‘2N+MN’, is cited as having been based at Wells, Austria, in winter 1943-44.  It was finished in the then standard Luftwaffe day fighter scheme of RLM 74 Grey Green and RLM 75 Grey Violet splinter camouflage over RLM 76 Light Blue, with light 74/75 mottling on the RLM 76 fuselage sides. ‘2N+MN’ carried a white band on the rear fuselage and black and red spinners and codes.

As is often the case with Weekend Edition marking schemes, this one has been borrowed from the Profipack boxing of the same kit that was released in January 2013.  It’s the scheme in which Brett Green finished his model from the Profipack kit, which you can see on Hyperscale here as well as in a detailed build article by Brett in the March 2013 edition of Military Illustrated Modeller. 

The small decal sheet has been printed by Eduard and looks to be of good quality.  Decals are provided for all of the instruments in the cockpit, not just the main panel, and with careful application will add interest to this part of the model.  In addition to the national markings and individual codes, the sheet contains a few airframe stencils – but nothing like the full set that is included with the Bf 110 G-4 Weekend Edition kit.  If you want to apply a full set of stencils to this kit, you’ll need to pick up Eduard’s separately available 1/72 Bf 110 stencil sheet.

I’m not sure if there’s a great deal more that can be said about Eduard’s 1/72 Bf 110 kits.  They are state-of-the-art examples of injection moulded plastic kits that are sufficiently well detailed to look great without the addition of photo-etched or resin accessories.  This Bf 110 G-2 Weekend Edition kit is a good example of this, offering a trouble-free build and an interesting and colourful marking option.  Very highly recommended.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Brad Fallen
Page Created 5 May, 2014
Last updated 5 May, 2014

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