Thursday, September 11

Grünherz are go! Didier builds Eduard's new 48th scale Bf-109G-6

Didier Thomas is a very talented builder who recently brought us the Gloster Meteor IV in 32nd scale – he is back with the pride of Edaurd’s new release of the Bf-109 G6 in 1/48th scale. This kit is in the news with several comments about it of late – we thought the best thing to do was stop talking and just build it! Let’s have a look at Diddier’s experience with his ‘109…
Review Build:
Bf-109 G-6
1/48th scale
Eduard
Profipack # 8268
New tool, Injection moulded kit + P.E. & painting mask
No. of decal options: 5
Instruction sheet download at this link
Available from Eduard directly at this link
Kit and photos by Didier Thomas
Text. by Nicolas Deboeck

Eduard’s Bf-109 G6 in 1/48th scale is probably one of the most talked about kits of the last few months. That’s because the brand itself spent a lot of effort announcing it, showing us tons of previews and saying how good it was going to be. Although there are still quite a few real 109 G’s are still around, a kit of it will always be subject of controversy and analysis in the finest of detail.

No matter how good a manufacturer tries to produce a 109 kit, a lot of modellers will have their (own) mind of how it looks backed up with their own measuring tape and scale ruler ready to check out every little detail of the kit. That’s okay and a part of human nature, but when things get heated up with discussions about a model and differences of opinion the one thing to do is to build the kit and see how it looks when completed. That is exactly what Didier Thomas did.
One thing that is great about Eduard: the kits come in a very complete package – some very fine injection moulded parts with a light surface detail and shallow rivets, a huge selection of nicely printed decals for five different aircraft,some handy canopy masks and delicately produced pre-painted and brass P.E. parts. All of this turns the kit into a very good value model and an "all in one" package. As it turns out, some elements of this kit aren’t exactly to scale, something that has been acknowledged by Eduard. (see the postscript)

The cockpit provided by Eduard is truly amazing for the scale it is made in. It consists of nicely detailed plastic parts and over 15 p.e.parts. It isn’t the easiest cockpit to build due to it's size, but you can’t always have it both ways, right?
The fine P.E. feet harnesses are something you just cannot replicate in plastic in this scale
The instrument panel is built up by means of highly detailed pre-painted P.E..parts.
The painted up cockpit truly is a little gem. Didier only had one comment: “It’s a pity it’s so small and will be difficult to see when it’s in the cockpit. I wish all 1/32 scale kits had the level of detail this 1/48 kit has!” Fortunately, we have photos of the cockpit before he closed up the fuselage.

The coloured and brass PE material really does add to the cockpit
coloured seat harnesses add a lot to the cockpit and are a cinch to install
The tiny layering on the I.P. is also very good - it's almost a luxury compared with what we used to use and a great inclusion to the profipack boxing
 Hollowed out exhausts an a fine cockpit - it is looking great so far!
With the cockpit done, the general construction of the kit went quite smoothly. Didier needed some putty on the wing roots, which was a little surprising.
Only a slim bead of filler was needed..
When the main construction was done, masking was on the menu. What a luxury those masks provided in the kit give us! First coat: some metal; which will help for the chipping later on.
Next step: pre-shading the major panel lines on the model.
After this, the fun started for Didier, who used many different shades, each in a very thin layer, closely following the excellent profiles in the manual. Didier picked a very colourful JG 54 machine, but the box contains decals for a whole bunch of different aircraft!
The scheme Didier chose for this bird was W.Nr. 440141, Flown by Oblt. Wilhelm Schilling, CO of 9./JG 54, Ludwigslust Air Base, February , 1944


The very first enemy aircraft destroyed by Wilhelm Schilling was a Hurricane on May 12, 1940 over Brussels. Afterwards, as a member of JG 54 he added 50 confirmed and 13 probable kills, most of them over the Eastern Front. Schilling made an emergency landing with the aircraft depicted on February 20, 1944. He was shot down whilst flying against the Allied bombing campaign known as the "Big Week".
Ludwigslust Air Base was situated on the north of Germany and was JG 54´s home at that time. Schillling was awarded the Rittekreuz on October 10, 1942 for his then 46 victories. Schilling´s aircraft sports a wide range of various markings. The green heart under the canopy was a JG 54 badge, the III. Gruppe badge is painted inside the heart. The devil´s head on the engine cowling identifies a 9. Staffel aircraft. The blue tail band was painted on JG 54 aircraft that took part in the Third Reich defence.

Firstly the blue fuselage band and the yellow rudder and lower engine panel.
The wheel wells are very nicely detailed from the box.
The details were glued on the kit and after a coat of gloss varnish, Didier started placing the decals; he was amazed by how well they worked: even the spiral on the spinner – always a tricky one – it gave him gave no trouble at all!
At this stage, all that was left to do was a mat varnish, gluing on the details and to stretch the antenna wire. including of course a photo-shoot with the finished model!

Conclusion:
I am all for kits to be as accurate as possible. Modern day techniques enable manufacturers to produce kits that are absolutely stunning, but even then... a perfect kit has never been produced. And it never will. No “old” kit was called “bad”, simply because modellers were just plain happy it was available; so no-one complained. Today with internet fora jumping on kits even before they are released, lots of people want to have their saying. I am convinced that every manufacturer wants to produce the best possible kit. And when you take on a 109 G6, it takes a lot of guts because you know people will be watching every little thing.

When you look at the kit Didier built, you can see it is an extremely pleasing result. The cockpit is a little gem, the decals are some of the best seen and overall, and this is a very convincing 109 that can easily and whole-heartedly be recommended. Sure, it will get some critique, which will probably bring out the "Hank Moody" style of reply from me, but that’s okay too!  This Eduard kit isn’t the perfect Bf-109 G-6, but boy, they sure came very close!



Great kit, thanks to Eduard for sending it!

Kit and photos by Didier Thomas
Text. by Nicolas Deboeck

Available from Eduard directly at this link



P.S.  Recently Eduard announced they will produce an update of the kit that will take care of the inaccuracies of the initial release. That’s pretty cool from the brand because it shows that Eduard listens to modellers. And it also means that all 109 aficionados will not only talk about it, but also build it! Let's hope so!