The
Messerschmitt Bf 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter (Zerstörer - German for
Destroyer") during the Second World War. The Bf 110 served with success in
the early campaigns. The Bf 110's lack of agility in the air was its primary
weakness. This flaw was exposed during the Battle of Britian, when some Bf 110
equipped units were withdrawn from the battle after very heavy losses and
redeployed as night fighters, a role to which the aircraft was well suited. The
Bf 110 enjoyed a successful period following the Battle of Britain as an air
superiority fighter and strike aircraft in other theatres. Later in the war, it
was developed into a formidable night fighter, becoming the major night-fighting
aircraft of the Luftwaffe. Most of the German night fighter aces flew the Bf 110
at some point during their combat careers, and the top night fighter ace of all
time, Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, flew it exclusively, and claimed 121
victories in 164 combat missions.
Click on
images below to see larger images
413
pale olive parts and 13 clear parts, comprise of this Bf110 G-4 version from
Eduard in their Weekend Edition boxing. Some of these parts on the sprues are
not require as they are for the earlier DB 601 engine versions, so it’s a bit
deceptive.
http://www.hlj.com/product/EDU08404
Eduard's
Weekend Edition kits are the basic reissues of their Profipak range. So with the
Weekend kits you lose all the extra goodies that are supplied in the Profipak,
like the Photo Etch, canopy masks, resin if there is some included and your
knocked down to only one… yes one option of markings. Life is so hard
sometimes! Looking at the kit you could afford to lose the Photo Etch with the
detail Eduard has supplied straight out of the box… maybe you will miss the
seat harnesses thou. The good thing is the price is a lot less than the Profipak,
so if your on a budget, that’s great news!
There
is only a couple of small changes from the earlier G-2 Kit that has been
released. There is a new sprue that contains the FuG 202/220 Lichtenstein Radar,
a new nose and the upward-firing Schräge Musik mounted 20mm cannons. Also there
are flame-damping exhausts and rudders.
Fuselage
detail is beautifully done with finely engraved panel lines and strikingly
embossed rivets lines. Wing detail is also excellently done, the ailerons are
molded separately but unfortunately with the elevators, rudders and flaps are
molded in position. On the supplied sample of the nose part, I found there
were a couple of small sink marks that will require a small amount of filling.
The
transparent parts are crystal clear and Eduard have designed the canopies to
molded so you can have the option of displaying the front and rear cockpits
closed up, or open, and there are two different styles of rear canopy, one for
the upward-firing Schräge Musik cannons and the other if its not. The only
downside to it being a Weekend kit is the exclusion of the canopy masks, so you
will have a small task masking up the glazing.
The
instructions are not like the glossy colour printed in the Profipak, these are
printed in black and white A-5 sheets that are folded into a booklet form. So,
another downgrade for the Weekend Edition.
The
decals are still printed to the high Eduard standard, crisp and in perfect
register. So there are no short cuts there. The one marking option that is
included is a Bf110-G4 Wr.Nr. 110087, 4./NJG3, Kjevik, Norway, 1945.
So
if you can handle the cost cutting that Eduard has supplied in the form of the
Weekend Edition kit without all the extra goodies that are in the Profipak. You
should have a winner in this kit. The task building this kit could a bit
difficult for a beginner modeler, so you should have a few builds under your
belt before tackling this fantastic model of the famous Luftwaffe nightfighter.
I would
like to thank HobbyLink Japan (www.hlj.com)
for providing this sample.Dave
Johnson
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