Eduard 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 110G4 Nightfighter ProfiPack Edition
By Steve Hustad
Overview
The Messerschmitt Bf 110G was the last purpose-built twin engine night fighter designed and manufactured by Messerschmitt. The last in a long line of developments from the C series day fighters of 1939/40, to the F/G series heavy day fighters expected to take on the Allied bomber stream in 1943/44, to the variant represented by this, Eduard’s latest offering – the penultimate ‘110, the Bf 110G4 night fighter.
Some 1/72nd scale ‘110 kit history
First, a bit of 1/72nd scale Bf 110 kit history (this is a bit ‘gory’, so feel free to look away if you’re at all squeamish…). Back in the 1960’s we had the truly awful Airfix Bf 110C/D, then the ‘thick’, difficult and misshapen Frog Bf 110G4. That was the ‘110 ‘stable for many years until the introduction of the much finer Monogram Bf 110E kit in the late 1960s. That was to best to date, and quite accurate, but with very little detail, raised panel lines and of only one variant. I converted A LOT of Monogram ‘110s into G series Nightfighters as a kid! Fujimi came shortly after with their nice Bf 110C/D kit, but even though it has fine detail, and recessed panel lines, it lacked detail and had wing-tip & nose shape errors that are very difficult to correct. Then in 1994 Italeri released their Bf 110C/D & G series kits that we all held out much hope for until we actually got a peek in the box! Raised panel lines, crude detailing, misshapen props, spinners, canopy, you name it! Some nice resin was created for the Italeri kits trying to salvage a lost battle…
The Kit
Fast forward to 2012, and we get the long awaited 1/72nd Eduard ‘110 kits, starting with the ‘E’, ‘C/D’, then the ’F & early G’ types. And now finally the one everyone was REALLY waiting for – the ‘G4’ variant which is the subject of this quickie ‘in-the-box’ review.
Molded in medium blue/gray & clear plastic, on eight different sprues, and also including a very nice colored photo-etch fret, decals for four different aircraft, and pre-cut canopy masks, this ProfiPack version comes fully loaded! Also included is a very nice multi-page color instruction booklet well printed on glossy stock. I noticed that the box this kit comes in is substantially larger than the ‘110E ProfiPack kit I already have.
Many of the sprues included here are the same as in previous releases, but a couple are specific to this variant – the new sprue M being a case in point – all the radar arrays for example. Another with the ‘110G series fuselage and the G’s various nose gun and radar support variations are included as well.
Eduard always does a nice job ‘multi-tasking’ sprues and this ProfiPack is no exception.
Generally speaking, the panel lines are very finely recessed and accurately located. Not too deep or wide as is sometimes seen. I cut apart and test fit all of the major components and I’m happy to report that I can find no fit issues. This is important, because of the way this kit is engineered – to provide several different variants from many common sprues – so a good fit is not usually the case. Eduard’s engineers are to be commended for this.
Fit overall is tight, without gaps, or built in stresses. One should be able to put this kit together without using any putty filler.
The quality of the molding is exemplary - the mold lines where the two molds come together are very light which will only require some very small effort to clean up – I like that a lot!
The only molding negative I could find was that my example’s left fuselage half seems mis-molded in that the plastic ‘flakes’ and separates a bit here and there as if the plastic itself wasn’t mixed properly(?). Not too serious and nothing I can’t overcome with a little filler and sandpaper. But having some experience with Eduard kits, I have to believe that this is not typical, and I’m sure is just a ‘one-off’.
As to the specific areas, we’ll start with the cockpit - which consists of two nicely detailed fuselage sidewalls with a separate floorboard and front & rear bulkheads. Instrument panel and rudder pedals are offered in plastic & PE. The control stick & pilot’s seat are plastic and of the correct shape type & shape, though the pilot’s seat is a bit thick, so some thinning will be required, but should not be hard in this case. The radar operators bench seat is in plastic & PE, and the rear twin cannon mounted to fire obliquely forward and up through the top of the rear of the canopy are provided, as is the twin MGs mounted to fire rearwards – all are as accurate as the injection molding process will allow – which in this case is very satisfactory.
The wings are very nice, and with petit wheel well detail provided as molded into the lower wing section, bulkheads and sidewalls, as well as the gear door themselves. As with Eduard’s other ‘110 kits, full and accurate gear door supports, gear, torque links (in PE or plastic), and some internal wheel well detailing is also provided. This is to the level that would satisfy probably 80% of modelers. Separate wingtips and ailerons are also provided, though it would have been nice had the wingtip lights been cut away and provided as separate clear add-ons, as these are large enough to justify that kind of treatment. The separate ailerons are nice, but with heavy rib tape detail – though very easily dealt with. Under wing radiators are also separate, accurate, and with some internal detailing/bulkheads.
Moving onto the engine nacelles, the propeller blades and spinners appear well shaped and accurate (not usually the case with ‘110G kits!), and there are two types of flame dampening exhaust stacks provided – early & late, and with hollowed rear ends! Eduard has correctly represented the ‘110G’s late DB605 engined nacelles with the proper ‘bumps’ in place too. Separate ‘chin’ intakes are also represented with internal structure, all of the correct shape.
The sprue with the specific ‘110G radar parts is nice, but its so hard to reproduce these ‘deer antler’ radars at this scale and do so realistically! These are much better than most, with accurate details, etc., but are still too big/thick for the scale. Perhaps Eduard’s tailor-made radar PE set for this kit will solve the problem?
The clear parts provided are on one of the common sprues suitable for pretty much any ‘110 variant. These parts are crystal clear, but also somewhat thick. With some thinning of their exposed edges they should be okay. Though I may replace some of the parts next to sections I’ll open up with home-made ‘heat & smash’ replacements for more of a ‘too scale’ look. (It’s a shame that Falcon doesn’t make replacement vacform canopies for newer kits anymore…).
The decals look very well printed, in register, and thin. I’ll try them out on the full-build that follows. The canopy masks look nice and I’m sure will perform as well as any of Eduard’s others. The instruction booklet is a ‘keeper’ for the reference file after the kit is finished. Providing additional reference notations for the four schemes represented would have been nice though for those of us who want to dig further.
That’s it. Overall another ProfiPack winner from Eduard! A definite "thank you" to Eduard for supplying the review model.
