Zvezda 1/48 Bf109F-4
By Jacob Russell
The Plane
The Messerschmitt Bf109F (Friedrich) was the successor to the Bf109E (Emil) series. The F-2 first appeared in April of 1941, the F-3 in early 1942 and its successor the F-4 soon afterward. It was outwardly similar to the F-3, but the engine-mounted MG 151/15 cannon was replaced by the 20mm MG 151/20. The F series was perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing of all of the Bf109s, but it lacked the wing armament of the Emil series. Many Luftwaffe pilots, notably Adolf Galland, felt that it was under armed and that new pilots might find themselves at a disadvantage.
The Model
The model comes in a stout cardboard box with nice artwork depicting an F-4 in mortal cockpit with a Lavochkin LaGG-3 (the infamous "varnished guaranteed coffin") over water-the Black Sea, perhaps?
This is a complex kit. It consists of 238 parts, 11 of which are clear, on 6 sprues. The fuselage halves have good cockpit detail molded on the sidewalls and the tail halves are separate moldings. There are 2 tails to choose from, with and without the external stiffeners. These stiffeners were added to cancel out sympathetic oscillations that tended to separate the tail from the airframe...
You get a complete Daimler-Benz DB 601E engine, and the option to build the plane with or without open cowlings. To facilitate this you have 2 sets of cowlings to choose from, a pair with internal details and a plain set for the closed cowling option. The detail on the open cowls is nicely done and it will look quite nice with dry brushed raised details and an oil wash.
The Daimler-Benz engine is a model unto itself. It is composed of more than 30 well detailed parts, and like the inside of the cowlings, it will look very good with an oil wash and dry brushed raised details. Then you can add some spark plug wires and various plumbing, a couple of figures, and you have the makings of a nice diorama...
The exhaust stacks are individually molded. If you choose the open cowl option, I would recommend that you take the time and trouble to drill out each stack for both accuracy and enhanced detail. Don't forget to add the raised weld seams. The upper decking MG131 machines are well detailed and they include the spent cartridge chutes and ancillary equipment.
It should come as no surprise that the cockpit is another well detailed, multipiece assembly. The instrument panel is a minor disappointment in that it's rather featureless and depends on a decal for the instrument faces. The decal is well printed but a little muddy, and the instrument faces are not quite legible. I like the fact that the cockpit is composed of so many pieces, because the detail is very well done. The rudder pedals attach to a well depicted substructure, and there are separate consoles, oxygen regulator, etc. to add to the cockpit floor and both sidewalls, plus the pair of wheels for retracting the landing gear. One of the best features is a separately molded fuel line for the drop tank. The detail gives up very little to an aftermarket resin cockpit. If so inclined you can add the included pilot figure. Yes, he's a multipiece figure too, with separate arms. I hope you're confident in your figure painting skills, because he's slightly on the goofy-looking side, and needs all the help he can get.
The wings are well done, and the wheel wells come in for special praise. Yes, you guessed it, they are yet another multipiece assembly, with the open holes in the landing gear bays, through which the brake lines should be visible. There are open bays with covers outboard of each wheel well, which is curious, because there was no armament installed in the wings. Also, most of the F-4s had squared-off wheel wells, which the kit fails to take into account. The under wing stores include a pair of gondola MG 151/20 cannon, a drop tank and drop tank rack, plus a pair of bomb racks. The first is an ETC 500/IXb rack with a SC 250 bomb. The second is an ETC 50/VIIId rack carrying 4 SC 50 bombs.
The clear sprues includes lenses for the wing tip navigation lights, an armor panel for the windscreen, 3 separate windscreens to choose from, plus a windscreen and canopy for an early Bf109E which are completely surplus to this kit.
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The decal sheet is well printed, legible and in register. It also includes a complete set of stencils. The national insignia have cream where they should be white, rather like an older Hasegawa sheet, only not as well printed. There are 2 decal options in the kit, both of the same aircraft, "Black 1", of Max-Helmuth Ostermann, 8./JG54 "Grunherz" (Green Hearts), May 1942. The first option depicts the plane in standard RLM 74/75/76, with RLM 04 yellow lower cowl, fuselage band, and lower wingtips. The spinner is one third white and two thirds black. If I understand the instructions correctly, the plane was over painted with patches of either 2 shades of field mixed greens, or an early application of the late War RLM 82 and 83 greens. The second option is for the same plane, but it has been over painted with field applied winter white distemper paint; all of the yellow theatre markings remained. The original camouflaged upper cowl gun decking has been replaced with a unpainted substitute. The instructions themselves are well printed with a clear and logical build sequence.
Conclusion
This is a great kit. It is accurate and well detailed. There are Friedrichs in 1/48th scale available from Airfix, ICM and Hasegawa, and this kit surpasses all of them. I would buy one of the Eduard photo-etch sets for the instrument panel and an seat harness at the minimum, and perhaps a pair of resin wheels from Ultracast or Brassin wheels from Eduard. I recommend this kit and I would like to thank Zvezda for providing the review sample.
References
Messerschmitt "O-Nine" Gallery, by Thomas H. Hitchcock, Monogram Aviation Publications, 1973
Messerschmitt Bf109F, Volume I, by Marek J. Murawski, Kagero Publications, 2007
Messerschmitt Bf109F, Volume II, by Marek J. Murawski, Kagero Publications, 2008