Eduard 1/48 Bf 109F-2 Detail Set First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Eduard from the Czech Republic is easily the most prolific producer of aftermarket details. Period. Their series of photo-etched detail sets have brought additional fidelity to otherwise bland subjects, and have taken even the best-produced models and kicked them up a notch or two with details that cannot be produced with injection-molded plastic.

When Eduard first introduced the acetate-printed instrument faces that go behind their photo-etched instrument panels, this raised the bar on model cockpit reality as you could almost read the time on the aircraft clock. How could they top that?

It took a number of years, but the answer is color photo-etch. Somehow Eduard has developed a process for printing color directly on their photo-etched parts such that now you not only can read the instrument faces, you can now see the color warning arcs around airspeed indicators and color reference circles around Luftwaffe flight and engine instruments. In this release, Eduard has produced a set of photo-etched details for the ICM's 1/48 Bf 109F-2 kit (reviewed here).

Straight out of the box, the ICM kit is very nicely done, but in true form, Eduard takes a good kit and makes it better. This detail starts off inside the fuselage halves, where you remove the molded-on sidewall details inside the cockpit. These are replaced with photo-etched sidewalls, and onto these go a very extensive set of parts.

Of course the cockpit tub is addressed with new side consoles, trim wheels, rudder pedals, and seat belts for the seat pan. The heart of this set is the color photo-etch instrument panel which is built up from three layers of photo-etch. The Revi gunsight is even updated with a photo-etch frame and acetate combining glass.

Next, the kit provides detail inside the main wheel wells and inside the underwing radiators.

The main landing gear scissors and gear doors are also provided updates, with the set finishing up inside the windscreen and canopy for additional eye-catching details.

While this set will really set off the detail in the Bf 109F-2 kit, this detail set is not for the beginning modeler. You will need to be able to remove the photo-etch parts from their frets (simple once you know how) and then be able to apply these details using cyano adhesives without gluing yourself to the kit parts. It isn't difficult, or else these sets wouldn't be so popular.

You should be able to find this detail set at your local hobby retailer or one of the many online hobby shops. Trust me, this is worth looking for!