Eduard Bf 109K-4, 1/48th Scale, Kit No. 11177-NAV1, Special Edition (3/3)

And now, let’s jump right back into our segmented review of the Kurfurst and see what conclusions we can draw from the adventure:

Although the newest of Eduard’s Messerschmitt offerings is an amazing piece of work on almost every front, there are a couple of things to watch out for should you choose to model the airplane.

First, they’ve omitted any reference at all to the small antenna that sprouts from the starboard side of the lower fuselage just aft of that oblong panel cover found down there. The instructions show it in their camouflage and markings section but not in the assembly and it should be there.

Somewhat surprisingly, there are issues with the camouflage and markings instructions, which will require a bit of research for many if not all of the provided decal options. For example, our build review, done as a 12/JG77 bird in 1945, has those undersurface blotches extended up onto the upper leading edges of the wings. They look great both in the kit’s instructions and on the model but they don’t seem to appear in surviving photography of airplanes serving with the unit. The same airplane is given by Eduard as having red main landing gear legs and we doubt that as well (yes, we know about the MW50 equipped airplanes but there’s no proof to date that red mlg legs ever appeared on the K). It’s entirely possible that Eduard knows something we don’t but we’d be a lot more comfortable with photo documentation.

Then there are the decals themselves. They’re done with Eduard’s newish whiz-bang super duper decal method featuring the film on top of the decals and they’re honestly an enigma of the highest order. When they work, they work GREAT; all of the markings on this model except for the swastikas and a couple of the servicing decals came off the kit’s sheet and they honestly appear to be painted on, but the side number on the port fuselage cratered on us in what could only be described as a memorable and expletive-laden moment when we tried to remove the film. Eduard provides spares for every single decal on the kit except for the unit markings and numbers so it’s a situation we’re living with, but if the kit can be said to have any sort of significant flaw, those decals would be it. 

At the end of the day, though, and decal issues aside, this kit is very good indeed and well worth building with the caveat that the modeler will, one way or another, have to deal with the decal issue.

Kudos to Eduard for an imminent buildable and accurate kit and a big Bronx Cheer for the decals. One out of two ain’t bad!

Buy it here.