Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4 'Weekend Edition'

Inside the box you will find one clear and four dark grey-coloured sprues. The surface detail combines fine engraved panel lines with fasteners and all the structural rivets. Because Eduard have tried to get the most out of the tooling, there are many parts on the sprues that are not needed for this particular variant, so they can be consigned to the spares box. The simplified Weekend Edition series means that there is no etched in the box, so things like the instrument panel and side consoles rely solely on the moulded detail (which is good), while there are no etched seat belts, you do get them as decals (you also have the option of a decal on a plain moulding for the instrument panel if you want) - all these decals are standard, not 3D versions. All the options remain, so you have separate control surfaces and leading edge slats, plus the canopy can be posed open or closed. This kit does not show the option of a centreline rack, tank or ordnance, but these parts are still on the sprues should you opt for alternative markings.

Markings
The kit offers four decal options: 
• F-4/Trop, W/Nr.8673, 'Yellow 14', flown by Hptm. Hans-Joachin Marseille, 3./JG 27, Quotaifiya, Egypt, September 1942
• F-4, 'Black 9', flown by Lt Hans-Joachim Heyer, 8/JG 54, Siberskaya, Russia, April 1942
• F-4/Z, W/Nr.7420, 'Yellow 1', flown by Lt Hermann A. Graf, 9./JG 52, Kharkov-Rogan, Russia, May 1942
• F-4/Trop, W/Nr.10145, 'Yellow 3', flown by Fw. Rudolf Müller, 6/JG 5, Petsamo, Finland, June 1942
These four options give you just about every scheme used by the F-4, so there should be something for most modellers. The decal sheets are printed by Eduard and are of excellent quality with perfect register and colour. The main sheet contains all the national and unique markings although you only get partial swastikas, plus there is a second sheet with a full set of airframe stencils.
 
Conclusion
All the Bf 109 series from Eduard in this scale build beautifully and having this less-complex 'Weekend Edition' means that you don't have to worry about photo-etched. The lovely mix of colours schemes is well thought out, but for me, it has to be a desert one! Highly recommended to all Luftwaffe modellers.

Our thanks to Eduard (www.eduard.com) for the review sample, UK modellers can obtain this kit from Hannants here.