Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14/AS 'ProfiPACK'

Inside the box you will find four sprues of a dark grey-coloured plastic, one of clear plastic, a pre-coloured photo-etched fret and a set of self-adhesive masks. Many of the parts are not required in this particular version, so you get a lot of very useful bits to add to your spares box. The full-colour instructions take you though assembly over nine pages and colours are highlighted throughout via the Gunze-Sangyo Mr Aqueous Hobby Color and Mr Color ranges. Breakdown is traditional for the Bf 109, so you have a nice cockpit floor/bulkhead into which goes the trim wheel (plastic and etched), control column, seat pan, rudder pedals (either plastic or etched), cannon breech cover (two styles included), fuel flow sight glass (clear plastic) and seat belts. The starboard sidewall has a separate electrical distribution panel and the instrument panel is a combination of plastic and etched, or plastic and decal. No engine is included, so the exhaust stacks are held in place within the cowls and you have the option of these with or without the anti-dazzle guard. The gun troughs in the upper cowl comes as a separate insert, with backing plates for the partial gun barrels to sit into; obviously to allow the Brassin engine and gun mounts set to fit. The refined side bulges on the cowls are moulded as part of the new fuselage halves. The upper portion of the vertical fin is separate because this kit comes with two styles of rudder. The tailplanes are also separate as are the elevators and rudder. The wheel wells have multi-part linings and the ailerons, flaps and leading edge slats are all separate while the radiators have separate flaps and the option of plastic or etched for the matrices (as does the oil cooler under the chin). The undercarriage features wheels with separate hubs although bronze legs with resin doors and new wheels are already available in the Brassin range for extra detail. The canopy is multi-part, so can be posed open and the armoured glass headrest is a separate clear component. The D/F loop comes as either plastic or etched, the choice is yours. No ordnance is supplied in the kits, although you will see various unused parts on the sprues, but there are two styles of 300lt drop tank under the centreline.

Colour Options
The kit offers five decal options: 
• G-14/AS, W/Nr.784938, 'Green 1', III./JG 6, Bissel, Germany, January 1945
• G-14/AS, W/Nr.783891, 'Yellow 15', flown by Fw. Heinz-Paul Müller, 9./JG 300, Jüterbog-Damm, Germany, autumn 1944
• G-14/AS, 'Yellow 1', flown by Lt. Walter Köhne, CO of 6./JG 11, Wunsdorf, Germany, October 1944
• G-14/AS, W/Nr.785185, 'Blue 17', flown by Lt. Heinz Schüler, 16./JG 5, Stavanger-Forus, Norway, March 1945
• G-14AS, W/Nr.785083, flown by Sgt. Magg. Aroldo Burei, 1a Squadriglia, 1o Gruppo, Caccia ANR, Malpensa, Itálie, April 1945.
The decal sheet, which is printed by Eduard, is excellent and has perfect register and colour density. The swastikas are placed on the edge of the main sheet so that they can be clipped off in those countries where the symbol is banned; there are also two-part versions on the main body of the sheet. There is a smaller separate sheet containing a complete set of airframe stencils.

Conclusion
As we said when originally released, all of Eduard's 'new' Bf 109Gs are of excellent quality and accuracy and they also build superbly. From the box this ProfiPACK version will fill most modellers needs so it is highly recommended to all Luftwaffe (and ANR) modellers.

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