Zvezda's recent 1:48th Bf 109 F has quite rightly got Luftwaffe enthusiasts excited, not only for being arguably the most accurate quarterscale '109 of any mark yet kitted, but also on account of its excellent level of detail. Over on britmodeller French master modeller Emmanuel Pernes described the Zvezda BF 109 F 2 as " one of the most pleasant and beautiful I've ever built ". Manu has very kindly agreed to allow me to post these pictures of his build. Here it is finished in the colours of Major Hans Philipp of JG 54 on the Russian front in 1941. The 'web' style camo finish is airbrushed and faded by micromeshing the surfaces and using some oil paints. Decals are from Lifelike.
But any injection moulded kit, no matter how good, must involve some compromises, and Vector have released a very neat resin upgrade set to correct some of the details that Zvezda have missed or simplified.
Starting with the interior, Vector provide a replacement instrument panel and gunsight. Both are distinct improvements over Zvezda's originals.
Moving on to the outside of the kit, there's a new spinner. The shape is the same as the accurate kit version but Vector have included the shaped cutouts for the propeller blades. The set also includes hollowed-out exhausts. The set includes replacement ailerons. The top surfaces seem identical to the kit items, but the undersides now have a nice subtle fabric effect that Zvezda missed for some reason.
Zvezda's Friedrich is a beautiful kit in the first place and the Vector set adds the icing on the cake.
This model will be featured in the October issue of 'Wingmasters' magazine. The new (August 2012) Zvezda Friedrich in 1:72nd scale is also featured on this blog at this link
http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/zvezda-bf-109-friedrich-in-172-scale.html
