A Very Freelance Patrol

Paolo Portuesi tackles Eduard’s Battle of Britain recent limited edition release.

- Paolo Portusei

Adlerangriff Dual Combo Messerschmitt Bf. 109E-1/3/

Kit No: 11144

Scale: 1/48

Type: Injection Moulded Plastic, with PE, resin and masks

Manufacturer: Eduard www.eduard.com

Eduard really like these dual boxing limited edition releases, with this one appropriately dropping in closely on the tail of the new Spitfire Mk I ‘The few’ dual kit. While not the first Eduard ‘rotte’ of 109s, it is the first to have two different ‘E’ models. As such it immediately had a special fascination for me because the 109 has been one of my favourite aircraft for many years. In particular, the ‘Emil’ of the Battle of Britain, thanks to its profusion of wing and fuselage identification bands not to mention unit and personal markings, holds a special attraction to me. It was the wide choice of aircraft and marking schemes offered by Eduard here that really impressed me.

While the Eduard tooling of the Bf 109E is not really new, when it came out in 2012 it set a new standard of quality for 1/48. The plastic parts, the resin and photoetched parts contained in this new box remain the same with the addition of a splendid resin figure of Adolf Galland, one of the great pilots of the Battle. The kit has parts to build two models, both the wing cannon-armed E-3 and E-4 versions and a machine gun-winged E-1, but the real new feature of this limited edition are the marking options. Thirteen, all from the Battle of Britain and all printed in Eduard’s new style decals with optional removable carrier film.