When is the last time that you really had fun building a model? Taking a cue from kits like the Bandai Gundam series that my son built several years ago, Academy, and some others manufacturers, are beginning to release kits that are molded in multi-color plastics. The benefit is that without the use of paint, and only a minimal amount of glue, a modeler can realistically create a kit beyond a simple monochromatic representation of their subject. In addition, the fit and finish of kits like this are also beyond what is found in a typical snap-tight kit. In their latest release, Academy has produced a WWII era USS Missouri that really is fun to build, and will bring the joy of modeling to anyone that is able to work with small parts.

With the release of the new Bf-109F-4 from Eduard we are treated to numerous ways to upgrade the kit should you want to. Eduard has always been known for their photo etch so it is to be expected that they would offer something in photo etch for this kit.

This set of photo etch comes in the normal Eduard resealable package with card stock keeping the photo etch safe. The actual fret is brass with really good detail. The primary areas addressed by this set is the wheel wells, landing gear doors and the flaps.

The wheel well portion offers an accurate rendition of the wheel well insert with the appropriate cutouts. The landing gear doors provide you with two different styles of landing gear covers. I chose to use the ‘normal’ doors. They worked out just fine but you will need to curve them slightly to be accurate. They are suitably thin too. Also to the landing gear are the brake lines and the tie down rings on the bottom of the landing gear strut.

Revell put together a pretty wild kit with this Beretta. It’s almost straight out of the TV show “Street Outlaws”.

Engine

We have a supercharged small block with nitrous. Real life would be putting out massive amounts of horsepower. Instructions were a little fuzzy on the distributor angle. Straight up won’t allow the body to sit correctly, so it must be angled. Provides a pretty nice Lenco transmission.

Interior

There’s not too much to the interior. Very nice bucket seats are provided, a full roll cage, ton of gauges, fire extinguishers, nitrous bottle, and shifters.

Body

Body is a simple affair and has the Chevy bowtie molded in on the engine bay. After shooting the body with HOK black followed by a quick clear coat, I wasn’t able to get the decals to set as well as I thought they should. I even used decal solvents to try get them to lay down.