Entering service in June 1941, the Bf 109F (Friedrich) corrected some of the limitations revealed in the Battle of Britain, namely the ability to carry extra fuel in a drop tank under the centerline. Other distinguishing features included strutless tail planes and a refined nose profile. Personally, I always associated the Friedrich with Hans-Joachim Marseille who scored many of his 158 victories in this version of Messerschmitt's ubiquitous fighter.

This kit is another in the "Weekend Edition" series from Eduard. As with the other kits I've built in this series I didn't finish this one in a weekend, but if you really devoted a weekend to it you probably could. But why? I say that because this is one to savoir. While the box art is not exactly inspiring, the kit inside is. Molded in Eduard's characteristic dark beige plastic is some of the finest surface detail I've ever seen on a plastic model. The panel lines, rivets and hinge details are fantastic. All control surfaces are separate and posable. You get decals for two aircraft and full stencils. There are no photoetch parts but the seatbelts and instrument panel are provided on the decal sheet. I couldn't resist getting the Zoom set for this kit at the same time I requested the kit itself, so what you see includes the parts from that set (#FE844). That set is written up in a separate review.

Make sure you select which version you want to build before starting since there are some variations in parts and holes to open etc. The stock kit cockpit is very detailed as we've come to expect from Eduard. The coolest touch is the fuel line running along the right side of the cockpit that has a clear section in the real thing. Eduard duplicated this by molding the part in clear plastic so you paint everything but the clear part. Once that’s done the rest goes together pretty quickly. Don't worry about the pitot tube molded on the wing breaking off (I broke mine taking the parts out of the box), there's a replacement part in the kit.

I choose to finish my build in the RLM 78/79 desert scheme with the tropical filter installed. I decided to try some new acrylic paints since I airbrush in the house and I was looking for a less offensive product to spray. What I found worked better than I could have imagined. Vallejo makes a line of paints ready mixed for airbrush called Model Air AV. I used them directly from the bottle avoiding the hassle of thinning and I couldn't be happier with the results. The coverage is excellent and they took masking and weathering without any issues. There is a tail band on both versions that you will have to paint. The canopy was easy to mask but be careful, they are fragile parts and I managed to crack the rear section, luckily in a spot that wasn’t visible.

The decals are a dream to use. I did not gloss coat before applying them and they settled right into the details. Eduard provides stencils in red and black depending on the scheme you choose. I decided to grime this one up a bit. Using a series of pigment-mixed washes and dry brushing, I'm happy with the result.

This kit is awesome! I would rate this a 10 out of 10. This is my favorite version of the Bf 109 so I can definitely see some more of these crossing my workbench in the future. Thank you to Eduard for providing the sample kit and to the IPMS review team for giving me the opportunity to share it with you.