The Overtree versions of the Eduard kits is the release with no frills. No instructions, no decals, no masks, no photo etch, no nothin. That doesn’t mean that it is a bad thing. You get a kit for a very reasonable price and it can be built out of the box quite nicely.

If you are like me, you have plenty of decals in your stash. Plus, you can add those other things should you want to by buying them separately. Personally, I like the pre-painted photo etch parts and the canopy masks. So I picked up the LEPT (limited edition photo etch) which has the key photo etch parts to complete the cockpit, namely the instrument panel and seat belts. The canopy masks are essential for me because I’m lazy and hate masking canopies. I also had the G-2 Upgrade Photo Etch set available so I used most of that as well. And since I had them in my stash I opted to add the Brassin Undercarriage. Why stop there? I also had the Brassin wheels and exhausts available. So I added them too. So why stop there? I also added the control surfaces for the G-2 since I had them. Of course, this increases the cost of the Overtree kit to over the price of the Profipack kit so it really is up to you. Adding all these things will increase the costs of the kit but you get what you pay for.

The first thing to do is to decide which color scheme I wanted. I really wanted to add a two-tone green JG-54 machine to my collection. So since I had some decals for it why not. With that selected it was time to start building.

As usual, construction begins in the cockpit. The cockpit in the overtree kit is devoid of photo etch but I picked up the limited run LEPT set for this kit. It has all the photo etch that you’d need for the cockpit, including the pre-painted instrument panel and seat belts. The cockpit area was pre-shaded with Tamiya NATO Black and then painted with Tamiya Dark Grey to represent the RLM-66. The whole assembly was given a wash of black artist oils and then dry brushed with RLM 02. Silver pencil and paint were used to get the worn look. Acrylic paints were used to bring out the colors in the cockpit, including the clear fuel line. Eduard forgot to add the yellow and red around the two gauges on the PE instrument panel. Nothing big and they are easy enough to paint.

I had some Brassin exhausts so I added that part to the fuselage along with the Brassin tailwheel assembly and just like that the fuselage was ready to close up. The fit is perfect. The only thing that needed a slight bit of putty was where the sprue attachment points were.

The tail assembly was built up and again the fit was perfect. And they fit the fuselage perfectly as well.

The wings are up next and there is nothing dramatic to report here. Don’t forget to open up the holes in the wing if you are going to include the gondolas, drop tank or bomb racks. Luckily I was not using any of them.

The wing radiators faces do need a little sanding to fit properly but nothing a swipe or two with a sanding stick can’t fix. It is very easy to do. Everything about the wings fit perfectly and mating them to the fuselage was much the same. I had to take my time to get the aft portion to fit properly which reduces the need to fill and sand it. This is the only part of the kit that I wish Eduard had done differently. I wish they had put that seam on a panel line. The rest of the kit fit so well I’m sure it could have been perfectly executed. Once added, I scribed the panel line on the wings to meet the aft part of the fuselage panel line. This was missed and needs to be done. I filled the incompletely scribed panel line under the fuselage and re-scribed it. The fasteners under the wings are beautifully represented but not so much on the fuselage. I used a beading tool to deepen the ones on my kit.

I added the Brassin control surfaces. They all fit perfectly as advertised. Since I was using the G-2 Update set, I was going to use the photo etch flaps. They built up nicely and fit well. When adding the third one I dropped the fret and instinctively squeezed my legs together and bent it beyond recognition. Sooo, after cursing a lot, I went back to the plastic ones. I wanted them a little different like I was going to do to the photo etch ones so I sanded down the mounting lugs and positioned them slightly opened with the outboard flaps up. It would look sufficiently different from my other Eduard 109s that I liked it and may do it again.

I added the Brassin landing gear now to support the model to prevent damage to the flaps. They fit perfectly. They were attached with five minute epoxy to allow me some working time to get them straight and aligned.

The canopy masks that I got were added to the canopy in preparation for paint. They fit perfectly to the fuselage. After masking up the canopy opening the whole area was overpainted with RLM 66.

The model was wiped with Polly-S Plastic Prep. A coat of Alclad Grey Primer was sprayed over the model and any areas that needed to be corrected were and reprimed. The model was pre-shaded with Tamiya NATO Black.

I wanted to try out the Mr. Paint brand of paint, so I started with MRP RLM-04 where required. This stuff was very thin and laid down perfectly. It was not very opaque and required multiple applications but no detail was lost. The results were very nice, but you have to take your time. After being left to dry for a few days, the RLM-04 areas were masked off. Some grey primer was added because I was worried about how thin this paint was and I didn’t want to have to worry about covering the yellow. Then the RLM-76 was sprayed on the belly. The horizontal tails were masked off on the bottom in preparation for the camouflage.

I would have used MRP for the olive green but I didn’t have any that matched to Russian AMT-4 which I thought was the color used. I got my AKAN AMT-4 from Linden Hill. This was added to the appropriate areas. This worked as well, if not better than the MRP. It was more opaque and easier to use because of it.

Gunze RLM-70 Black Green was freehand in a camouflage pattern that looked right to me. There are only two photos of the aircraft I wanted to do so I made sure that those particular patterns were followed that I could see then the rest were added to my liking. Since JG-54 had no standard pattern you’d have to prove me wrong. I did base the rest of the camouflage off of an aircraft painted about the same time in a color photo. Overall I was happy.

Allowing the model to dry overnight a coat of Future with one or two drops of Tamiya Thinner was sprayed over the model. This was barely needed as the colors were all glossy but I took the opportunity to safeguard the colors.

Since this was an overtree kit I had the run of my decal books. I used an Eaglecal sheet for the markings. The only compromise I had to make was that my devil head emblem was slightly small. My subject aircraft had a larger than usual emblem. I learned to live with it. The Eaglecals worked perfectly. What stencils that were added to the model were Eduard ones. I used Eduard’s Swastikas and German Crosses and they fit perfectly as I expected them to.

Once I was happy with everything I sealed up the decals with Future and then a coat of Alclad Flat.

A wash of burnt umber artist oils was the first thing I did. This takes away that brand new look and makes the airplane dirty. A dot filter of artist oils was used to fade the paint scheme a little. I used white and yellow ochre for the most part, concentrating on the upper surfaces. Some burnt umber was added in the area of the exhausts to darken them up. Next came some chipping with a sponge and some silver paint. Once happy with that it was time to add some very thin Tamiya Buff in streaks over the entire upper surface of the model. This had to be very thin as the green colors would show up the streaking and I just wanted a hint of streaks to the model. Three drops of Tamiya Flat Earth and two drops of NATO Black were heavily thinned and added to the exhaust areas. Then another drop of black was added to the mix and added to the center to add volume to the exhaust. Some chipping was restored as it is overpainted slightly. Mig Pigments were added to the wheels, doors, wing root and bottom of the airplane to simulate dirty and muddy field conditions. It was set into place with Pigment Fixer. The prop was hit with some Model Master Steel dry brushed onto the reverse side. Then some Tamiya weathering powders were added to the prop blades to dirty them up.

Removing the masks from the canopy and attaching it was easy. Adding the final parts such as the antenna mast was easy enough to do and the model was completed with an antenna of EZ Line.

The Eduard Bf-109F and G series of models are a real joy to build. I’ve built seven now and still enjoy the entire process. The fit is impeccable. Sure I would have liked the bottom of the wing to fuselage join to be on a panel line but even so, it fits very well. The Brassin items I used on this project were exhausts, wheels, landing gear and control surfaces and they all looked great and fit perfectly. The LEPT parts were a great addition and I think essential pieces to add to the kit. The G-2 Upgrade set is also very nice to have and provides some good things, such as the wheel well detail that is lacking in the kit, the flaps (provided you don’t deform them) and the other items that are best represented in 2D. I’ve used a similar set on the G-6 and the F-4 so I know they fit perfectly. Sure adding all these items takes the price of the kit out of the range it was intended but that is up to you to decide what you want to add.

Overall I’m very impressed with this model. I’ve waited a long time to add this paint scheme to my collection and the Eduard Bf-109G-2 was the perfect canvas. Another winner from Eduard.

A word of caution, the Overtrees and the LEPT set designed for them are for a limited time only, usually a month or two after the kit is released. If you want to get one, don’t hesitate. The price is quite reasonable and even if you didn’t have any of the other items that go in a Weekend Edition or Profipack you would still have a great kit out of the box. I thoroughly enjoyed every part of this build.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Eduard and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can obtain your kit direct from Eduard at www.eduard.com or at your local hobby shop or online retailer.