1:48 Bf 109E-4 OVERTREES

The Emil over the Channel

The Bf 109 E-4 was among the main opponents of the British fighters in the summer of 1940. Against the earlier E-3 it was given modified gun armament in the wing and a cockpit canopy with more angular framing and heavier armor behind the pilot's head. The fuselage stayed stockier than on the later versions, with the prominent radiator block under the nose and with a pair of underwing radiators. Over England it became clear how much the short range tied the machine's hands, because only a few minutes of combat were left over the target and the pilots came back with empty tanks.

How to approach the set

What is offered stands on plastic without accessories. Anyone building an Emil for the first time will appreciate that the injection-molded sprues carry the whole structure of the airframe, but has to reckon with the fact that belts, masks and markings are not to be found in the box. It is thus a source of parts for a second model for the display case or for a conversion to a less usual variant.

Grilles, where a mold is not enough

There is one area in which photo-etched metal has no competition: perforated and grilled surfaces. The screens of cooling openings, perforated louvers or small outlets can be etched open, whereas a mold will create only a suggested relief on them. On the Emil this concerns the cooling system above all. If such a place is hidden under the cowling after gluing, however, nobody will see the difference and the outlay on brass will not come back. The deciding criterion is therefore the view into the finished model, not the paper accuracy of the component itself.