Messerschmitt Bf 110 C

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Eduard's 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Bf 110 C will be available online from Squadron.com
 

The Messerschmitt Bf 110 entered the Second World War as a new and prestigious weapon of the Luftwaffe, performing the roles of bomber escort, heavy fighter and troop support during the German invasion of Poland. It performed well against Polish fighters, and put its heavy armament to effective use against ground targets after the Luftwaffe had established air superiority. The Bf 110 repeated these roles during the campaign in the West. The long range of the Bf 110 was especially useful for escorting bombers deep into France.

The twin engine Messerschmitt was more than a match for most contemporary French fighters, but early encounters with Spitfires and Hurricanes resulted in unaccustomedly heavy losses. This was an ominous indicator of the coming months over the British Isles.

In those Summer months of 1940, Messerschmitt Bf 110s on long-range escort missions suffered heavy losses to British fighters. Eventually, Messerschmitt Bf 110s had to be escorted themselves by the more nimble Bf 109s.

Even if its fortunes as a pure fighter aircraft were mixed, the Messerschmitt Bf 110 had a better record as a defensive weapon.

As early as December 1939, Bf 110 C aircraft of I./ZG 76 were involved in the decimation of an armed reconnaissance patrol over the Heligoland Bight. Eight Wellingtons out of a total 22 on patrol were claimed by the Zerstörers. This single event put massed daylight bombing off the agenda until 1943, but ZG 2 and ZG 76 continued to enjoy superiority over Blenheims and Wellingtons in the following months.

Arguably the most important contribution made to the German war effort by the Messerschmitt Bf 110 was as a night fighter. The role was initially ad-hoc. From July, 1940, day fighters were simply painted black and sent aloft to deal with British bombers, now making their attacks under the relative protection of darkness. These early night fighters had no additional equipment nor ground control assistance. Enemy aircraft were held in the cone of a searchlight, and the Bf 110 would engage the bomber while it was illuminated in the beam.

Eduard launched their Bf 110 series with the E variant in September this year. They have now followed up with the version most commonly associated with the Battle of Britain, the Bf 110 C.

Not surprisingly, most of the parts in this new kits are common with the earlier release. The main differences are the absence of the drop tanks and other ordnance relevant only to the later version, a revised photo-etched set, all-new marking options and, of course, no resin dachshunds!

Eduard's 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Bf 110 C comprises 207 parts in olive coloured plastic; 12 parts in clear; one colour photo-etched fret and another fret in bare metal; a masking sheet and markings for five aircraft.
 

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This release continues Eduard's recent tradition of world class quality injection moulded parts, remarkable detail and colorful markings.

The styrene parts are attached to six sprues via fine connectors. Moulding quality is superb. I could not find a single sink mark or ejector pin in any area that will be visible on the finished model.

Crisply recessed panel lines are partnered with incredibly subtle rows of rivets. I like the treatment of the fabric control surfaces too, with rib tape detail being the most prominent feature - no massive sagging of fabric.

The fuselage is broken down into the main halves with a separate nose (upper and lower) plus an insert for the deck immediately aft of the cockpit. The tail is moulded as a single piece so if we are going to eventually see a boat tail "D" version, Eduard will supply an all new fuselage. In addition to the Bf 110 C/D nose, Eduard also supplies the E nose (easily distinguished by the rectangular intake).

The cockpit is beautifully fitted out with a combination of delicate plastic and colour photo etched parts. One nice new touch in this kit is the provision of alternate photo-etched instrument panels - one in RLM 02 and another in RLM 66. The choice is yours (after consulting references of course).

The lower fuselage cannon are visible through the fuselage floor, and plenty of spare ammunition is provided. The rear gunner's seat can be made to swivel, while the navigator's seat may be posed up or stowed.

The nose is fully equipped with four MG 17 machine guns and ammunition feeds plus oxygen bottles. These may be displayed by posing the separate gun cowl open.

The wings are moulded with the flaps and leading edge slats in the closed position. This may disappoint some modellers, but I did a quick check of several books and nearly half of the Bf 110s were parked with the slats and flaps up. If you really want to drop the flaps and/or slats, the kit engineering will make this task fairly straightforward with the bulges behind the nacelles moulded as part of the bottom of the kit flaps.

Ailerons are provided as separate parts.

Wheel well detail is excellent.

The engine nacelles are supplied separate from the wings, suggesting that we may be in store for different variants in the future. Of particular interest, the oil cooler section at the bottom of the nacelles are separate, so we may see the deep tropical oil cooler in a future release. The shape of the spinners looks good, and the prominent pitch collars are moulded near the base of each propeller blade. These should be clearly visible when the propeller assembly is complete. The main wheels do seem to be the same as those included in the Bf 110 E kit, but reference photos suggest that the hubs should be smaller for the Bf 110 C.

Two sprues of clear parts are included. The prominent glasshouse is an important part of the Bf 110's character, and Eduard has done an especially good job on the complex rear clamshell. If the rear canopy is to be depicted open, separate parts are supplied for the clamshell and the sliding top rear sections. If the canopy will be closed, a totally separate single part is used. A separate piece of armoured glass is also depicted, with an alternate photo-etched frame if the modeller prefers. The side and top canopy parts are also individual pieces to permit posing in the open position. Furthermore, alternate styles of rear canopy are offered - with the machine gun cutout and without. Handles and other canopy details are supplied in both photo etch and plastic. Eduard masks are also included to ease the pain of painting that maze of canopy frames.

Instructions are supplied in a colour 20 page booklet, with a historical summary on the front page followed by a parts list, 13 pages of construction steps and four pages of full-colour marking guides, each with a four-view illustration plus scrap views. The schemes reflect the evolution of Bf 110 camouflage from mid-1940, with RLM 70/71 schemes of the Battle of France and early Battle of Britain; moving to the paler finish of RLM 02 and RLM 71 with soft mottled fuselage sides also in the Battle of Britain; and even an interesting night fighetr seeing service in North Africa during summer 1941.

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Decals are beautifully printed, with perfect register and colour saturation.

Eduard has now relegated the old Fujimi 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Bf 110 to your favourite nephew. These new Eduard kits eclipse Fujimi's Bf 110 in every respect.

This is a beautifully presented and detailed kit. The high parts count and some of the smaller and delicate parts mean that some modelling experience will be helpful before tackling this project, but there can be little doubt that Eduard's 1/48 scale kit is now the reigning champion of plastic Messerschmitt Bf 110s of any variant and in any scale.

Having already built the Bf 110 E kit, I can also advise that it looks as good when it is finished as it does in the box!

Highly Recommended.

Review Text Copyright © 2007 by Brett Green
Page Created 28 November, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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