Number 32 in the Osprey Modelling series is this one on the early Bf-109, the ones with the square wing tips. The book starts off a bit differently from others in this series. The Introduction has a brief history of the variants, a listing of available kits and accessories and a series of detail photos of a restored aircraft. Personally, I find this refreshing as most of us who get this series already know the various tools needed to build a model.

Another interesting addition to each build is that the author lists the pluses and minuses of each of the kits. There is some kit bashing going on and this is undoubtedly the reason for this listing. The author is quite fond of the Luftwaffe in general and the 109 in particular so has a large knowledge base for his commentary on the accuracy of various kits. This helps to enhance the six articles in this book. While his thoughts on very early 109s and early camo are still debatable, the overall effect on the models presented herein makes for some excellent articles and some interesting viewing.

So on to a brief on each article. As usual, each one is graded as to a level of difficulty. Since there is no real set standard, you, as the reader, may find some to be graded a bit higher or lower than you may otherwise think. One thing for sure, most of the builds involve either a lot of aftermarket or kit-bashing to obtain the desired results.

• 109B in Spain; kit-bashing 1/48 Hobbycraft and Hasegawa kits - Master

• 109E-1during 'phoney war'; 1/48 Hobbycraft kit - Moderate

• 109E-3; 1/32 Matchbox kit - Advanced

• 109E-3; kit-bashing 1/72 ICM and Tamiya kits - Advanced

• 109 E-4; 1/48 Hasegawa kit - Advanced

• 109E-4/7; 1/48 Tamiya kit - Advanced

This is all followed by  a bibliography of books and websites as well as a painting chart.

Overall I found this to be well written and quite informative. The author has done a fine job of choosing his subjects and I appreciate that most of the builds in the book are within the realm of most modelers. Though I may be a bit biased as I like the 109, I can highly recommend this one to you.

June 2006

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