So, the dog's destruction of my Academy P-38 opened up a hole on my bench, and we've been having rain every few days, which has been delaying my other projects, so I went ahead and pulled out Eduard's 1/32 Bf-109E-7 Trop.
Overall, the kit's detail level is impressive. Very crisp and subtle surface detail. Some flash, but nothing a few swipes of a sanding stick can't deal with. The canopy glass is thin and crystal clear, and the included PE looks great. The instrument panel is a standout, and I can't wait to get it installed!
The kit's guns are mildly disappointing, so I'm replacing them with brass from Master...
I started building this kit "dry", but quickly ran into places where I had to prime and paint before I could move forward. Mainly due to colored PE, or to areas that would be inaccessible or difficult to paint after assembly (intakes, gear bays...).
So far, fit is kind of a mixed bag. A good number of the cockpit doo-dads have very vague fit, but then the cockpit floor and front bulkhead have pretty much foolproof location thanks to the way the kit's been designed.
The fuselage seems like it should fit together without any massive problems, but it's going to require a lot of tape and slow going. There are a few locator pins, but they're so tiny that they may as well not be there. And the front of the ship is rather fragile and bendy due to the absence of the full cowl.
I really like the way the Trop filter is done. The combination of plastic and PE should work really well to give a sense of depth.
Since I'm planning to use the Master guns, I'm going to actually paint the center portion of the cowl FIRST, then install the painted guns and just mask that portion ahead of main painting.
One question for those of you who might know things about the 109 - what are those holes in the front of the cowl piece? I find it ludicrous that there's be just open holes looking into the engine on a Tropified 109 - should there be mesh there?