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Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$16.95

British aircraft have a hard-edged camouflage. Getting those hard edges in the proper position is difficult. How do you make that hard edge? If you are like me you’ll be using the Eduard masks. They are made of highly flexible Kabuki tape. This set includes two large masking sheets. One for the fuselage and tail surfaces, and the other for the wings.

How do you know if you need Scheme A or B? The only real way to know is to look at photos of the real aircraft. It has been postulated that even serial numbered aircraft had scheme A and odd serial numbered aircraft had scheme B. This is not always correct. It seems to me more of a guideline than a rule.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$19.99

The incorporation of opened gun bays is a nice way to set your Spitfire apart from the crowd and adds to any diorama.

This set allows the modelers build the left and right wing gun bays opened. It allows you to build the Mk.VIII gun bays and the associated armament. There are 20 pieces of resin and a fret of photo etch in the set. Working the set is easy enough. The instructions are quite easy to understand and are illustrated enough for the modeler to reproduce two beautiful gun bays.

I removed the gun covers by chain drilling the panels and sanding back to the panel lines. Adding the photo etch and resin parts was relatively easy. Just remove the parts from the pour blocks, paint and install. It really is that simple. Just follow the instructions. After opening the wing panels the resin piece fits on top of a photo etch bottom quite nicely with no thinning of the wing required and seamless mates up to the plastic parts.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$49.95

Eduard’s Spitfire Mk.IX kits set a new standard for Spitfire kits. The fit was perfect throughout and the shape was spot on. With the addition of the Brassin range of parts, the modeler finally had the ultimate late version Spitfire models in 1/48th scale. The Mk.VIII version had never been done in kit form. Based off their Mk.IX kit, it would have been easy for Eduard to just have the modeler cut and rescribe panel lines, but this is Eduard we are talking about. Eduard completely retooled the wings and fuselage to show all the salient features of the Mk.VIII. The wings have the shorter ailerons, fuel tanks in the leading edge and the small bulges for the guns. The fuselage has the retractable tail wheel already molded open. In this release you also get the longer wingtips, the first time from Eduard.

Review Author
Floyd S. Werner Jr.
Published on
Company
Eduard
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$39.95

The Eduard Spitfires have set a new standard in 1/48th scale Spitfires. Eduard’s approach is threefold. One is aimed at the ‘basic’ modeler with their Weekend Edition kits. Then there is the step up with their Profipack kits, a personal favorite. And finally they have all the Brassin items to upgrade along with some separate photoetch pieces.

This set is carefully boxed in a sturdy cardboard box with Styrofoam packing material and parts in a couple of ziplock type baggies so there is no breakage. This set comes with 30 resin parts in light grey resin. All the parts are precisely cast and perfectly formed. There is a fret of photo etch with most of the parts pre-painted. Then there is a small clear acetate or film included of the gunsight reflector. The instructions are included on two sheets with proper diagrams that are easy to understand. Color callouts are on the instructions and reference Gunze colors.

Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
Company
Mushroom Model Publications - MMP Books
Scale
1/48 & 1/72
MSRP
$23.00

Mushroom Model Publications started a series of “Camouflage and Decals” in which they provide decals –and a high quality booklet- for selected airframes from different books. In this case, the topic is “Finnish Fighter Colours” and the selected airframes are: