This spiffy little kit comes two to a box. There are 5 markings choices. This is the “out of the box” version review. I did the other half of the kit using the Brengun PE.

Major Assembly

Since this is the second of these, I gained a little experience with the first, and I learned something. Well, I actually knew this from before, and that’s the MiG-15 model is a tail-sitter, and you need to add weight to the front. On my Airfix 1/72 MiG-15, I had to put about 6 finish nails in the intake before it would sit on the nose wheel. For this kit, the amount of lead needed just fills the top of the intake splitter.

History

Among the variety of wheeled armored vehicles which saw action in WWII, the Sd.Kfz.234/2 – armed with a 5cm gun – boasted the strongest firepower. The Sd.Kfz. 234 series, which was developed as successor the 8 wheeled Sd.Kfz. 231, had an important role in reconnaissance missions for Blitzkreig tactics. Four variations from 234/1-4 were deployed with differing armament and the 234/2 was the first in this series. Unlike the 231, armored with plate bolted onto the frame, the 234 adopted a monocoque structure to improve productivity and strength. Controls were located in both ends and the front armor plate was 30mm thick. The Tatra-made Type 103 air-cooled V12 diesel yielded 210hp, a maximum speed of 80kn/h, and a range of 1000km. The chassis had sophisticated 8-wheel drive and 8 wheel steering mechanism. The turret was armed with the 5cm Kwk39/1 gun which was able to penetrate 37mm thick armor plate from a distance of 1500m with armor piercing ammunition.

Eduard has released a “Weekend” PE fret for their Bf-109E-7/Trop. This is a simple photoetch fret (13 parts) which will quickly enhance the look of your model.

The fret includes 4 pre-painted pieces to create a realistically looking instrument panel, a right side console (electric panel I believe), a nicely detailed seatbelt (5 pieces, prepainted too) and only one external piece, but an important one in the /Trop, as it is part of the air filter.

As you can see from the pictures, even with a low part number, this is a simple and effective way to enhance the interior and exterior of your model. It took me about 10 minutes to setup the interior pieces and less than one minute for the air filter. As all the interior pieces are pre-painted it is very straightforward to detail and complete the cockpit.

Highly recommended.

I would like to thank Eduard and IPMS/USA for the review sample.