Photo Etch. Some love it, others hate it. This guy has a love hate relationship with it as well, but this was one set that I was more than capable of using without any serious issues. To my knowledge I only created 4 new cuss words, but they were my own doing and not the products fault. With that being said, let’s look at what the folks at Eduard sent my way.

This set is for the exterior of the plane. I didn’t use all of the included pieces, but did use probably 95% of what came on the two brass frets. Looking over all the pieces and where they go showed that it shouldn’t be as daunting as I thought. Yes, there are lots of them, but what parts I did use, all fit extremely well. There were some areas where I would skip using the PE if I were to do this again (I will get the chance by the way) as the kit parts would do the job just fine.

The usual thanks to Ross and his team at SAC for passing on this set to IPMS USA and to our leadership for sending it my way!!!

This set is, as usual, a simple SAC upgrade (as they all are), targeted for the new Hasegawa F-35A kit. Among the big three 1/72 F-35 kits that I have now constructed, (Academy, Italeri, and Hasegawa), the Hasegawa kit is by far the simplest. In many ways I like the detail better, particularly the use of decals for the external RAM panels. No external stores or open weapon bays… this one is the clean, closed up and stealthy model. The cockpit itself contains an excellent crewmember figure if you choose to use it (I did).

Among the items recently added to Ultracast’s line of highly detailed resin detail parts are upper cowls that replace those in Eduard’s numerous Spitfire Mk.IX kits. This set (#48264) provides a ready to install one-piece Flat upper cowl (found on the early Mk.IXs) that replaces the kit parts. Note that I say parts because the kit upper cowl comes in two pieces that must be glued together…creating a seam that must then be rubbed out. The Eduard kits are recognized for accuracy and detail and they can be built into excellent replicas of the aircraft, but the two-piece cowl creates extra work for the modeler and creates the likelihood that some molded-in surface detail might be lost in the process. The Ultracast part avoids all of that and speeds the build considerably. This ‘time saver’ aftermarket part comes on a small casting block that is easily removed with a razor saw (See photos below).