This kit is just another in the long line of wonderfully produced Moebius kits. Upon opening the box you see the fine detail and craftsmanship shine through. The instruction sheet is 10 pages and printed on glossy finished paper . The instruction sheet provides great detail to build your model accurately but it also includes an accurate Ford paint color chart for both the interior and exterior to complete the kit in factory trim.
Thanks to Piotr at Master models for providing these incredible static dischargers to improve our models, and thanks to IPMS Reviewer Corps leaders for sending it to me…
What is in the packet: an instruction sheet, and 14 very-tiny, jewelry-quality Static dischargers used on most F-16’s.
Static dischargers are frequently molded on our models. And we modelers, being who we are, frequently break them off during construction. I personally remove them and install replacements or the kit items at the end of the build. Sometimes I won’t even bother; they are just fragile or are just way out of scale. Here is where Master’s turned metal items shine…
As on my recently-reviewed Sukhoi 1/48 dischargers, these little 1/32 jewels for the F-16 are great. They have the proper 3-diameter steps machined for you. Again, Piotr, this is excellent machine work!
Quickboost provides Su-9 air scoops consisting of eight parts. Of note is the re-sealable packaging that Quickboost uses making the parts easy to review and then stuff securely back into the package. The supplied instructions address the replacement of the corresponding Trumpeter parts.
Quickboost has molded the air scoops perfectly in tan resin with no apparent bubbles. The Quickboost air scoops provide no mold seams to sand off on these tiny parts along with the superior detail.
Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to remove any remaining mold release and prime them first. They will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin.
Aires has come out with a nice upgrade for the Eduard Bf 108 series of kits with their horizontal control surfaces set. There are four parts in all, cast in a durable resin material. The Aires parts allow you to alter the position of the elevators and provide improved stabilizer to elevator detail. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Aires replacements. I’ve included photos of both the Eduard and the Aires horizontal surfaces inserted in the Eduard fuselage.
Aires has molded the stabilizer and elevator perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Aires stabilizer and elevator are supplied on a single resin sprue with thin resin attachments to the parts that should minimize any cleanup.
Eduard continues to release great photoetch sets for many kits and this is no exception. This is for Eduard’s own Gloster Gladiator kit 1145. This set adds a lot of missing detail that really adds to the kit. The photoetch parts are for the:
- Cockpit sidewalls
- Internal guns
- A complete seat
- Cockpit doors
- Control surfaces
- Cowling hinges
- Exterior parts
- And a few more
In the packet is:
- 1 photoetch sheet
- 1 instruction sheet
- Summary
This is a must have set for the Eduard kit as it makes it into a great model with all you need to super-detail the aircraft. The only issue I found was that the seat was not easy to install.
Thanks go to Eduard for providing this set to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.