Spitfire Mk.XVI Bubbletop with Late Wings Overtree

Published: December 31, 2015
Company: Eduard

If you’ve built a weekend edition of an Eduard kit you would think that is as cheap as you can get an Eduard kit. Well then you haven’t seen an overtree. Eduard occasionally release an overtree kit for a limited time of their new items and it is only available through the Eduard Store online. The thing about an overtree kit is it only comes with the plastic pieces. It does not come with instructions, decals, masks, or photo etch. You can download the instructions online from the Profipack or weekend kit. You have to be careful and order the correct kit. Like me I chose to review a Bubbletop Mk.XVI with Late Wings. I should have ordered the Bubbletop with Early Wings. So note that you only get one set of wings and one fuselage. You need to know what you are going to build before you… more

Hurricane Camouflage Scheme B Mask

Published: December 31, 2015
Company: Eduard

British aircraft have hard edged fairly standard paint schemes. This can be a blessing and a boon for modelers. Well it has been made infinitely easier thanks to Eduard.

Packaged in a ziplock bag, Eduard provides you two sheets of Kabuki tape masks which I think is the best masking medium out there. If you aren’t familiar with Kabuki tape, it is the same stuff that Tamiya tape is made of. You can tell if it is properly down because it is slightly see through. The one sheet has the fuselage halves on it and the other has the wings, tail and some extra strips. They are all easy to apply and they fit perfectly.

I’ve used these types of masks from Eduard on some Spitfire kits and they work perfectly. This makes the arduous task of masking simple and easy. If you are careful… more

Spitfire Camo Scheme B Masks

Published: November 14, 2020
Company: Eduard

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.

The key to this set is follow the instructions. First paint the lower surface color then mask that off with the provided… more

Spitfire Mk. VIII Seatbelts Superfabric

Published: November 14, 2020
Company: Eduard

The Super Fabric are quite a unique product. They are paper thin. The belts and shoulder harness have beautiful detail and the silver looks metallic. I found that when compared to the pre-painted photo etch seatbelts that the Super Fabric ones were a little orange and not as tan.

The belts can be added with white glue. DO NOT USE CA GLUE! They are easily removed from the backing paper and added to the kit parts. There is no special preparation required. The fabric allows you to fold, spindle and mutilate the belts exactly like real fabric.

There are no complicated threading buckles onto the belts and no chipped paint when you fold pre-painted belts. This set makes adding seatbelts to your model very easy and realistic. The review copy was a little orange to my eye,… more

Hurricane Camo Scheme B

Published: December 10, 2015
Company: Eduard

British hard edged camouflage is always a pain in the butt to get to look right. Eduard has provided a way to make this camouflage simple and easy. Kabuki tape masks. The Kabuki tape is flexible and provide a perfect hard edge.

You will have to find the exact aircraft that you building to determine if it has the scheme A or B. It use to be ‘known’ that even number aircraft had the A scheme and odd numbers had the B. Well that isn’t quite true. It is more of a guideline than a hard fast rule.

This set has two sheets of Kabuki tape masks. One is for the wings and the other is for the fuselage and tail surfaces.

This set is designed for the Airfix kit but will fit any 1/48th Hurricane. Using the set is easy enough. You paint the bottom color then use the provided… more

Spitfire Mk.VIII Photoetch

Published: December 9, 2015
Company: Eduard

If you bought the Overtree or the Weekend Edition of the Spitfire Mk.VIII and want to add a little extra detail but not break the bank Eduard offers you this little set.

This single fret of pre-painted parts is just what you’ll need. This fret offers some new radiator faces and radiator doors. The tail wheel doors are provided as well, which will give you a more accurate and scale door. There are some items for the cockpit as well.

This set is a nice little upgrade for your Spitfire Mk.VIII. If you got the Brassin Cockpit set the interior parts will not be useable, however the doors and the radiators are nice additions. If you have never worked with photo etch before this is a nice way to get your feet wet. The only difficult part is the spanner/doubler on the bulkhead… more

Spitfire Mk.VIII Surface Panels

Published: December 9, 2015
Company: Eduard

There seems to be a different philosophy between Europe and the US. In Europe, the modeling community seems to want to have every little detail and everything opened up. In the US we tend to add detail but not in every single little access panel.

This set is designed to allow you to open EVERY single access panel on the Spitfire. The instructions show you how. It is up to the modeler to decide which ones to open. There is no panel that is left undone.

There are templates to help remove the plastic panels on the kit. There is a new cockpit access hatch and a radio access panel. Some, but not all, access panels have detail on the inside so when the panel is posed open whatever is inside can be seen.

Eduard also provides teardrop templates so you can use heated… more

Spitfire Mk.IXe/XVIe Early version (Conical Fairings) & Late version (Rounded Fairings)

Published: December 8, 2015
Company: Master Model

This is a combined review of Master Model’s two optional turned brass barrels (20mm Hispano), and Browning tips and fairings for the Eduard Spitfire Mk.IXe and Mk.XVIe:

• AM-48-102 - Spitfire Mk.IXe/XVIe early version (conical fairings).
• AM-48-103 - Spitfire Mk.IXe/XVIe late version (rounded fairings).

I love, love, love the Eduard Spitfire series of kits. The kit has impressive detail to say the least. Sure there are some things that could be improved with aftermarket. One of those things is the armament.

Master has been producing some of the best turned metal barrels and pitot tubes in the world. These sets are in keeping with that reputation.

The sets are packaged in small Ziploc baggies on cardboard backing. Inside there is… more

Spitfire Camo Scheme B

Published: November 7, 2015
Company: Eduard

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.

The key to this set is follow the instructions. First paint the lower surface color then mask that off with the provided… more

Spitfire Mk.VIII Gun Bays

Published: November 14, 2020
Company: Eduard

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… more