If you are looking to improve the appearance of the nose on your 1/72 scale EMHAR F-3H Demon, I would direct your attention to this new release from Pavla Models. Recommended for the EMHAR kit released in 1991, this replacement nose is a clear advancement over the old plastic nose provided in the kit. Modelers with some experience in using resin parts should have no issues with utilizing this part.

As I stated in another recent review, from my perspective, Pavla Models continues to quietly add new items to their product lines in order to add detail to existing kits; many of these lines are intended for aircraft modelers, but there are some AFV items as well. Pavla Models provides replacement canopies that are vacuum-formed as well as cockpit sets, ejection seats, and general detail sets for aircraft.

The Product

My sample arrived in standard blister pack. Inside I found one photo-etch fret, one resin reducer, one resin carter with cylinders, one resin exhaust manifold and the instructions. https://www.eduard.com/out/media/648166.pdf

The Build

I began by easily removing the pour blocks from the resin parts. Luckily the resin parts didn’t require a lot of clean up and they fit together very well. The photo-etch parts were a bit more challenging, the push rods were the trickiest part of the construction and could have been engineered to be a little more user friendly. They kept falling off because of the delicate glueing points. When set side by side the Brassin engine is certainly more superior to the kit engine and once painted it really looks the part.

The Yellow Series from Mushroom Model Publications covers individual aircraft in great detail. This book on the Boulton Paul Defiant is an excellent example. The book starts out with the basic concept of the Defiant as a daytime bomber destroyer. It then covers night fighter operations, followed by air-sea rescue operations, its use as a target tug and other tasks.

Along with, and in addition to the description of the operational history of the Defiant, a great number of photos are included. These show experimental and operational aircraft as well as incredible details of all parts of the aircraft. The majority of the detail photos were taken of the only complete surviving example of the Defiant at the RAF Museum Hendon. The modeler will be very pleased with these detailed color photos.

The Product

My sample arrived in Eduard’s trademark clear poly envelope enclosing a piece of card stock, Eduard’s Knight standing at parade rest at the top right-hand corner. Inside I found one small photo-etch fret, one small textile fret and the instructions.

This set is a replacement cockpit for the Italeri B-57B Canberra cockpit. It is well cast in a medium grey resin with no pinholes or short casts. Light flash was present on a couple of the parts but was easily removed. It should be noted that care must be exercised when removing the pour plug from the bottom of the cockpit. If you remove the plug completely up to the level of the bottom of the cockpit, the resulting floor of the cockpit is very thin. The set consists of the cockpit tub with detailed side consoles, side walls, and bulkheads, two pretty accurate, well detailed seats, front instrument panel, rear instrument panel relevant to the B-57B, throttle and gear levers (very fragile), a canopy strut jack, and a canopy support bow. This last piece has an extension that rests against the top center of the middle canopy bow. This extension is very fragile and prone to breakage.