Eduard offers two photo-etch detail sets for the Special Hobby 1/32 A5M2b kit. Zoom set #33 070 is the one to get if you just want to focus on enhancing the detail in the cockpit. The set includes a total of 42 pre-painted parts that replace some kit parts and/or add detail to ones that will be used. The kit’s plastic instrument panel is replaced with five very impressively detailed components that are sandwiched together to simulate the panel’s relief and then enhanced with brackets, machine gun supports and gun charging handles. Photo-etched rudder pedals are provided to replace the less-detailed ones in the kit and to detail the kit’s rudimentary rudder bar, pre-painted seat belts replace the un-painted ones in the kit, multi-part throttle quadrant and prop pitch levers replace kit parts and a radio panel face, control box fascias, levers, knobs and numerous small bits are included to perk up the sidewalls.

From 1936 to 1939, nearly 19,000 German ‘volunteers’ (some of whom actually did volunteer) made up an aviation group known as the Legion Condor. Number 99 in Osprey’s ‘Aircraft of the Aces’ series provides an interesting and well-researched story of how Germany’s involvement in the Spanish Civil war came about, what the Luftwaffe volunteers experienced as member of the Legion Condor and how many of the pilots eventually achieved ace status. It is a fascinating story about a significant time in history.

This is a simple replacement part that is substantially more detailed than the kit part. It is molded perfectly with no flash or bubbles to be seen. The pull handle is provided as a separate part on a common casting block with the seat. The parts must be separated from the casting block with a saw and the pull handles glued in the appropriate location for which a diagram is provided.

Pictured here with the Quickboost example are the kit seat and an example from the now out of production Cutting Edge offering for comparison. Obviously the difference is with the details including additional “plumbing” and safety belts. The Quickboost example is considerably more “strappy” than the older Cutting Edge product and any preference for one or the other may well be a matter of personal taste as both seem to be accurate depending on how the belts fall when left to rest. The busy look of the Quickboost seat dresses up the cockpit nicely with little fuss for the modeler.

This is another fine publication in this now well established series. This reviewer has collected several volumes in the series and this issue is indeed an improvement over earlier volumes in the series and is simply superb. Whereas earlier titles devoted a number of pages to obscure sometimes one-off experimental variants of the subject aircraft type, the more recent volumes have skipped the pedantic overview of the type’s development in favor of more thorough coverage of standard in-service variants including detailed walk around photos and operational history. Another welcome improvement is that this volume is printed in full color.

This is a superb set of replacement nozzles for the very crude kit parts provided by Hasegawa. The Aires Hobby Models parts are drop fit replacements and are quite easy to use. Other than cutting them off the casting blocks (a five minute task), they require no more effort than the kit parts to use. The photos show the kit parts and their Aires replacement side by side and truly speak for themselves. The interiors have depth that is non-existent on the kit parts and the edges are really thin and sharp. The detail is super on the replacement parts. Another advantage over the kit parts is that they are one piece whereas the nozzles provided in the kit are in two halves which leaves a seam for cleaning; really not a good thing when they are to be finished with a metal color. Using this set actually saves time and adds detail which is most often two mutually exclusive concepts in this hobby.