This kit is a new Profipack boxing of the venerable 1/48 scale Eduard FW 190A series, this time in its Nachtjager guise. It was my first foray into the Eduard FW 190 and I was blissfully unaware of the quirks of this kit. I started working on this kit during a build night at my Local Plastic Model Club and two other members warned me as to what I had gotten myself into. As the build went on I was to see why everyone has a love hate relationship with this kit and why it paid to heed their warnings. The Eduard Profipack is chock full of what we’ve come to expect from Eduard. Superb photo etch for the cockpit and other external parts (in this case the antennae for the FuG 217 Radar). Excellent masks for the canopy and wheels, and enough plastic parts to practically make two full kits. It also comes with an extensive decal set for 4 different aircraft from the a-5 through a-8 series and a sheet of stencil decals as well.

Two Tiny Ships

The USS New Jersey and USS Essex by Aoshima

• USS New Jersey
• USS Essex

I like small models, so when I saw these two 1/2000 scale kits from Aoshima on the review list I quickly asked for them. Aoshima makes a whole series of ship kits in this scale, and I admit that I liked these review samples enough just upon opening the box that I went out and ordered a half-dozen more. The series includes American, English, and German subjects. There are unfortunately no Japanese ships included in this series so far.

Since the kits are so small, and are very similar, I’ll be reviewing the two sample kits side-by side.

These two kits represent a couple famous WWII US Naval subjects – the USS New Jersey BB-62 and the USS Essex CV-9.

The Eduard Bf-109G kit is a very nice model. It may not be 1/48th scale but it is still a nice kit as far as kits go. In keeping with the business model to provide aftermarket items for their kits in their Brassin range, Eduard provides brass landing gear in addition to their resin and photo etch sets.

Packaged in a typical plastic vacuform container are four parts, two resin landing gear doors and two brass landing gear legs. The resin is perfect and the best-looking landing gear doors in any scale. They are cast in light grey resin without any blemishes. The struts are perfectly cast miniatures of the real thing. There is no clean up required on them other than at the mount to square it off. The detail is exceptional. One thing that isn’t included on any other strut that I can remember is the tie down ring on the bottom of the strut. I could be wrong.

Background

The production Audi R8 was named after the manufacturer’s 5-time LeMans winner and was first marketed in 2006. Featuring a mid-mounted 4.2 liter V8 engine, generating 420 brake horsepower enabling a top speed of over 180 miles per hour, the R8 is truly a super sports car.

The Kit

Consisting of 13 pieces in pre-painted metallic orange and flat black; clear, chrome, and red clear styrene, steel axles, and vinyl tires, this kit is well-suited for first-time and beginning modelers. Exterior, interior, and underside detail is crisply molded and provides a convincing replica of the R8.

If anyone knows me they know I love the AH-1 Cobra. I never had the opportunity to fly the AH-1G but I’ve always wanted to. Special Hobbies finally released their series of AH-1 models. For now they have just released the G model but it is an awesome little model. Like many modelers, I hope they release it in 1/48th and 1/35th scale someday.

The AH-1G had a slightly bulged canopy, which can cause a challenge for some modelers to mask. Special Hobbies was nice enough to produce the canopy doors separate so you can pose them open or closed. The masks will make this chore so much simpler. There are outline masks for the entire canopy framework. You will need liquid mask to fill in the center but Eduard provides the outline. Special Hobbies provides the option of having the ground handling wheels, which is a nice touch for the diorama builder. So naturally if there are wheels Eduard provides you with masks for them as well.