I have always liked the look of this British WWI fighter and this kit is the best available version on the market.

In the box is:

• 4 sprues molded in light grey
• 1 film sheet
• 1 photoetch parts sheet
• 1 masking sheet
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet

The sprues are well molded with only very minor flash, well positioned ejector pin marks. The detail is very fine and crisp. The panels are all great. The instruction book is great as usual for Eduard kits. There a few parts on the sprues that are no required for this build and are full defined in the instruction sheet. There are a few optional assembly decisions that you should make before you start and this is based in the aircraft version you want to build. I went with version D.

The Eduard Spitfires have set a new standard in 1/48th scale Spitfires. Eduard’s approach is threefold. One is aimed at the ‘basic’ modeler with their Weekend Edition kits. Then there is the step up with their Profipack kits, a personal favorite. And finally they have all the Brassin items to upgrade along with some separate photoetch pieces.

This set is carefully boxed in a sturdy cardboard box with Styrofoam packing material and parts in a couple of ziplock type baggies so there is no breakage. This set comes with 30 resin parts in light grey resin. All the parts are precisely cast and perfectly formed. There is a fret of photo etch with most of the parts pre-painted. Then there is a small clear acetate or film included of the gunsight reflector. The instructions are included on two sheets with proper diagrams that are easy to understand. Color callouts are on the instructions and reference Gunze colors.

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 wing panels the resin piece fits on top of a photo etch bottom quite nicely with no thinning of the wing required and seamless mates up to the plastic parts.

This is another excellent kit in the Hasegawa Machinen Krieger series. The kit is not too difficult to assemble, so beginners can enjoy the modeling experience. More advanced modelers will enjoy building another unique machine in this series, and the creativity allowed in finishing and weathering the machine.

Background

The Maschinen Krieger Story (excerpted from Wikipedia)

A nuclear World War IV in 2807 kills most of Earth's population and renders the planet uninhabitable. Fifty-two years after the war, an interstellar union called the Galactic Federation repopulates the planet and sends colonists to the surface.

Sincere appreciation to Eduard for providing yet another review item, and to the IPMS USA reviewer corps leaders for sending it to me!

This set continues Eduard’s effort to provide modelers with previously unavailable, well detailed resin sets. 69 parts make up this set; you can assemble three MER from it, with options for either early “unbraced” rack attachment, or later externally-upgraded braces for the rack.

It’s simple to use; I removed the aft pour stub, drilled a hole in the back to use a wire to hold the rack for painting, (the actual rack has a recess, which doesn’t need filling when finished) Rattle-can for primer and final finish, and it was ready to detail up and install.