Thank you to the Eduard Company for sending this detail set for review, it is always a pleasure to see what your new products bring to the scale modeling world. Thank you also to the IPMS Reviewer Corps staff members who do the hard work in getting us modeling products to review, the reviews posted, and the news spread to the world.

The photoetch frets arrived in excellent shape in an easily opened re-sealable plastic package with the distinctive Eduard knight logo. The frets are color-laminated for the instrument panels and relief-etched polished brass for other details. The parts are crisply executed. Color instruction sheets are included in the package, and Eduard has the same instruction sheets available for download on the product page. I really appreciate having the electronic PDF format to mark up on my computer, especially the ability to enlarge the details on my computer screen.

This a simple resin set that replaces the exhaust stacks on Eduard’s new Tempest Mk V kit.

The plastic parts supplied in the kit feature solid exhaust pipes that will need to have the ends either painted black or, as I typically do, hollowed out to show depth.

The resin exhausts feature nice weld seam detail and are hollowed out. They are a drop in replacement for the plastic parts. A razor saw is best used to remove the resin pour block, painting and a quick sanding readies the exhaust to be slotted into the nose cowl.

Thank you to Eduard and the IPMS for the chance to review another fantastic release from Eduard.

Omega’s REP 1912 Floats is a full resin kit of an aircraft designed by Robert Esnault-Pelterie. This is a difficult kit and should only be attempted by modelers experienced working with resin kits and shaping parts to get a proper fit.

History

The Illustrious class was a class of aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that included some of the most important British warships in World War II. The 1st ship in this class was HM Illustrious. She was laid down on 27th April 1937, launched on 5th April 1939 and commissioned on 25th May 1940. The Illustrious class relied on their anti-aircraft armament and the passive defense provided by an armored flight deck for survival.

In the Illustrious class, armor was carried at the flight deck level and formed an armored box-like hangar that was an integral part of the ship's structure. This armor scheme was designed to withstand 1,000-pound bombs. The flight deck had an armored thickness of 3 inches.

The recently released Eduard Hawker Tempest Mk V really sets a high standard for all other 1/48 scale Tempest’s. While building this kit, I included the Eduard gun bay which took it to an even higher standard!

Gun bays are provided for both wings, but I decided to only use the right wing parts. Now I have a spare set for another build.

The set includes resin and photo etch (PE) parts. They are very nicely packaged in zip-lock bags, within a cardboard box and protected by soft foam.

All resin parts are attached to pour stubs or resin supportive framework. They were easily removed with careful use of a razor saw and gentle sanding. I managed to break a delicate cross member part beyond repair and replaced it with sheet plastic.