Let me begin by stating that the folks at Tamiya did a fantastic job with their release of an F-14A last year in 1/48 scale. The all-new kit is one of, if not the best Tomcat in this scale, with the typical engineering that applies to everything Tamiya produces. With that being said, some modelers want to add just a little something more to their projects, and once again Eduard comes to our assistance with the release of a cockpit set for the Tamiya kit. Everything that you would want or need up front is contained in one package with both resin and photoetched parts being included. I would highly recommend this set to any modeler who feels the need to have the extra detail in their Tomcat’s cockpit.

Upon opening this set, you will find 31 gray resin parts, one clear resin part, a small brass PE fret with 13 items, a decal sheet, and Eduard’s Steel seatbelt PE set (item 49806). Construction of the cockpit is easy enough, and begins with the two ejection seats, followed by the RIO (RADAR Intercept Officer) area, the Pilot’s area, and then joining it all together for installation in the Tamiya kit. I had few issues during construction, with my only cautions being that you need to pay attention to the decals (the instructions show #8 and #9 in the opposite locations), and the HUD projector fits very tightly in the front control panel cover and hood piece. The Eduard cockpit fits in the Tamiya fuselage halves with absolutely no problem, and the detail does truly stand out!

For painting my cockpit, I used Model Master Acryl Dark Gull Gray (FS36231) and Aircraft Interior Black as well as Model Master Enamel SAC Bomber Green and Model Master Enamel Gloss Black. I also used Vallejo Canvas, Red, Off-White, Green-Grey, and Grey-Green, Andrea Field Grey, and Tamiya Clear Green. I used Tamiya Brown Wash, Vallejo Grey Wash, Future (yes, an old bottle that is still good), Alclad II Klear Kote Matte, and Ammo by Mig Oilbrusher White. Check your references closely, as I do not agree with some of the colors called out in the instructions.

As far as my hits are concerned, the set is molded to the normal high standards of Eduard, and the decals and photoetched items bring things to life. My opinion is that the Steel seatbelts were actually made for the Eduard resin ejection seats as everything fit just right, while there was some effort required when I added the set to the Tamiya seats in a previous review. The HUD projector is the lone item molded in clear resin, and it looks fantastic.

My only miss for this set is the lack of some 0.2 mm wire and a piece of 0.75 by 1.0 mm plastic strip, as the instructions call for both of these items. The wire pieces look great installed, but they could be left off with few people actually noticing. I will not call it a miss, but I did have a couple of the small decals roll up as I removed them from the backing paper, but fortunately there were extras provided for what I needed.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this Eduard cockpit to modelers who are looking to add detail that is best captured in resin to their Tamiya Tomcat kit. There are no fit issues when installing this resin replacement between the fuselage halves, and modelers with some experience in working with resin parts and small photoetched parts should find it easy to utilize this set.

I would like to thank the folks at Eduard for graciously providing this cockpit set to the IPMS-USA for review and to Dave Morrissette for allowing me to receive this set. As Dave Morrissette and Dick Montgomery are soon stepping down from their roles with the Review Corps, I want to send a huge thanks to them for their efforts over the years! I would also send kudos out to the assistants in the Review Corps for the great job they do in keeping the Corps running strong and as always, my appreciation to anyone who takes the time to read my comments.