The GBU-10 weapons system consists of a Mk.84 2,000 lb. bomb coupled with a laser guidance system. The Paveway II guidance system replaced the Paveway I system beginning in the early 1970’s and features a simpler but more reliable seeker and pop-out wings in the tail fins to increase the bomb’s performance.

Like the earlier Paveway I set, this set includes 2 bombs molded complete with the rear fin assembly, 2 sets of guidance canards and 2 sets of seeker heads, one with the protective cover and one without. Construction is very simply once the casting blocks are removed, as the guidance canards are keyed to ensure that they are properly aligned fore and aft and side to side on each bomb. The canards did not snap into place as well as they did on the Paveway I set I reviewed previously, as it appears the mounting holes are just a hair smaller than the mounting pegs. I recommend drilling out the mounting holes a little before assembly to improve the fit. I used gel superglue to give me a little time to ensure the canards lined up with the tail fins.

After the guidance canards are attached, I painted the bombs and the seeker heads Tamiya olive drab. I did not attach the seeker heads yet as they are easily knocked off during the decaling process. Once again, Eduard includes a very nice set of decals for each bomb, with several extras of most of the stencils, just in case. Each bomb includes a large stencil on the side of the bomb stating that there are 54,322 flights remaining for both the bomb body and the attachment lugs. I suspect that either an ordinace-man was having fun, or the military expects these weapons to surpass the B-52 in longevity, as at one flight a day, this equates to almost 149 years of being carried around! The decals lay down perfectly when applied with MicroSet and MicroSol.

After decaling, all that needs to be done is to attach the seeker heads to the bombs. The directions recommend drilling a 1 mm hole in the back of each seeker head and inserting the fine point at the front of the bomb body into the hole to mount the seeker head. This is easier said than done as the seeker heads are extremely tiny to begin with and holding them steady enough to drill a 1mm hole right in the center is tough to do. I managed to get one of my holes dead center, but not quite deep enough and had to trim back the attachment point to get the seeker head in the right position. The second hole was well off center, so I just trimmed the attachment point off the second bomb completely and used a butt joint to mount the seeker. I then touched up the olive drab paint at the back of the seeker heads, sprayed them clear flat and was done.

The set is highly recommended and will help to dress up any modern tactical aircraft that you want to bomb up.

Thank you to Eduard for the review sample and to IPMS-USA for letting me review it.