The GBU-12 Paveway II is a laser guided bomb based on the 500 lb. general purpose bomb with an added head and fins. they have been around since 1976 and model have had versions of them probably since about that time. Eduard has issued a set of four GBu-12's in their Brassin resin line. The set comprises four tail sections, four bodies, four seeker hears with 2 different variants and four sets if front fins for a total of 32 well cast resin parts. Also is included is a small but well printed decal sheet with 13 decals per bomb.

Preparation of most parts is simple - the bomb bodies are cut off square and the fins trimmed carefully taking care to make sure the pins for attachment are left on the fins. Next, choose which seeker hear you need and trim off the extra. You then need to drill a hole in the rear of the seeker head to attach it to the body. The rear fins need special care. The rear fins stick above the attachment point as you can see in the picture. To get it clean, I took a Dremel with a round cutting bit and slowly ground away being careful not to touch the fins. After I got the majority removed, new Xacto blade was used to get the rest removed. This was time consuming but worked well. I glued the rear fins on and puttied the seam to be sure. A little sanding along with a wipe of lacquer thinner left no seam. I left the front fins off to make painting easier.

Paint is pretty straight forward with the bomb being olive drab. The ring where the front fins attach is painted brown. Looking at Internet pictures, this appears to designate the type of bomb- live, practice round, etc. One it was painted, I added the fins front fins and seeker head. The decals were next and were good and snuggled easily. A quick black wash and flat and the main part was done. To replicate the seeker head, I painted the very nose silver and coated with Tamiya clear orange. One done.

The molding and quality of these is far superior than the plastic offerings out there especially in 1/48 scale. The only tricky part was the rear fins but I think someone with a minimum amount of resin experience could handle these with a little patience. Definitely recommended to dress up your kits. My thanks to Eduard and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review it.