Master Models’ Spandau product consists of a beautifully etched and rolled set of cooling jackets, 2 exquisitely machined barrels, two tiny muzzles, and a sheet of 3 pairs of photo etched jacket ends – the front incorporating a ring sight, the rear having a bracket. MM considerately includes a spare set of these, which, amazingly, I did not have to use – no sacrifices to the carpet gods this time.

I’m currently building the Eduard DV, which includes PE parts for the Spandau. I think that you will agree with me that while Eduard’s photoetched parts are excellent, the incorporation of the machined brass parts in the MM set really adds to the appearance of the finished weapon.

Assembly is simple (assuming you have fingers that end in surgical instruments). Cut the PE parts off the fret, bend the front and rear jacket ends into shape, glue them to the jacket, attach the muzzle to the barrel, and slide the barrel into the jacket assembly. Be careful orienting the jacket ends when attaching them to the jacket – alignment and orientation are specific. Sand a flat on the plastic kit gun part and attach the MM assembly and you’re done. It took me all of 15 minutes to do the build.

For some reason, the barrel extends past the aft end of the cooling jacket. I accommodated this on my first build by drilling a hole into the kit part, but I clipped the second barrel short enough to avoid having to do this. Also, I had to open up the holes for the barrel in both ends of the jacket, as these filled with superglue when I was assembling them – no big deal.

I shot a photo comparing the kit gun assembly to the MM set – I think you’ll agree the improvement in detail is impressive.