What’s Inside

The interior set is comprised of 2 PE frets (one is pre-painted and has some self-adhesive parts), a small clear film, and a 5-page instruction sheet. There are just over 80 pieces to this set, and it is pretty nice if I say so myself! The instructions are broken down into manageable sections, starting with the cockpit floor. The radio operator’s seat support is replaced, along with the rudder pedals. They also give you the observation window between the rudder pedals (not sure why Italeri didn’t have this). Next are the side walls of the cockpit with 28 pieces. There is not a lot of cutting so far, which was nice, but, you should sand some of the raised detail off to help the self-adhesive parts stick better (notably the fuse panel and trim wheels). Not having used an Eduard set in a while, I was surprised there was no throttle quadrant, just some very small tabs to put on the levers. There are a few small levers you need to use and I advise (strongly!) to take your time with these.

Next up is the control panel and seat. It does not say in the instructions, but you need to sand the panel a little (kit part #8B) or it will not fit on the side pieces. There a 5 levers/handles to put on the panel, and time and care has to be taken on these as once you get one on it is very easy to bend them accidentally while putting the others on (go ahead and ask how I know this!). The seat and seatbelts are nicely done, but one interesting thing (and a bit of a pain) is that you are instructed to cut the pad from the kit headrest (part 32B) and place it on the etched armored headrest. I did this by cutting everything around the pad off, then sanding the back down to the proper thickness. One item to note here is that the paint cracked when I bent the belts. A small bit of CA tacked it in place nicely, though.

Now, on to the one big problem I had – the radios. You are to add the radio frame to kit piece 1B, and the instructions show where to place it, at least the bottom, anyway. The top has tabs on both sides that you have to bend, but nowhere in the instructions does it say where to attach these, so I decided to use the kit radios. I have included pics of this part and the instructions for you all to see. I emailed Eduard on March 1st with this problem and received a reply on the 6th that said, “I've already forwarded your message to a more suitable person for resolving this issues. I'll let you know as soon as I know more from him. Thanks for your patience.” If I get an answer, I will pass it along.

The last few details are ammo cans, ammo belts, and 16 pieces for the canopy. The ammo cans look lots better than the kit ones, and the belts of ammo also add a nice touch. One trick to note here is if you want to attach the ammo belts to the MGs, you will have to do it either before attaching the canopy, or once the canopy is on, try to do it with small tweezers. The reason is that the guns are installed in the clear piece before attaching it to the fuselage. You may not want to use the belts, as it is a bit of a pain. I placed the belts on the ammo cans to show how they looked, but am not sure I will leave them on. The armored overturn structure looks much better than the kit part. The pieces for the canopy are small, so take your time with these. They really enhance the look of the kit but can also mess up your canopy badly.

Conclusion

I recommend this for anyone who has used PE before. Even with the problem with the radios, this set is worth getting. It really does enhance the interior of this kit.

I would like to thank Eduard for supplying this set and the review corps at IPMS-USA for letting me work on this review.