Thank you to the Eduard Company for sending this detail set for review, it is always a pleasure to see what your new products bring to the scale modeling world. Thank you also to the IPMS Reviewer Corps staff members who do the hard work in getting us modeling products to review, the reviews posted, and the news spread to the world.

Overall Summary

The polished brass photo-etch fret arrived in a standard cellophane envelope with the colorful Eduard label and cardboard backing. A color assembly guide was neatly folded inside, with bilingual labels. The fret is about 5.65 x 4 inches, hosting 8 major pieces and numerous hinges, pins, and ribs, with the larger parts crisply relief-etched. Kit areas to be modified are indicated in the instructions.

Installing the upgrade kit was fairly straightforward. Kit instruction steps 8 through 10, where wing assembly begins, may be completed without modification. The engine brackets (kit parts C43 and C46) need significant material removal, as do the undersides of the wing root trailing edges. The trailing edges needed to be thinned considerably for the flap parts to snug in properly. I folded up the flap assemblies to allow dry-fitting throughout the kit part trimming. I wanted to trim as little as possible! I also wanted to fit the interior wing sections of the flaps so that I could install them after painting the flap interiors insignia red and the model in dark sea blue. I was able to fit the flap assemblies for post-painting placement, saving some masking effort. The flap instructions show one hinge set on both inboard and outboard flap units, but Eduard provides plenty of extra parts. Flap assembly B require caution before attempting to fold up the flap. The ribs are attached to the main flap panel by a hair of brass thread. This is an excellent design, but you get only one chance to get it right! Since I failed to get it right a few times, I discovered any loose pieces can simply be glued in without difficulty. The outboard flaps and the curved flaps over the engines presented no challenges.

Conclusion

This is another highly recommended and excellent PE upgrade set from Eduard that really enhances the Kitty Hawk target kit. The intricate folds and assemblies are not difficult if assembly is properly planned and understood before starting. The set really improved my brass origami skills!

Thank you Eduard and the IPMS Reviewer Corps! The scale modeling world is much better for your efforts and products.