I recently had a chance to review one of Eduard’s Big Sin sets, a collection of their Brassin-brand resin accessories, designed for Eduard’s own 1/48 scale Spitfire. For this task, I elected to use Eduard’s superb 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.IXc early version ProfiPACK edition. While my full build of this kit, incorporating the Big Sin set, the ProfiPACK kit itself is reviewed below.

The ProfiPACK editions of Eduard’s model kits contain a nice selection of bells and whistles that can really enhance a finished model. Besides the actual kit, you are treated to world-class decals, colored photo-etch, and painting masks. These items are the things I always like to use on my models, so for me, this is the best deal for my money.

Eduard’s 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk.IXc early version ProfiPACK kit arrives in a sturdy cardboard box that holds the contents with plenty of room to spare. The plastic is perfect with petite recessed panel lines presented on five sprues of flash-free medium gray plastic. All the part attachment points are very small and should be easy to clean up. The attachment points are very thin, and each gate is well thought out, allowing the modeler to avoid marring the parts when removing them. A wheel-shaped clear sprue, featuring thin clear parts, is packed separately to ensure they will arrive undamaged.

In a very nice touch, while the kit is touted as an early Mk.IXc, all the parts needed for a late Mk.IXc are in in this boxing as well, including the wings and horizontal tail planes.

No ProfiPACK kit is complete without some photo-etch. The Spitfire includes a small fret of pre-painted, nickel-plated photo-etch. I’ve always loved the look of the pre-painted instrument panels. The detail is so exquisite; you could not achieve as good of a look with regular brush painting. If you haven’t tried pre-painted photo-etch yet, I think you’ll like the way it looks.

Eduard’s included mask set saves me from having to cut masking tape and great speeds up the building process. I want these masks in every model! They are easy, fast, and effective for painting.

The decals are printed on two sheets. The first one is printed by Cartograf and features the individual aircraft markings. I’ve come to think of Cartograf as the premier decal manufacturer in the world. Their sheet is perfectly in register, and the colors look correct to me. The decals are thin and react well with everything I’ve ever used on them. The film disappears when dry. The other smaller sheet seems to be printed by Eduard, but looks to be the same quality as Cartograf. This sheet contains all the stencils that you will need for the model.

The instructions are printed on high quality paper in full color. Before starting a build, you will have to choose which aircraft you are going to replicate, as the instructions call out various parts and options that may be required for one version but not another. The instructions are easy enough to understand and will present no problem to most modelers.

This Spitfire is highly recommended! The fit of the entire model is superior to any other manufacturer. This is the pinnacle of Eduard’s model kits. It is absolutely a dream to build. The assembly is a joy, with plenty of detail included from the first piece to the final one. If you want to just relax and build a great model, this kit is the one to pick. Of course, if you want to add all the Brassin accessories, there is plenty of that available as well.

Thanks to Eduard and IPMS/USA for the review copy.