The incorporation of opened gun bays is a nice way to set your Spitfire apart from the crowd and adds to any diorama.

This set allows the modelers build the left and right wing gun bays opened. It allows you to build the Mk.VIII gun bays and the associated armament. There are 20 pieces of resin and a fret of photo etch in the set. Working the set is easy enough. The instructions are quite easy to understand and are illustrated enough for the modeler to reproduce two beautiful gun bays.

I removed the gun covers by chain drilling the panels and sanding back to the panel lines. Adding the photo etch and resin parts was relatively easy. Just remove the parts from the pour blocks, paint and install. It really is that simple. Just follow the instructions. After opening the wing panels the resin piece fits on top of a photo etch bottom quite nicely with no thinning of the wing required and seamless mates up to the plastic parts.

The fit of the gun bays in the wings was near perfect. There is no interference with the wing at all as long as you sand the resin as it is designed. I did have one wheel well that didn’t quite line up but that was my fault. It was taken care of with a little sanding and filler. I think a way to stop that MAY be to attach the part to the lower wing not like Eduard suggests to the upper wing. Or just do a nicer job of assembly on my part.

Careful painting is all that is required to make the set come alive. The visual interest that this set offers can’t be overlooked. The big expanse of the wings is enhanced with the addition of this set.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Eduard and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can obtain your copy by contacting Eduard directly at www.eduard.com or at your local hobby shop or online retailer.