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Tamiya 1/72 scale Japan Torpedo Boat; OK so old kit been in the stash for a while so thought this will be my Thursday Night at the model club project some of my builds are a bit fragile for now so this will be easy to transport and work on for that one night a week my time. I Won't be using the power units this will be a static model. Parts and bits of extra PE Can you tell I have more time on my hands now. Stay SAfe beefy

I previously joined this GB with an Argentine representative from my "Sexy American Singles in South American Service" project, a F4U-5 Corsair: Sadly, I'm not confident I can complete it in time, but I still want to build something for the GB, so now I am beginning a Hellcat from Uruguay! I am using this Eduard 1/72 kit: It will be my first Eduard kit, and I am very impressed so far. I know there have been many of these built around here so I don't think I need to share sprue photos. This is the -5N (nightfighter) kit, but I am just building a -5 using these decals: Here are photos of Uruguayan Hellcats which will be similar to what I'm attempting to model.

Never one to shy from a challenge, here's my kit for this group build. It's better documented here at Scalemates. I plan to build it strictly oob, using kit supplied decals for scheme B which depicts a plane from 6./JG 1, stationed in Störmede (Germany in Spring 1944. Reichsverteidigung, jawohl. I'll scratch up some masking for the canopy. No airbrushes, acrylic paints, resin or photoetch will be harmed during this build. V-P

I wasn't sure if I was ready to commit to another group build after fizzling out on my last couple of projects. But I started slowly working on my F-6K and have really been enjoying it so far, so I've decided to share the experience. What's an F-6K? It's just a P-51D with some cameras (camerae?) Mounted in the rear fuselage. My goal is the build this aircraft from the 118 Tactical Recon Squadron, flying over Chengkung southwest China in 1945. A few obvious challenges await. Most relate to the natural metal finish. I'm also weary of Eduard's finicky new style decals. Especially over NMF. But I really want a mustang with some black and gold trim. So far I've only built the cockpit floor and radio deck. I still need to fold a little PE black box and add it, but this is where I left off tonight. Nice detail from Eduard, but nothing really earth shattering.

7 Hello everyone- this is my first post on this forum. I've been meaning to share here for a little while. I painted this using Vallejo model air and VMS gloss and matt varnish. I also used enamel panel line wash (grey) to accentuate detail. I had some serious issue with very feathered egdes during my freehand camo painting session. I now believe that this was PARTLY down to me not thinning correctly, but also, due to my 0.2 needle being bent or something, as I've since compared it with a brand new one and it sprays off centre! No idea why! Anyway, There are lots of mistakes but I won't mention them here... Anyway- I hope you like this and let me know what I should do differently on my next aircraft, which will be either: BF109 G2 or F6D/K (both from Eduard.)

Alright, alright, you guys have forced/persuaded/shamed/cajoled me into it. Yes, it is the Overtrees version of Eduard's Fw 190A-5 "light". But wait, what's this lurking inside? I thought the lid looked a bit "rawer" than the normal white box! No, there wasn't a bonus kit, too, but I might have to re-purpose the re-purposed top as a piece of artwork. I've downloaded the instructions for the ProfiPack version, as well as one or two other Fw variants, and begun to figure out which of the multiple choices (or boxes in the instructions) I'll need to go with. I had also already saved a bunch of photos of my subject aircraft. Today should be when "serious" messing with the kit commences. My intended subject, in case you haven't already figured it out, is the one brought to the United States and, at least for a time, put in the hands of the United States Navy, complete with some variation on an appropriate paint job. bob

Hi guys, Another one of my S-199 from Eduard. OOB, but added some tubes, wires, foil. Stencil for the Stars of David cut out from yellow tape. Painted with Vallejo colors. Pictures... that's all I can get from my iPhone. Thanks for watching.

WWI is very definitely not my thing - I have build the odd Airfix kit back in the distant past, like a Camel I seem to recall being particularly fond of as a young kid - which gradually shed parts and finally disappeared in a tidying spree. I do however have a very good friend who is not a modeller and who loves WWI aircraft and in particular the SE.5A. I decided to surprise him on his birthday and built him this example from the Eduard Royal Class kit. Not being an expert at all did in fact help to some extent - I was on a winner from the start with the colours. I did loads of research on the colours - well - in reality nobody seems to know what the colour should be anyway and after reading "eye witness accounts" who describe the colour variously as Green, Brown, Green Brown or Browny Green I settled for a base of Mr Hobby H52 Olive Drab which seemed to fit the description for me. The undersides were based on H85 Sail Colour. The wooden interior and prop were painted in the time honoured fashion with oils over Tamiya Khaki/clear orange - a technique which I enjoyed although most is hidden inside. I was very nicely surprised by the quality of the Eduard kit with was superb with great detail and excellent fit and I chose Mick Mannock's aircraft because I had heard of him. The hard part, and the part which I was most worried about, the rigging, actually turned out reasonably well - I used pre-stretched monofilament fishing line. It wasn't until I took the photographs that I realised that I have missed some fairly prominent rigging lines but since my friend does not know - this is unlikely to be rectified. I managed to fairly easily pre drill tiny holes and superglue the ends of the lines in place and stretch them slightly with a red hot pin. I even quite successfully (in my mind anyway) modelled the double lines here and there All in all, I have to say that I quite enjoyed the whole thing but that was in part because I was able to give my friend something which he really liked. I certainly will not be building any more WWI aircraft in a hurry but I can recommend this kit! Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, thought I'd post the next major project. The Border Model Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J Late with full upgrades by Voyager and Eduard. Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J LateBorder Model | No. BT-008 Voyager Model No. PE351142 Panzer IV Series Fenders Dragon 60xx Series~Voyager Model | No. PE35187 Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J (Last Production) Basic Set (For DRAGON 6575) Voyager Model | No. PE35458 I got this set as it has a couple of details that didn't come with the specific Voyager set above. German WW2 PzKw III & PzKw-Ⅳ later period - B metal trackR Model | No. 35041 Schurzen mesh Pz.IV Ausf. J Tamiya Eduard | No. 35595 Some of the sets are not specific to Border, but I don't think it will make any difference. I'll let you know through the build. Going to make a better effort for photos of progress than of late. Might look at adding the barrel option if I can find one, if the kit barrel doesn't. Have to say, finding anything there days is getting tough. Seems all UK sellers are not on the distribution list of many suppliers. So off back to the Marder IIIM rebuild until all this arrives.

I've recently "run out of steam" with my many and various 1/72 builds, to the point where I decided to chuck it all in and move up to 1/48 scale. This build is one that got caught in the cross-fire and was shot down in no uncertain terms. However, the arrival of an Eduard Spitfire Mk.I Dual Combo double kit has put me in the position of being able to start again. Same subject but biggerer My references listed below are still valid, of course. If, dear reader, you're interested in the false start, please read on. Otherwise, please feel free to skip ahead to Page 3 where hopefully things will actually be happening! Cheers, Mark Despite my two posted place-holders, I've found myself inspired by @Hammer2023's build of a Spitfire PR1 and decided to have a go at one myself. Its been on my "to-do" list for quite a while anyway, so that was really just the spur I needed to get cracking. I'm using the KP Spitfire Mk.Ia "Black and white" boxing, which contains an amazing quantity of parts for the spares box, not least a complete "B" wing, two spare sets of 3-blade props and a Watts 2-blader as well. For references, I'm dipping into Dr Alfred Price's "The Spitfire Story", Valiant Wings' "Merlin-engined Spitfires", Ventura's Classic Wardbirds #10 "Merlin PR Spitfires", and On Target Profiles #8 "Photo Reconnaissance Spitfires". I've also got a copy of Morgan and Shacklady's "Spitfire: The History" on its way. I'm also referring to some previous BM threads: Sidney Cotton's Spitfires Spitfire PRI Details A Question Regarding Early Spitfire Seats 1/48 Spitfire PR I - Build diary Spitfire PR.Ia N3071 - Airfix 1/72 Spitfire Mk. I PR Type A Box and sprue shots: The main sprues contains the "B" wing, the alternative "A" wing is on the supplementary sprue along with the Watts prop and, what's that? Its a Mk.IIa LR wing fuel tank! I've started with the "Cottonising" process, filling the wing panel lines and drilling the camera ports in the centre of the under-wing inboard ammunition box hatches. The panel lines for those are retained of course, as are the upper-wing gun access panels for the innermost Browning, which was used as an access point for the camera operating mechanism. More photos to follow! Cheers, Mark

F4F-3 Early SPACE Interior Set (3DL48080 for Eduard) 1:48 Eduard The Eduard SPACE sets use new 3D printing techniques that lay down successive layers of different colour resin, creating highly realistic almost full complete panels that are supplied on a decal sheet. They can depict metallic shades, plus glossy, satin and matt colours too, which really ups the detail on everything they print. In addition, a small sheet of nickel-plated and pre-painted PE is included for the aspects of the set that lend themselves better to this medium, such as seatbelts and rudder pedals. This set includes a full set of 3D printed instrument panel sections, plus additional parts that are applied to the side consoles to replace many of the raised portions of the styrene parts, with some slight differences from the later set we reviewed a while ago. There is also a pair of printed document cases for the sidewalls, and while the PE sheet is almost totally made up of seatbelt parts, there is also a handle for the side consoles and a backing plate for the larger of the two document folders. Highly recommended. Currently out of stock at Eduard, but check back later Review sample courtesy of

Bf.109G-6 SPACE Interior Set (3DL48100 for Tamiya) 1:48 Eduard Brassin The Eduard SPACE sets use new 3D printing techniques that lay down successive layers of different colour resin, creating highly realistic almost full complete panels that are supplied on a decal sheet. They can depict metallic shades, plus glossy, satin and matt colours too, which really ups the detail on everything they print. In addition, a small sheet of nickel-plated and pre-painted PE is included for the aspects of the set that lend themselves better to this medium, such as seatbelts and rudder pedals. The main instrument panel is replaced entirely after removing the moulded-in kit detail, with a separate decal over the centre cluster of larger dials, and another small panel that has been supplied with a PE backing plate to suspend it from the underside of the main panel. Two more small decals complete filling in the remaining spaces on the panel. On the starboard sidewall is a trio of decals for the dials and stencils under the visible area of the fuel line, plus two more for the part beneath it, and another on the other side. The floor instrument boxes have their faces removed to accept another three tiny decals, then the remaining PE parts are used to create a full set of crew belts with comfort pads under the buckles, and add a few toggles and levers to the main instrument panel. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Kit - Eduard MiG-21R Profi Edition Paint - All Acrylics Decals - Spares & kit Extras - None MiG-21R (Unit unknown) Syrian Air Force Late 1980's. So just about eight weeks on this one, everything you see (except the roundels & side number) is straight from the Eduard box, no after-market used at all. Paint is all acrylic and all mixed 'until it looks about right'. And therein is the elephant on the workbench. For the finish I used three separate profiles from three different artists, and according to some, Syrian AF MiG's didn't wear these colours in this style, apparently somewhere down the road a photo was misinterpreted and then became a profile... Of course I was made aware of this when I was too deep into the build to turn back, but hey... it's a hobby not brain surgery, right ?. Regardless, I love the final outcome, definitely NOT an easy shake'n bake weekend project, but sometimes I (we ?) need a more challenging build to keep us real, wouldn't you say. Please feel free to ask questions, raise concerns or make any sort of comment. Cheers from a still very warm & sunny NZ. Ian.

F-35B Wheels (648819 for Italeri) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Kit wheels are generally moulded in two halves, which means you have the resultant joins to deal with, possible mould-slip issues on single part wheels, and sometimes less than stellar detail due to the moulding limitations of styrene injection technology, especially in the tread department. That's where replacement resin wheels come in, with their lack of seamline and superior detail making a compelling argument. They are also usually available at a reasonable price, and can be an easy introduction to aftermarket and resin handling, as they are usually a drop-in replacement. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE), small Brassin and Mask sets, the set arrives in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. Inside are three wheels on separate casting blocks, plus a sheet of kabuki-style masking tape, cut to shape to allow you to cut the demarcations between the tyres and hubs with ease. Detail is superb, with crisp raised Michelin maker’s mark and statistics on the sidewalls, and circumferential tread on the contact band. They are attached to the casting blocks via the contact patch for ease of removal without ruining any detail, and there is a slight bulge there to depict the weight of the airframe on the tyre. They are a drop-in replacement for the kit parts, and are patterned specifically for the new 1:48 Italeri kit, but could probably also be adjusted to fit any other F-35B kit you may have on hand. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all here I present to you my first full build of 2023 It’s finished as F4F-3 (1850) 41-F-4 flown by Lt. Charles Shileds of VF-41 USS Ranger in December 1940 At the beginning of January I was undecided on what to build next so I asked my wife to pick a kit from me stash and to choose the markings! And my wife picked the Eduard F4F-3 Wildcat and chose the early pre-war markings i started this by the end of the first week of January. The only issues I had with the kit was the rather fiddly undercarriage I don’t know if it was something i did or something to do with the kit parts but I had a major misalignment problem later on in the build one wingtip was a good 4mm higher than the other and that’s when I noticed the misalignment of the undercarriage although everything was glued to where it should be so I had to shorten one of the undercarriage legs to get it to sit horizontally! Question I don’t know whether to give it a wash to accentuate the panel lines and rivets if so can any recommend what to use ? Paints used were mainly from the MR Hobby Aqueous and Mr.Metalcolor ranges and some tamiya acrylics the decals are of the new type from Eduard and I bit the bullet in peeling the carrier film off and I must say It went better than expected with the decals only lifting in a couple of areas. I throughly enjoyed this build from start to finish despite the aforementioned issues hope you like it and thanks for looking happy modelling

Mosquito B Mk.IV Updates (for Tamiya) 1:48 Eduard The Tamiya Mosquito is an iconic kit in 1:48, and although it was initially released in 1998 and this version was tooled the following year, it’s still a great build and accurate apart from the height of the tail fin if you believe the purists. It’s readily available again, and although the price has inevitably crept up, it’s still a fabulous kit of a superb aircraft. Eduard's new range of sets are here to improve on the kit detail in the usual modular manner, including some of the newer technologies they’ve taken to using. Get what you want for the areas you want to be more of a focal point. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. SPACE 3D Printed Cockpit Decals (3DL48097) The Eduard SPACE sets use new 3D printing techniques that lay down successive layers of different colour resin, creating highly realistic almost full complete panels that are supplied on a decal sheet. They can depict metallic shades, plus glossy, satin, and matt colours too, which really ups the detail on everything they print. In addition, a small sheet of nickel-plated and pre-painted PE is included for the aspects of the set that lend themselves better to this medium, such as seatbelts and rudder pedals. The instrument panel is completely replaced after removing the moulded-in details with a two-part decal plus a trio of levers, then the send/receive radio boxes have their fronts removed to be replaced by colourful new decals. The compass in front of the throttle quadrant is replaced by a new decal, then another six equipment boxes are replaced or added on both sidewalls. The rest of the PE parts are seatbelts for both crew members, requiring a small raised lump to be removed from the pilot’s headrest and a hole drilled in its location so that the shoulder belts can pass through. The navigator has an identical set of belts that drape over his smaller, more cramped seat slightly behind the pilot. Stencils (D48108 for Tamiya/Revell) Eduard’s stencil range has been growing steadily of late, providing sharp, detailed stencilling for numerous types, some of which are lacking from the originating manufacturer’s box. The latter can come in handy for your average modeller, as sometimes the kit doesn’t include a complete set of stencils for expediency or whatever reason. Some folks, myself included, think that the inclusion of a full suite of stencils adds extra realism to a model, although there is of course the time element and the extra carrier film edges to hide. Eduard have been busy of late and have released this comprehensive set we have to review. It arrives in a clear foil re-sealable envelope with a card stiffener, a cover page with instructions, plus the decals with wax paper protecting the delicate printed surface. This set arrives on one sheet, and is patterned for almost any 1:48 Mosquito kit due to the generic nature and placement of the stencils. Over the course of four profiles from overhead, underneath, and the sides, plus a diagram of the engine nacelles from the side, the locations of all the stencils are shown clearly on greyscale line drawings that use coloured arrows and numbers to differentiate from the background. Link to PDF of instructions. The decals are printed in-house by Eduard and have good register, sharpness and colour density, with a glossy carrier film printed close to the edges of the printed areas. Don’t forget that as of 2021, the carrier film from Eduard decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier-free, making the decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and those large red boxes with crosses running over them will be substantially improved once the carrier film has been removed, with no chance of silvering. Masks (EX028) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. In addition, you get a set of hub/tyre masks for all the wheels (including the out-riggers), allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. Masks Tface (EX913) Supplied on a larger sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with everything above, but also give you another set of canopy masks tailored to fit the interior of the glazing so that you can paint the interior and give your model that extra bit of realism. If you missed the review of the Löök set for this kit that we did a few weeks ago, you can find it here. Review sample courtesy of

Beaufort Mk.I Undercarriage (481096 for ICM) 1:48 Eduard ICM’s new 1:48 scale Beaufort has made a lot of modellers very happy, myself included. Eduard’s new detail upgrade sets have started to come on-stream now, and this set is intended to detail-up the landing gear bays. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, it arrives in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. The bay roofs are skinned with a new layer, which has a trio of raised stiffening crosses applied over certain panels. The front bulkhead is folded up perpendicular to the roof, while the rear bulkhead is a separate part that stands up above the surface of the wing. Additional detail parts are applied to the lower section of the rear bulkhead before it is inserted into the bay. The bay sides are also skinned with a two-layer detail surface, with an extra section fitted to the wing surface on each side that will be inside the bay once the cowlings are added. The upper part of the twin retraction jacks on the main gear are removed and replaced with a new folded portion, and a bay door bumper frame is fixed around the front of the main legs, plus another at the edge of the bay doors themselves. Small strengthening plates are then glued to the top of the diagonal section of the leg base, with two per leg. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi All, Sorry a bit late , This could end up French , or Israeli Air Force, The Kit . Again the Kit. the exter bits . Thanks for looking .Wellzy

Following on with a theme here, when I bought the Eduard FW 190A-3 kit one of the options for that model was for a 'hit and run' ship attack aircraft from 10 Staffel (Jabo) JG 2. As this kit has the new style decals that can be a bit of a problem, luckily I have some of Eduards older type that have an impressive score tally on the rudder. So I have 'obtained' another A-3 kit. These aircraft were armed with either a 250Kg or a 500Kg bomb and were used to attack British shipping in the English Channel. They were formed originally with Bf 109F-4 aircraft but were replaced with FW 190A-3's. The emblem they used on both sides of the nose was a brown fox with a ship in it's mouth. These original decals are labelled for an A-2 but this was an error by Eduard, A-2's were not equipped to carry bombs and they are identical externally to the A-3 aircraft. So what I have do is remove the outboard guns, remove the underside canon bulges and fit a bomb rack on the centre line. I have made a start, painting the undercarriage bay with RLM 02, the engine front was sprayed black and dry brushed with silver, I decided to try some Barracuda hollow exhausts. The cockpit was sprayed up with RLM 66 dark grey and detailed with the kit p/e parts. Here is a close-up of the cockpit just before I joined up the fuselage. Thanks for looking.

It seems like I've hit a bad patch recently, with a work/life balance that was not really balanced. It seems that too much stress at work really isn't good for you...who would've thought? The trip to the doctors office actually showed a low steady heart rhythm, good exercise regime but high blood pressure. It's probably not related at all to the Valom Bristol Firebrand that I'm wrestling with over at the Salty Sea dogs GB While the doctor is requesting more data and me collecting said stuff for a few weeks, I decided to go clean up my workbench. It was stacked about 5 projects deep (2 P38, a Firebrand, a P-47, and a F-16 was found, together with some pieces of Lansen, Viggen and a few other bits). I'm sure that this has never happened to anyone else, and I'm completely unique in this aspect. Anyway, the cleanup was fairly quick, nothing was binned and all of a sudden I found myself with a nice and tidy bench. What now? Puttying the Firebrand? Decaling a swing-wing? Masking a P-47? No! Don't ever finish stuff, that could only lead to ruin, so instead I brought forth this. Much better! Well molded, oodles of detail, a few extra bits and bobs as well, and apparently a mostly stellar fit. So, caution thrown overboard, and the snipper started to work on the wheel bays. That's quite a few bits to build up the bays!! This was also a shot of primer, and a base coat of interior green, like so. A dark wash in the will do nicely I think! Main fuselage also got a lick of paint while the airbrush was loaded with the correct colors. Looking at the rear of the fuselage, I've only seen this amount of raised and lowered rivets on one other kit. That would be the 1/24 Tiffy that I built (more than) a few years back No oil canning on the Eduard Tempest though! But for 1/48, this is awesome.

Hi Everyone My first completion of the year, this is the 1/48 Eduard Tempest Mk V and it’s built out of the box. The rivets on the fuselage looked way too big to my eyes so I sanded them down and I think the result looks more in-scale now. This is my first Eduard kit and it won’t be my last, the detail is very good for the scale not to mention the price. I think the surface detail is perhaps a little over emphasised, but I can’t argue with the results when weathered. I would say don’t spent too much time in the cockpit area on Hawker aircraft like this because you can’t see much when the office is fully installed. I was impressed with the new decals as they lay down very well which can be seen in the pictures. I did try and peel off the carrier-film on a few test samples but I could not get a consistent result so binned that idea. Anyway, on to the pictures and thanks for looking. The Carrier-film is hardly visible in the picture below. Unlike my dreadful orange-peel spray painting. Regards Trace

Looking at the Brassin bronze legs for the Eduard 109 they do two, 648308 for the 109F and 64309 for the 109G. But looking at the renders for them I can't see a difference. So does anyone know what the difference is and what versions they are applicable for? KMD do a set a gear legs for the Eduard kit which it's says for G-5 and later but these look different to the Brassin ones. https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/KLG4801EDU?result-token=sUz8k 308 309

I thought I would carry on with a theme. As a deal with James @franky boy I opted to build an A-8 from JGr.10, the combat unit that trialed different weapons to try and bring down the 4 engined bombers of the USAAF in greater numbers. Their aircraft were adorned with snakes from the engine cowling back to the tail. I have the EagleCal decal sheet for two of these aircraft plus another decal sheet from a Kagero book about these Focke Wulfs. The kit I'm using is the Eduard overtrees box that just has the plastic kit, no plans, decals, p/e or masks. This is not a problem as I have plenty of options, either the Quinta or Eduard 3D decals for the cockpit and a spare fret of Eduard p/e or the 'Space' p/e that comes with the 3D decals. The W.Gr 21cm rockets are from Eduard, they came with a Bf 109 kit but they were exactly the same type used on FWs. Another option is a single rocket, these were attached to the centre line pylon, facing rearwards, the idea was to attack a bomber head on using canon fire and as the FW flew past it fired the rocket back at the bomber, it wasn't successful and the pair of rockets, one under each wing made the attacking aircraft slow and vunerable, the escort fighters usually made short work of them. Here are the photos of the extras, the kit sprues have been shown on several threads already. Here is a photo of the kit, cockpit options and the wing mounted rockets. The full length rockets are for a loading diorama, for loaded launchers just the rocket fronts are used. Here is a close up of the 3D decals and accessories and the single, rearwards firing rocket launcher, and no they never carried all three. Thanks for looking, I'll get stared as soon as I can.

P-38J Seat PRINT (648811 for Tamiya) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Although this set arrives in a flat package, the directly 3D printed parts are safe inside a clear plastic clamshell box inside the package, which also has a sticky pad inside to prevent the parts from rattling about. The parts are printed resin, attached to the base via thin tendril-like fingers that are easy to cut off and sand the little upstands away, leaving them ready for action. Consisting of just one crisply printed resin part, plus a small fret of nickel-plated pre-painted Photo-Etch (PE) STEEL that contains seatbelts plus comfort pad, the set should be a relatively straight forward replacement for the kit part, with the addition of substantial fine detail, plus the highly realistic seatbelts that should drape over the seats well thanks to the softer, thinner steel substrate. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

My adventure with 1/72 scale biplanes continues! This was a peculiar little kit for being of Eduard lineage. I built the first boxing of the kit from 2003 when it was a new tool, and it has been reissued with new parts and new decals in subsequent releases. The instructions were in a straightforward and easy to understand style, although I ran into a fairly significant issue early in the build. The fuselage is unusually molded in upper and lower halves instead of left and right sides, with the "instrument panel" slotting in under the top fuselage piece. Except that it... doesn't. There's no way it will ever fit. So after an unexpected session of plastic surgery and some putty, it eventually laid down and the rest of the build continued on smoothly! I hand painted this model and rigged it with Uschi "Rig That Thing!" superfine line. I think it is my most tidy rigging work thus far, so I'm very excited to show it here. 1st Lieutenant Jacques M. Swaab's first combat mission was on the 8th of September 1918, when he shot down 3 enemy aircraft within the span of half an hour. He would eventually claim 17 kills and be officially credited with 10. He survived the war and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in aerial combat and swiftly coming to the aid of a comrade in mortal danger. Please enjoy the pictures!