Brassin Spitfire Mk.IX Engine (for Eduard 1:48)

[Mike]

Spitfire Mk.IX Engine (for Eduard)
1:48 Eduard Brassin (648112)

The new kit from Eduard is probably the best Spitfire kits I've had the privilege to own out of the box, but that sort of detail just leads to wanting more. This set is perfect to fulfil that desire, and bares the whole engine from the firewall forward. Arriving in one of Eduard's oblong Brassin boxes, it contains five bags of resin in two shades of grey, plus a Photo-Etch (PE) fret and an eight page A5 instruction booklet. The size of the booklet and the CAD rendering of the finished engine on the front of the box are the first two clues as to the completeness of the reproduction of the engine, requiring only removing from their casting blocks, some sympathetic painting, and some modelling skills. It's not for the novice modeller, and you will be required to cut the nose off your kit's delightfully well moulded fuselage in order to accomplish the task. If you're ok with that, plus a little super-glue (CA), some PE handling, you should be fine.

Construction begins with the engine block, and that is very highly detailed with separate reduction gear at the front, and a beautifully moulded "blower" at the rear, manifold detail in the top of the cylinders, and the words Rolls-Royce on the side of each head. The exhaust manifold Is made up resin and PE parts, and slots into the sides of the engine, with individual exhaust stacks of either round or fish-tailed designs provided. A plethora of control linkages pass back from the block over the Supercharger, which is mated to the firewall part, after which thick brass fuel hoses and the engine mounts fix to the top of the engine. The mount is made up from five parts, some of which will need a thin support film removing from in between the struts before they are mated to the C-shaped yoke that straddles the rear of the engine. Two more resin parts squeeze in between the struts, and it can then be glued to the short spar in the leading edge of the wing. The fuselage is then offered up from behind, with the bulkhead slipping inside the front, which has a ridge that has the dual function of setting the correct depth, while hiding the thick edges of the fuselage halves. The wing leading edge insert is then added according to the wing-type you have chosen, and the PE cowling attachment web is glued to either side of the engine, which will require a little curving of the parts to conform to the shape of the fuselage fuselage. The chin intake's innards are added underneath along with a PE insert that completes the edge of the fuselage underside, and should be painted to match the underside colour.

Because the aircraft will have its engine cowling parts removed, you might be mistaken (after looking only at the instructions) in thinking that's all you get. Nope. You get a full set of cowling panels in wafer-thin dark grey resin, complete with plenty of interior detail that will allow you to pose them around the aircraft or on a diorama base if you feel like it.

Painting instructions are shown throughout the build, and are in Gunze Mr Color codes, with a conversion to colour names on the rear page. If you're not familiar with Gunze paints, they're rather good, but if you're committed to another brand, any of the online paint conversion charts such as the Paint4Models will be able to assist with conversion.

Conclusion
A stunning example of what's achievable with modern CAD design and resin engineering, that produces a stunningly realistic looking engine. Take your time with the painting and gluing the parts together, and you will have a superb focus point on the front of your Mk.IX once you're done. I can see this being used on my second IX, as it's just too good not to.

Extremely highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Paramedic]

Gotta have (atleast) one of these.. Those PE-supports look tricky to fold correctly though?

[Nick Belbin]

I'm off to the toilet . . .

[Julien]

Now that is one impressive set.

Julien

[DaveCS]

nice... I have one to go with the overtrees Spit... I haven't bothered to open the box but I figured it would be awesome!!

Thanks for the review Mike!

Cheers,
Dave

[Basosz]

Holy Hannah. My eyebrows just went skywards and haven't come down yet. That is incredible and a model all in itself. Very pretty stuff

[Calum]

All that I want to know is does it actually fit the kit.

[BOMI21]

All that I want to know is does it actually fit the kit.

It must. If Eduard makes aftermarket for their models, it fits perfectly, because their models are prepared for this brassin sets just before they are released.

[ya-gabor]

All that I want to know is does it actually fit the kit.

There is no reason why it should not fit the kit. Apart from the 3D design stage which guaranties that it is of the "same size" and is an integral part of the kit, you will also find that the engine is completely on its own. You dont have to fit it into the kit in a way where it is surrounded by plastic parts. To avoid a problem with the over thick plastic parts the Brassin set has all the cover panels in it. So you will not have to thin down the plastic parts to get the engine inside, just simply discard the plastic bits and pieces and replace them with the resin covers.

I have started some assembly and clean up on the engine. It is amazing!

Best regards

Gabor

[Mavster]

I know its an old thread, but I just finished this kit my self. I had one problem putting it together, that others can avoid.

The instructions picture that the big brass pipes R112 and R113 are to be fittet before the engine support structures R110, R109 and R104. That gives a problem , as one of pipes (R112) has to go through R109's triangular center. I battled a great deal with that untill i paged through a lot of pictures of the real engine, and saw how the pipe was mounted. But there are not many pictures available where that part of the pipe is visible, so i have included one here, with a marking on where the pipe has to run through.

Best Regards

Martin

Edited March 29, 2015 by Mavster