Eduard Mosquito FB.Mk.VI Update Sets (for Tamiya 1:32)

[Mike]

Mosquito FB.Mk.VI Update Sets (for Tamiya)
1:32 Eduard

Tamiya's new large scale Mosquito is a lovely kit, and Eduard have worked their usual magic to make it lovelier (is that a word?). The sets are broken down into areas of interest, so that a modeller can choose where to spend time & money improving the detail to suit themselves. Each set arrives in a flat pack with re-sealable flap, with a sheet or two of white card protecting the contents and instruction sheets from harm.


Interior (32849)
Supplied on two frets, one of which is nickel plated and pre-painted, the other bare brass, this set deals with… well, the cockpit really. A large proportion of the painted set is used in replacing the moulded-in detail on the instruments dotted around the cockpit, from the main panel, the auxiliary panel on the right sidewall, Gee Indicator, Drift Sight, to the two radio gear boxes in the rear, which are festooned with colourful knobs. There are a surprisingly large number of dials in a Mossie, and they will look a lot more detailed once the new parts are installed. In addition, there is a flare rack under the pilot's seat for which you could scratch-build your own flares from styrene rod; cockpit extinguisher mount; additional seat detail; throttle quadrant upgrades; highly detailed replacement rudder pedals that are built up from a substantial number of parts; extra detail for the crew access hatch, and a frame for the emergency exit on the roof of the canopy, plus a number of other smaller parts that are dotted around.

Exterior (32379)
This set is surprisingly focused, which says a lot about the detail already present in the kit, with only one fret of bare brass in the bag. The gun bay in the nose gets a set of new ammo can lids; plus four breech tops in both the nose and the belly guns. The engines receive wiring harnesses on both sides each; the fuel tanks under the main spar have their moulded-in straps removed and replaced with new interlocking PE parts, as do the oil tanks in the gear bays. There are also a long pair of skin parts added to the edges of the wing within the gear bays, and some strengthening parts around the radiators. The gear legs are treated to a new set of scale thickness mudguards, which will require some careful rolling to the right radius so that the mounting arms fit and can be glues on, and finally a bit of additional detail is added to the insides of the landing gear bay doors.

Mask Set (JX184)
The Mossie has quite a greenhouse going on in the canopy department, so a masking set is a welcome addition. As well as providing masks for the entire canopy, it also includes masks for the clear panel in the rear of the navigator's fold-down seat-top (something I'd never noticed before), the wingtip lights as well as the downward facing landing lights in the lower wing surface. There isn't room on the sheet for wheel masks, but Eduard do produce a nice resin replacement for the Marmite wheels in the kit, which you can see here. As usual, where there are compound curves, the masks hug the framing edges, so you will need to fill in the centres with scrap tape from the background, or some liquid mask.

Review samples courtesy of