Jugs over Germany P-47D-25 Upgrade Set (for Eduard) - 1:48 Eduard

[Mike]

P-47D-25 Upgrade Set (for Eduard)
1:48 Eduard

Eduard's rebox of the Acedemy in 1:48 "Jugs over Germany" reviewed here takes a nice and often overlooked kit and makes it nicer, but there's always scope for more improvement, which is where this set comes in. Designed to complement the contents of the kit box, it contains plenty of extra detail to improve and expand on the less-than-stock kit. Arriving in one of Eduard's familiar flat packages, it contains a single fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass measuring 14.2cm x 8cm, packed with parts not included on the two frets in the kit box.

The engine is upgraded with links between the piston heads, which should be added after it laced with the ignition wires, and the small exhausts under the nose and behind the cowling are removed to be replaced by thinner hollow PE parts on both sides. Similarly, the supercharger exhausts on the side of the fuselage are detailed and the doors are replaced with scale thickness PE parts. The main gear wells have all the detail removed within the wheel area, and are then given a full set of detailed skins to improve the ribbing that was present, and you'll need to bend some of the wall sections to fit, so take care here. Strengthening webs and additional wiring is added to the skins to further improve them, and the bay doors are updated too. The kit main doors are thinned down so that only the wider section remains, and they have a new outer skin added, with a new "leg part" made up from a flat sheet with ribs folded up from a single additional piece. Cross-braces are then added, and the resulting assembly should be much more impressive, with links to the leg itself and hoses running to the brake hubs. The tail wheel bay has its moulded in doors removed, and new ones fabricated from PE and brackets for the closing jacks added from separate parts. You will need to source some short lengths of wire or rod for the retraction jacks, which have matching brackets within the bay.

The remaining parts improve the weapons and tankage, giving parts for hoses for the rear of the cylindrical laminated paper tanks, and a filler cap for the tapered intermediate tanks. The "bazooka tube" 3-pack rockets have a missing strut added, and finally the smaller 500lb bombs are given PE stabilising fins and priming spinners front and rear. Again, you'll need to find a little styrene rod to space the spinners from the bomb body, in the same way as with the 1,000lb bomb parts included in the kit.

Conclusion
Great news if you want to add just that little bit more detail to your special edition boxing, or to any Academy P-47D boxing. Plenty of extras and only a little folding, but be prepared to remove the moulded in detail in the gear bays, under the nose and on the 500lb bombs.

Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of