Eduard Su-27 Updates (for Hobby Boss)

[Mike]

Su-27 Updates (for Hobby Boss)

1:48 Eduard

 

 

Hobby Boss's new tooling SU-27 is a pretty decent kit with a few issues that might bug the purists, but is an improvement on the old Academy offering.  As always with injection moulding though, you can do some aspects better with Photo-Etch.  Along comes Eduard in their inimitable style with a small collection of PE sets and a set of kabuki tape masks to make your life easier, and the detail better.  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.

 

 

Interior (49813)

Consisting of two frets of PE, one of which is nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other bare brass, this set adds extra detail to the cockpit that would be incredibly difficult to duplicate via scratch-building.  After scraping the detail from the sidewall, consoles and instrument panel, new panels are installed with detail picked out in relief and colour, plus a set of new sidewall skins with panelling details added.  The main panel is split into several parts, laminated together to create a more realistic whole, replete with instrument dials behind the bezels.  The seat is upgraded with a more accurate pull handle, leg straps, and controls on the sides, whilst behind it the rear deck is given a skin of riveted metal instead of the raised detail that was provided in the kit.  After replacing the rudder pedals with more detailed parts, the rest of the set is used to improve the detail on the canopy, including sill details, internal structure, canopy and windscreen hoops with rear-view mirrors, and the seals around the moving section.  Speaking personally, detailing the canopy can provide a boost to cockpit detail, and the addition of the parts can make a great deal of difference.  The final space on the fret is given over to a number of static-wicks for the exterior, which is unusual in an interior set.

 

 

 

Zoom! Set (FE813)

This set contains a reduced subset of the interior, namely the pre-painted parts that are used to improve on the main aspects of the cockpit, as seen above.  Whatever your motivations for wanting this set, it provides a welcome boost to detail, without being concerned with the structural elements.

 

 

Seatbelts STEEL (49814)

Eduard's new STEEL seatbelt range combines the simplicity of pre-painted Photo-Etch (PE) belts with the thin, flexible steel that they now use, resulting in seatbelts that look more in-scale, and are easier to bend to drape more naturally over the ejection seat or crew seat as the case may be.  The paint used also seems more flexible, and better able to cope with the rigors of fitting the belts into position without cracking and peeling off, which was sometimes a danger with the previous nickel-plated brass types.  As well as coming pre-painted, they are also shaded to imply further depth to the buckles and overlaps, with the clasps, slides and attachment points showing bright in conjunction with the painted portions.

 

 

 

Exterior (48917)

This set is supplied on one larger brass fret, and contains plenty of parts to improve the detail further.  The afterburner ring is first to be constructed, with subtle twists resulting in a cone-shaped part that is more delicately depicted by the fine PE, both of which are fitted over the rear bullet as drop-in replacements for the kit parts.  The spine-mounted air-brake is skinned inside, and the drop-down integrated FOD guards are added to the intake ramps to both add detail, and save you from having any need to seam-fill the rest of the intake.  The main bays are skinned after removal of the bay roof, adding small triangular rib-ends and other structural aspects of the bay, while the nose bay is left alone, save for the extra details added to the leg, and a partial replacement of the louvered mudguard, which has the support stays and the louvered parts replaced by more detailed and in-scale PE.

 

 

 

 

Masks (EX546]

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 small masks for the HUD glazing and the landing lights.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of