Eduard Lufttorpedo F5b (648627) 1:48

[Mike]

Lufttorpedo F5b (648627)

1:48 ICM via Hannants

 

 

The F5b Torpedo was developed for the Luftwaffe by the Kriegsmarine from an earlier Norwegian design, adding a break-off wooden H-tail that helped ensure stable insertion into the water, which at a little under a tonne was an important part in its flight envelope.  It was carried by a number of German bombers such as the He.111, which could carry a pair on a palette covering the bomb bay doors, and even the Fw.190 was configured to carry one under its belly.

 

 

As is now usual with Eduard's smaller resin sets, they arrive in the new shallow Brassin cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in Ziploc bags, and the instructions folded around acting as padding.  The set includes four main resin parts on separate casting blocks, and six small parts on another block, plus a large sheet of Photo-Etch (PE).  There are two torpedoes, each of which is moulded in front and rear sections, the latter tapering off while the front section is tubular with a rounded nose.  There are four variants that you can build with or without a drag fairing on the tail, and with rounded or angled fronts to the guidance fins, with enough common resin and PE parts for the two screws at the rear.  The two halves of the torpedo have a keyed joint that almost guarantees a good fit as long as you don’t attack it with a machete or pick axe and remove the flash on the inner ledge, then it’s a case of bending the blades of the propellers in layer one, slipping it over the stub axle in the tail, adding a tapered spacer then fitting another prop and a final tapered section to finish off the rear.

 

The guidance vanes of either type at the rear fit into slots at 90^o to each other, and these are braced with fine PE slats.  If you plan on fitting the rear fairing, there are two side panels that have a central finger that folds over for later gluing to the torpedo, and these side panels have etched slots on the inside for the location of the four horizontal slats.  Take care fitting these absolutely perpendicular to the sides, then glue the assembly to two of the guidance vanes as shown in the scrap diagram.

 

As usual, there are copious colour call-outs throughout the instructions using Eduard’s favourite brand of paints, Gunze Sangyo, and there is a 3D isometric rendering of two of the finished torpedoes in the centre of the instructions.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

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