Jump to content
The Great LSM Twins Group Build ends July 3, 2024 ×

Brewer

Members
  • Posts

    32
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

25 Excellent

About Brewer

  • Birthday November 8

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://www.facebook.com/brewermodels

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Southeast USA

Recent Profile Visitors

987 profile views
  1. Brassin Upgrades for Eduard Spitfire Mk.XVI Spitfire Mk.XVI cockpit - 648206 - $35.99 Spitfire Mk.XVI wheels 3-spoke - 648218 - $7.49 Spitfire undercarriage legs - 648124 - $20.49 Prices from Sprue Brothers In recent years Eduard has started releasing Brassin upgrades alongside their new kit releases, a thoughtful approach for those modellers who don't like to wait for a few months for the market to release detail sets for new kits. With the release of the new Spitfire Mk.XVI bubbletop, Eduard has also offered up a few new upgrades to go with it: a replacement cockpit and 3-spoke wheels, and we'll also be taking another look at the previously released bronze Spitfire gear legs. Brassin Spitfire Mk.XVI cockpit - 648206 First up we have a highly detailed cockpit set comprised of over 40 resin parts and a fret of color photoetch. The Brassin Spitfire cockpit sets are cleverly designed to be pretty much a drop fit replacement for the kit parts, with no extensive modification of the kit parts required to squeeze in the resin bits. The resin pieces replace all of the kit parts and then some along with some optional parts like a cast instrument panel or the color photoetch bits, two different gun sights, etc. The sidewalls are particularly detailed and one of the areas of this set that excels at being a drop fit replacement for the kit sidewall parts. The color photoetch fret is extensive, though curiously it features the wrong seat harness for the bubbletop. Assuming you buy the Dual Combo kit or forthcoming Profipack you'll already have the appropraite later style harness in the kit PE. Spitfire Mk.XVI wheels 3-spoke - 648218 Next up is a set of 3-spoke Spitfire wheels for later XVI's. This set consists of 4 resin parts and a set of useful hub or tire masks for easy painting. One improvement of these wheels over previous Brassin Spitfire wheels is the molding of the outer hubs into the tires. In the 4- and 5-spoke Brassin wheels the outer hubs are separate inserts and in my experience they are prone to being undersized and don't quite fill the hole in tire. Spitfire undercarriage legs - 648124 An older set but worth taking another look is the bronze undercarriage set for Eduard Spitfires, comprised of two bronze legs and two resin gear doors. These bronze legs are really cool and far superior to both the kit plastic parts and typical white metal gear legs from other manufacturers. The bronze is highly, featuring much more realistic details of the legs themselves and extra details like brake lines. The resin gear doors are also much nicer than the plastic kit parts with extra detail inside and out. The only potential downside to this undercarriage set is that it only depicts one configuration of undercarriage geometry and gear doors, whereas the kit provides 3 different styles of each. Conclusion: Eduard continues to offer Brassin upgrades for their kits that provide a substantial upgrade over the kit parts and in this case clever designs that require minimal effort to install. However, one can't ignore the fact that these sets are quite pricey relative to offerings from other aftermarket companies, but it may be worth it for the ease of installation. Highly Recommended Jason Brewer Thanks to Eduard for the review samples
  2. Eduard 1/48 Spitfire Mk.XVI Dual Combo Cat. No.: 1198 Price = $59.99 from Sprue Bothers Eduard's Spitfire family is well established by now as one of the most state of the art kits on the market with outstanding detail, high level of accracy, excellent fit, and clever engineering. Add to that the large number of optional parts included in one box along with color photo etch and canopy/wheels masks all for a very reasonable price and you really can't go wrong. Eduard has extended their Spitfire family with this new Dual Combo kit, adding a low-back variant to the mix. Let's have a look! The Spitfire XVI is essentially the same as the IXe except powered by a Packard-built Merlin engine (266) instead of the standard 66. The low-back, obviously, has a cut down fuselage and bubble canopy but is otherwise the same as the high-back. As with all of Eduard's Dual Combo kits, enough parts are provided to build two complete models. There's a lot in this box, but we'll start with something familiar: the standard Eduard Profipack A4-sized instruction booklet this time with 33 pages thanks to separate assembly guides for the low-back and high-back variants. Also included are 8 beautiful color profiles, 5 for the low-back and 3 for the high-back. Moving on to the plastic, there's a ton of it! Two fuselage sprues, three wing sprues, and two each of the common sprues from the IX/VIII kits all in grey plastic. Look at all of this! Between the two kits there are over 400 parts. For this review we'll focus mainly on the new parts , as the rest of the kit is essentially the IXe kit. First up we have the all new sprue for the cut back fuselage. Detail is as we have come to expect from Eduard and the new fuselage looks great. Also new to this sprue are 3-spoke wheels and other small parts exclusive to the new fuselage. Eduard has also added a new cockpit rear bulkhead option with the headrest armor molded in place. Next up we have the new wing sprue for post-war planes with a bulged upper wing. Detail inside the wheel well is up to snuff, too, including fine rivets surrounding the bulge. The last of the new plastic for this kit is the new clear sprue for the low-back variant. Aside from the beautiful new bubble top canopy, there are other small new parts for the late version gun sight, etc. Looking through the remainder of the plastic sprues, we find the standard fuselage and wing sprues from the IXe kit. Two of the non-bulged wing sprues are provided. Two of each of the sprues common to the IX/VIII/XVI are provided containing all of the remaining parts. A new piece with the headrest armor molded in place is also provided for the high-back variant. Again the familiar IX/VIII clear sprue for the high-back variant: A large sheet of paint masks is provided encompassing both versions. We also get a new fret of PE for the bubbletop, the main difference being the late style seat harness. The large decal sheet is quite impressive and printed by Cartograf so you know the quality is top notch. All decals are in perfect register and wonderfully thin. Two sheets of stencils are provided: the familar IX stencil sheet from previous kits and a new sheet for the bubble top. These aren't Cartograf-printed, but Eduard's own decals are excellent. Markings are provided for EIGHT different subjects, complete with the beautiful color profiles we've come to expect: Conclusion: In this Dual Combo we get the first bubbletop Spitfire in Eduard's growning family of variants. This new release equals the high standards of the previous Mk.IX/VIII kits and should be just as much of a joy to build. Personally I've just recently completed the Mk.VIII and will be starting my bubbletop Mk.XVI as soon as I finish writing this review! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Jason Brewer Thanks to Eduard for the review sample
  3. Hey guys! Here's the latest one off the bench - Eduard's recent Spitfire VIII. This was my first time building one of Eduard's lovely Spitfires and now I see what all of the fuss was about! I'll certainly be building more in the future. Thanks for looking! - Brassin cockpit - Brassin wheels - Ultracast 1-pc cowl - Ultracast exhaust - Ultracast spinner/prop - Quickboost cockpit door - Master gun barrels - BarracudaCals decals
  4. Nice work! I applaud you for braving the Eduard kit instead of building a Hasegawa
  5. I look forward to seeing that one! The Fine Molds kit is great, but it's 1/48 :P
  6. Awesome work, Jeroen! Makes me want to pull out my Fine Molds MXY-7 Ohka
  7. Oh boy, excellent work Ralph! Can't wait to see more!
  8. Outstanding work, Ralph! I always love seeing your Luftwaffe subjects in particular.
  9. Pretty cool! Now if we could just get some late 209 variants in 1/48...
  10. Excellent work! Always like that orange scheme but haven't been able to bring myself to do it - looks fantastic!
  11. That's high praise, Torben! I use the Rivet-R Mini from RB Productions to make the rivet pattern, then go back and deepen each rivet with a needle point and then sand flush the ridges left behind by the work.
×
×
  • Create New...