Eduard 1:48 Bv 141 detail sets, for Hobby Boss kit

[James H]

1:48 Bv 141 detail sets, for Hobby Boss kit

Eduard
Catalogue # see article for price and code
Available from Eduard

 

 

 

 

Last year, Hobby Boss released their 1:48 Blohm und Voss Bv 141 reconnaissance aircraft, and we reviewed it here. A few months have now passed, and if you’ve been patiently resisting building it, pending aftermarket sets, then your wait is finally over Eduard have released THREE new sets for this. When you consider the viewable interior through the greenhouse canopy, then a little help in maximising that detail will always be welcome, and most certainly the canopy mask set too!

 

• 49699, Bv 141 S.A, €22.45
• FE699, Bv 141 S.A. ‘Zoom’, €9.95
• EX443, Bv 141 masks, €12.75

 

Hobby Boss have made some great kits, and some maybe, er, not so great. One really good one that comes to mind is their Me 262, which is essentially a scaled down version of the Trumpeter release. They have also seen accolades for their A6-A Intruder. Recently, their performance with the Westland Whirlwind and De Havilland Hornet has seen much derision. When they announced the release of the Bv 141, there were certainly a reasonable amount of enthusiasm, and thankfully, I think they pulled off a pretty reasonable job with it. Maybe the control surfaces were a little too heavy, but that’s my only real criticism of what is otherwise a very nice kit.

 

Hobby Boss also made a very reasonable job of the cockpit/crew area, but as this is very much a focal area of this bizarre aircraft, it’s not surprising that Eduard have decided to use this as a focal point for their joint interior/exterior set that we’ll look at now.

 

Bv 141 S.A.

 

Firstly, the ‘S.A.’ suffix indicates that this set contains a self-adhesive PE fret, that is also printed in colour. There are actually TWO frets in this set, with the second being a larger, bare brass item. Of course, the PE fret contains parts which are exclusively for the cockpit area, such as a two-layer instrument panel which is an overlay of fascia onto plain instruments, and also a number of other panels and consoles; all printed in what looks like a reasonable interpretation of RLM66. Also on this sheet are various loose instruments for other areas within the glasshouse, as well as complete crew seatbelt sets and rudder pedals. Those belts are simple to use too, being produced as single part straps etc, with only the padded section to add to the lap belts.

 

 

The larger, bare brass sheet contains some very nice and interesting parts, such as completely new main gear doors which contain all of the internal detal that the plastic parts were devoid of, plus a wing walkway panel, main gear brake line cabling, and a number of internal parts too. These include ammunition containers (which will require careful folding and rolling), and faces for the ammo saddles too. There is also an optional shield which fits within the glass nose, but I don’t think I’d fit that myself.

 

 

 

Other parts on here include various handles and arms for posing the canopies in an open position.

Some surgery will be required to fit this set, such as a little grinding away of moulded detail, but that is essentially ‘it’.

 

 

Bv 141 S.A. ‘Zoom’

 

This set contains the same, identical colour fret of the abovementioned one, allowing the absolute basics to be addressed, whilst still adding some very nice detail to be installed, such as the instrument panels and seatbelts etc.

 

 

Bv 141 masks

 

If there was ever a set which was more worthwhile to buy than any other, then it’s THIS one! That large greenhouse canopy is studded with numerous windows of varying shapes and sizes. I know it would drive me stupid to try and mask this without this set. If it took me 4 hours to recently mask a 1:32 Mosquito canopy, I’d need two or three days for this session on the Bv 141.

Of course, this is quite a complicated set in terms of the sheer number of parts, but the instruction sheet makes it clearly obvious where they must all fit. You’ve still got a couple of hours work here though. Hub masks are also included for the wheels. A single sheet of kabuki mask material is included here, and the instruction sheet. Worth EVERY penny!

 

Conclusion
I’d been waiting for these sets to be released as I would quite like to build this one before too long. The Bv 141 has always been a favourite of mine, and I think Eduard did a great service to the very nice Hobby Boss kit. All I’d like to see now are resin replacements for the dodgy looking ailerons and elevators!

 

Highly recommended

 

My sincere thanks to Eduard for these review sets. To purchase directly, click the links in the article.

 

James H

 

 

 

[Dirty Harry]

Hi I currently am working on this kit in 1/48 scale  ! It is a great kit to add to your collection and an interesting aircraft .