1/48 Eduard Spitfire Mk.XVI Brassin Upgrades

[Brewer]

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