Eduard 1/32 F-100D Super Sabre Placards

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Eduard from the Czech Republic is easily the most prolific producer of aftermarket details. Period. Their series of photo-etched detail sets have brought additional fidelity to otherwise bland subjects, and have taken even the best-produced models and kicked them up a notch or two with details that cannot be produced with injection-molded plastic.

When Eduard first introduced the acetate-printed instrument faces that go behind their photo-etched instrument panels, this raised the bar on model cockpit reality as you could almostread the time on the aircraft clock. How could they top that?

It took a number of years, but the answer is color photo-etch. Somehow Eduard has developed a process for printing color directly on their photo-etched parts such that now you not only can read the instrument faces, you can now see the color warning arcs around airspeed indicators and color reference circles around Luftwaffe flight and engine instruments. They didn't stop there...

One of the other challenges working with small photo-etched parts was getting them placed using cyano without excess glue spewing out from one (or more) edges. Eduard tackled this problem as well by introducing their self-adhesive line. Now these parts are a simple 'drop-in fit' for installation.

Eduard has turned out seven detail sets for the TrumpeterF-100D Super Sabre:

• 32181 F-100D Exterior Detail Set
• 32184 F-100D Weapons Bay Detail Set
• 32185 F-100D Wheel Wells and Undercarriage Detail Set
• 32186 F-100D Slats
• 32599 F-100D Placards
• 32607 F-100D Interior Detail Set
• 32612 F-100D Ejection Seat Detail Set

Here is one of the most important sets produced for the Trumpeter kit. These replicate the numerous placards that are found all over the aircraft. These are not only color-printed, they're also self-adhesive, so you can simply drop these into place when you're finishing up the model.

This set provides placards for the ejection seat, wheel wells, guns and gun bays, rocket pots, gear struts, weapons pylons, and even along the inside of the canopy frame. Talk about eye-popping details, I am a big fan of these new sets from Eduard!

You should be able to find this detail set at your local hobby retailer or one of the many online hobby shops. Trust me, thisis worth looking for!

Recommended for experienced modelers!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!