Eduard 1/35 Su-76 Detail Set

By Ray Mehlberger

Review

I purchased this PE set about a year after I got my Alan kit. Although the packaging says that it is for the Zvezda/Dragon kit, I am 99% sure that the parts trees in that kit are one in the same as in the Alan kit. I know this because, when the Eduard PE set wants you to use a kit part with some of the PE parts, they use the exact parts numbers of the parts in the Alan kit. So it isthe same molds.

I also never heard that Zvezda and Dragon had ever cooperated together on any of their kits. I have never personally seen the Su-76 in a Zvezda/Dragon box. Not to say that it never existed. Maquette markets a Su-76 in 1/35th scale and I strongly suspect this is the Alan molds again.

This Eduard set comes in a small cello bag that is stapled to a title card. On the back of this card are 4 drawings with instructions on how to handle and prepare PE parts. There are two further cards in the envelope, along with the PE frets, to protect them from being pre-maturely bent. The instruction sheet in the cello completesthe contents.

Eduard is based in the Czech Republic. This set is dated 1995.

You get two brass PE frets in the set. They hold: fender braces, tie down loops, fender ends, pistol port flaps, a two-man saw with mounting bracket, fender locker hinges and hasps, driver’s periscope, air intake louvers and armored doors to cover them, intake screen, tool holding clamp, ammo bins etc. All parts are numbered on the frets. Etching is very good and some parts aredouble etched. (181 parts)

The instructions consist of a single 8 ½” x 11” sheet, printed on both sides. The face side begins with parts trees drawings, followed by a very busy exploded drawing for placing the external PE parts. The reverse side has 10 more exploded drawings for more external details and internal ones.

If you buy the Maquette kit, I recommend this set to bring it up out of the ordinary for sure. Highly recommended to modelers that have used some PE sets already.

I purchased my set from a vendor at one of the many IPMS contests that I have attended over the years. This set is currently out of production, but some mail order house my still have some old inventory or perhaps on e-Bay.