Eduard 1/48 MiG-23BN Wheel Set First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

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. Many AMS modelers will collect the relevant Eduard photo-etch sets for a given project, but they'll also go out and gather specific resin enhancements as well. Eduard has stepped up with a new product line to complement their photo-etched detail series - Brassin. Brassin is a play on words with Brass and Resin, and in many sets in this series, the resin details also include a set of color photo-etch as well.

In this release, Eduard has produced a nice replacement wheel set for the recent Trumpeter 1/48 MiG-23BN Flogger H kit. This set provides each main gear tire and inner hub as a single piece so you don't have seam lines nor odd shapes to deal with and the tires are the 'balloon' type which are used for operations from unprepared forward operating bases. The main wheels have your choice of outer hub patterns provided as inserts which can be painted separately making the job of painting easier. A set of yellow-tape paint masks are also provided to make painting of the inner wheel hub and nosegear wheels just as easy. The set also includes the nose gear spray guard and a set of replacement doors for the main gear all cast in gray resin. A fret of photo-etched parts provide main gear strut guards and brake line details.

This is a nice enhancement for the Trumpeter kit and enhance the appearance of the landing gear which is already unique in design compared to others in the MiG family..

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!