Eduard 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Vb Landing Flaps 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.

This release tackles the flaps wells of the venerable Hasegawa 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Vb kit. This set start off by clearing out the flap and any surface detail inside the wells. This new design from Eduard eliminates the previous work required to assemble the flaps and flap wells. Instead of soldering or gluing each rib former into place, the ribs are already attached to their baseplates. Simply remove the assembly from the photo-etched fret, bend the ribs over and twist per the instructions, and fasten down the tips with either solder or cyano, whichever you prefer.

This new technique eliminates a great deal of anxiety and tedious work required by earlier flap and flap well sets. These new designs are a terrific bit of engineering to make modelers' lives much easier. Kudos to Eduard for developing this much-needed enhancement!

This set will really set off the Hasegawa Spitfire kit though this detail set is not for the beginning modeler. You will need to be able to remove the photo-etch parts from their frets (simple once you know how) and then be able to apply these details using cyano adhesives without gluing yourself to the kit parts. It isn't difficult, or else these sets wouldn't be so popular.

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

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!