IPMS/USA Reviews

Introduction

Much has been published on the Tamiya 1/48th scale F-14A Tomcat already.  Finally an F-14A kit that is fun to build, with outstanding detail, fit and engineering.  By itself, out of the box, the kit build will result in an amazing model.  However................many of us cannot leave well enough alone and need to add some aftermarket accessories.  Eduard offers aftermarket accessories that are hard to resist no matter the quality of the base kit.  With the Tamiya F-14A they have done it again.

Personally I prefer to add add photo etch and some resin aftermarket items to many of my builds. When I aquired my Tamiya Tomcat I began to purchase several aftermarket items.  When the opportunity arose to volunteer to review the Eduard Big Ed set of photo etch, canopy mask and seat belts I could not resist.

This is the photoetch fret for Eduard's 1/48 SE.5a. It is listed for the Wolseley Viper Version of the kit, but can also be used for the Hispano-Suiza Version of the SE.5a. This is the same photoetch fret included with Eduard's Wolseley Viper, and with the Royal Class edition as R0015-LEPT 1. It can also be purchased separately from either kit. The photoetch fret is not required for completion of the kits, but adds more accurate scale detail than the kit parts.

The steel fret is about 2-3/4 x 2-1/4 inches and includes photoetch pieces for the seatbelts, instrument panel and gauges, machine gun magazine upgrades, several different cockpit levers, brackets for the exhaust pipes, cables and stanchions for the control surfaces, bomb rack, and frames for the wing pulley observation panels.

The seatbelts have nice detail, but the color is a little too red for the leather portion of the belt. Likewise, the colored instrument panel does not accurately represent the wood color of the aircraft. I painted both before assembly. The instrument panel and gauges offer a nice alternative to the plastic panel and decal gauges issued with the kit.

The one thing that is a visual interest in a cockpit are the seatbelts and shoulder harnesses. Regardless of what type of aircraft the first thing you see when you look inside the cockpit are the seatbelts.

Eduard has been trying to perfect the use of photo etch seatbelts from the very beginning. Their latest efforts are really nice. This fret includes enough seatbelts for FOUR single engine Luftwaffe aircraft. The STEEL seatbelts are very thin and bendable. The fret is .002 thick and realistically pre-painted. The paint is shaded and looks very realistic. I was able to bend them without the paint coming off which can sometimes be an issue with thicker belts.

If there is a downside, it is that the belts are only painted on one side, but depending on how you bend them they won't be an issue.

The fret is a bargain with enough parts to do four aircraft. If you are going to buy one thing to add to your model, be it a Bf-109 or FW-190, then this would be that set. Another winner from Eduard.

Highly recommended

PJ Productions from Belgium makes great aftermarket and figures in resin for aircraft modelers in all scales. This set is a resin Mirage Pilot wearing of the 1960's wearing the white suit named "habit de lumiere" and the Garneau helmet T312 or the high-altitude helmet EFA T12. The figure is designed to fit either the Mirage IIIC or early IIIE in 1/32^nd scale.

The kit consists five cream colored resin parts- left and right arms, the body with legs and two head options. One is fully helmeted and the second is without so you have an option. The casting is good with only a few seams and no bubbles. I cut the arms off the casting blocks and used the back side of a #11 blade to get the seams removed followed by a light sanding. The same was done with the body and I chose the ETA helmet and head which just needed removing from the casting block. I added the arms and then smoothed the seams. I kept the head separate for ease of painting. Lastly, I primed the entire kit with Alclad gray primer and let it sit and dry.

Some things are just better in a scale thickness. Eduard has always provided some of the world leading photoetch. The Eduard 109s are some of the best kits out there of this iconic aircraft, but like other manufacturers, they are limited what they can do in plastic.

This fret of photo etch is designed to allow you to do a variety of options to improve your kit. The big things on the fret are the flaps and landing gear doors. Also included on the fret are the oil cooler exhaust, radio compartment, and lots of parts for the landing gear. Both the flaps and the landing gear doors are a very scaled thickness. The flaps will allow you to position your flaps in any position you so desire.

The radio compartment is a very nice addition if you want to open up the panel. It is interesting that this panel is slightly different than the one in the Brassin Radio Compartment set. This particular one has the area for the first aid kit. Which isn't on the Brassin set.

I wanted to use the flaps but I bent one of mine beyond recognition while building it. This was not a pr