Content is identical for all their product of this range, you have inside instrument panel and seat belts. Instrument panel is mold with printed color and printed instruments on it. Instruments have even glossy surface so illumination of the instruments give real authentic look. Seat belts are, as I can see, steel series, so easy to bent into any shape. Depending from kit they are dedicated, Look can also have side consoles.

[See image gallery at www.letletlet-warplanes.com] Work is more then easy, even beginers can use it- instrument panel just cut from base and fix into place they have to be. Similar with belts, cut, merge with other parts of etched set if need, put on place. Very good thing is that etched set is fixed to cardboard so you have there good base for cutting. And it some ten minutes of work, it give excellent transformation of the cockpit of your model. Here is presented how to work with Grumman Hellcat cockpit.

Excellent product! There is so many products in this range so follow this link to see em all and my thanks goes to Eduard for sample products!

Srećko Bradić

The parts fits very well and their use is relatively easy, except for the very tiny ones that will ask for some skill… But result will be stunning!

The instruction sheet depicts on an easily understandable way which parts of the kit have to be replaced/removed; how to bent some photoetch parts, etc.

As you can see on the photos, the result is very nice. Highly recommended! You can find product here as well here!

Special thanks to Eduard for sample product!

Daniel Clamot

The kit stock number is 7056 and it is a very simple but detailed kit. Main kit parts are provided on four plastic frets (one of those transparent), there is also sheet of etched parts (with painted elements) and protective masks. Decals are perfectly printed and include markings for Korea, Soviet Union, Cuba, Egypt and East Germany, a very good selection from the very start. Surface details on the kit are very precise and assembly instructions are very good as usual.

Most interesting to note is that before this kit became available, Eduard had released detail sets for this kit, so this review will include most of them. To use them all in build you need some precision planning. So here is my way to do…

Air Brakes

Brassin set for air brakes 672 020 includes four resin parts and eight etched parts. If you decide to use it, you must include them first in the build, before fuselage halves are joined together. Note that inside fuselage are air brake indentations the shape of the brakes bay, so you have to open these. Very simple way is to take engraving needle and to scribe inside corners of the bay until you open it. This will result in a very sharp hole. The brake bay is made from two etched parts, one creates a wall and this is made by one part which is bent to shape and bottom cover. I will advise to do this section just until you create bay fixed inside. No need to assemble the air brakes, better to leave them for the final steps of assembly, extended brakes could make trouble during work on kit and can be damaged.

Cockpit

Cockpit Brassin set 672 024 includes ten resin parts and small etched sheet with painted elements and it is greatly detailed. Assembly goes fast and the parts are very precisely shaped. Part I must specially point is the R5 and R6, you must take attention when sanding extra resin and shape it to a good match because from their assembly depends later fuselage assembly. So make a few dry runs with the fuselage before assembly. The cockpit set build-up needs to be completed before fuselage assembly. Please note that on the resin part R5 are two pipes. They are precisely molded but very tiny and fragile. It is not a problem to clean up resin base under them but for less experienced this could be a problem so you can replace them with thin wire. I have painted all parts while they are still on their bases; it is far easier to paint details and then assembly them all. During the work I wanted to test whether the original etched instrument board could be used in conjunction with the resin cockpit parts and I find it is not possible. The reason is simply that the etched instrument board and resin panel does not match in shape. So I continued regular work and used the resin board and I have applied instrument decals from the kit decals sheet. Setting all cockpit elements in place goes so easy, Eduard did perfect work there. Please put the weight in the front section of the cockpit. One detail I will also point is to the etched parts PE6 and 7, instructions suggest to put them inside the cockpit wall when the cockpit is completely assembled but I think it is far more easy to put them inside before assembly.

Kit  Assembly

When the brakes and cockpit are completed, you can continue with the fuselage/kit assembly.  Assembly is easy and this is thanks to the absolute precision of the parts. First thing needed to do is the dry run of all interior resin sections, to see how they are set in closed fuselage and after that fix the vertical rudder in place. Then continue on with fuselage halves assembly. During assembly please note that there are two pins in the front bottom fuselage hole and resin cockpit must set on these two pins (they hold it in proper position). Also take attention that front edges of the cockpit section must be aligned with edges of the fuselage!! After that you have to close bottom of the nose with the plastic part C1. Originally designed to match with plastic parts, this pin have no any role in the assembly with the Brassin cockpit.  When you close all of this the rest of the cockpit assembly can be completed, resin and etched parts which are placed behind the pilot head.  There are some issues- when you complete rear resin and etched parts you have arranged the cockpit to be finished with a closed canopy. So you need some changes in steps if you want open canopy.

Regarding to the main instruction assembly, next to go is the wing assembly but in our case next to go is…

Flaps!

Under the number 72 574 is Eduard product MiG-15 landing flaps. No matter that they look a bit tricky; they are in fact easy to use. All parts are placed in one small sheet and they are not painted. But first of all you need to cut bottom flaps line on the wings and do some surface sanding inside wing top surface. Then cement wing halves. Cut off inner structures of the wing, bend the PE flap wells and place in the slot. Take a note that ribs are tiny so you need extra care went bending and cementing in place (use small amount of cement). In the continuation of the flaps work, you should arrange flaps but I recommend leaving fixing to the wings for later, in final assembly before painting.

Exterior Set

The exterior set is very interesting as well as it combines parts which are of use for the same kit but also various accessories.  This set has stock number 72 575 and use is very simple! The right moment to start using it is when you fix the wings and tail on the kit. Landing gear are on the highlight there and I have replaced actuators on the front doors, added structure and wirings in the main landing door bay, replaced main doors with etched ones and the result is great. Most important is that work goes fast and there is not observed any problems with parts positioning. Alongside with application of the etched parts, I have cemented landing gear parts as well as small details like cannons and probes on wings.

Before painting

As you note, I have skipped some steps during the work and let them for the late assembly stage. What is next to do is the kit painting but before some thing have to be completed and arranged. I must note that in this stage of work the kit spent most of the time in upside down position. The reason is very simple- I did not cement wheels as it would be a problem later to paint them and because the landing gear doors made of etched parts are sensitive and it is important to avoid contact with surface. So, very first thing to I did was to cement the gun sight in the cockpit and then placed the mask on the windshield and sliding canopy. After that I continued with flaps, they are similar construction as the flaps interior but have also additional hinges which are cemented and bent to appropriate angle and then cemented at the bottom. There must be care taken as it demands very tight handling to cement flaps on its tiny points. And after that kit is ready for painting.

Painting

All sample machines provided in the kit are natural metal and from the very start I decided to build the machine flown by Yevgeny Pepelyaev. He was a great ace from Korea and this kit build comes one year after this pilot has died. Specific to his airplane (as well as some others) is that the nose was painted in red. There are two options of painting, in first version red surface was tight to the nose numbers and after battle damage repair the red area was a bit away from the nose numbers. I also made some panels variation and also painted walk way area on the wing roots in black. After paint was dry, I applied a coat of gloss varnish and set the decals on. Since it had no stencils, placing of decals passed very fast.

Final

And for the very last work I spent more time with external elements then on the same kit. This kit required very little work, I placed wheels on the kit, sprayed flat varnish, removed mask from the cockpit, put radio wire and it was completed! During the work on the red areas on the kit I painted remaining external elements in red. That was ladders, covers for the air intake and exhaust, working platform and wheel guards. To regret I am not sure about the use of red, so beware about this. This could be also other colors too. The platform has excellent imitation of the wood surface and I have first applied black paint and then dry brush of cream and brown acryl color and got very good effect of the dirty wood. When completed I simply placed all of these elements on the airplane kit.

Kit benefits

If you get this kit you will not get rich, Eduard will get rich and you will for sure experience great pleasure when discovering how this kit is simply designed but very detailed and easy to build! I have built kits of others manufacturers before but definitely they could not compare with this Eduard kit. I give top recommendation to this kit as well all available products!!! You can find them all on the links below:

MiG-15bis | Landing flaps | Rocket pod | Brassin cockpit | OFAB-100 | Airbrakes | Ejection seat | Wheels

Big thanks to Eduard for the sample products!

Srecko Bradic

BRL72015 is the name of the product we talk about and it includes one etched sheet with five different types of the structural ribs. You can use them in various ways, as external elements to imitate overlapping panels, for interior structure, reinforcing structure, access door panel structure and so on.

As I say, there are five various types of ribs and you have on the etched sheet six of each of them. Some of them have etched bolts on them and some not. There is various width included so you can with ease adopt them to your project. Images show use of them on the F4U Corsair but this is just a sample, their options to use are very wide.

This is an excellent product and definitely ‘must have it’. The sample product is kindly provided by Brengun and you may find your sample here.

Srecko Bradic

For this project I also used Albion Alloys tools and materials.

To my regret I have no original AZ Model kit so I will focus this review on analyzing the Brengun parts and matching with the extract from archive images. First to note that the etched set comes in a small transparent plastic bag and inside is another plastic bag as well as a small transparent sheet with instrument panel and windshield. This product has stock name BRL72026. Etched parts are made on nickel steel and this is excellent since the interior of the P-26 is also in natural metal/silver color so you need no painting there, just few small elements.

First thing you need to do is sanding of the floor part and fuselage inside framing. After that you can continue with basic elements which wide cover parts inside. I have to say that etched parts are very smartly designed and it is most obvious with front wall section, based on part 10 where the bottom needs to be bent and with parts 7 make a small box, the same as on the real airplane. This is where the rudder controls are then placed. I have just two remarks regarding to this section- I think you should avoid use of original kit part 11 as base for main instrument board but to place etched part with foil direct on the part 10. Second- lower instrument panel is mounted inside box at bottom, not on the bottom edge of the main instrument board.

Another note should be directed to the etched part no. 41, this is windshield framing. If you take a look at the images you will see that there is only a bottom frame with very thin frame line at the front. From my point of view it is far better to use only transparent windshield from foil and skip this etched part. More details you can see on the images from the gallery:

1. Frame of the windshield show just bottom large framing, not connector at the edge of transparent plates.
2. Open the side door and some interior is visible, the etched part matches this perfectly
3. Gas control on the left side of the cockpit interior is more or less well represented by the Brengun etched parts.
4. Lower instrument board, clearly seen positioned far behind main instrument board. Best way is to place it on the rod used for rudder pedals.
5. Right mid section of the cockpit, visible bag as well some of the cables.
6. Pedal, note it is of dark color, possibly black and it need to be bent, take care when working with etched parts no. 9.
7. This image give obvious details of the windshield where is seen just a thin line on the front of glass plates. Note that there is a gap between plates. Clearly visible at the rear is the metal plate.
8. Open cockpit door and details on the cockpit inside.
9. Note this variation of the seat.
10. This close up give good details of the leather cover of the top of the cockpit door as well pilots head rest.
11. Etched set is also possible to be used for the other versions of the P-26, note external details.
12. Close up of the engine, etched set provides part no.40 for easy wiring of the engine.
13. Wheel without cover.
14. Cover with three bolts on it.
15. Wheel of different type, not cover in kit or etched set.

No matter of some little issues, this is an excellent set and I highly recommend it. Since it covers much of the interior sections, my personal opinion is that it could be used on other kits in 1/72 scale without problem. You can find and purchase this product here!

Great thanks to Brengun for the sample product.

Srecko Bradic

The product we are talking about is the Hauler etched brass set, stock item HLU35068 and it includes on a small fret with 12 lines of excellent detailed chains in 1/35 scale. And I will present you this as… stitching line! Yes, you read well. My builds are all aviation related so I will watch this product as an aviation related product. And the reason is simple- this looks as an excellent imitation of the stitching lines on the fabric covered surfaces on airplanes. Here you are the gallery and see these details…

There are many kits which represent fabric covered airplanes but not all are so well detailed. One of the missing details is the fabric details over the ribs, where the fabric is fixed to the internal frame. And Hauler did have solution with this product. Size of this brass parts suggest that the best use would be with 1/48 scale.

I am not sure that friends from Brengun/Hauler will be happy with my approach to this subject but I will highly recommend you this stitching chain brass set! You may have yours here!

Big thanks to Brengun/Hauler for the sample product!

Srecko Bradic

The first set is coded #48735 and is dedicated to the kit exterior details. Parts are in bare metal and include details for the engine, landing gear, torpedo, cockpit canopy framing, elements on the wing surfaces as well as landing gear bay and doors. Parts are simple but very useful. The second set is coded #48737 and this contains elements for detailing the flaps. Parts are again in bare metal and include the complete structure for the wing flaps.

The image gallery above provides close-up details which are a good guide to modelers on how to use the kits. More close-up images can also be seen here!

Srecko Bradic

Great thanks to Eduard for sample product

The easy set includes one sheet of etched metal with painted elements and includes an almost complete solution for the cockpit, only the seat is missing. This configuration gives the possibility to incorporate this set into any kit in this scale. I decided to use the Hasegawa kit for this review. There is not much difference in the basic preparation of the plastic kit parts. In the Italeri kit you will need to remove the molded-in detail on the cockpit sidewalls. On the Hasegawa kit you must remove the front bearing support for the cockpit floor and sand the sidewalls down a bit.

The construction of the Eduard parts goes fast and easy, and in just a few hours you can fully equip the cockpit with all elements from this set. Some parts need to be painted, including the rudder control pedals, trim control chains on the sidewall, and the gunsight mount. Your option as to when to paint these–some can be done before installation and some can be painted after installing. The foot pedals should be painted RLM 66 and then the straps installed. These can then be painted leather color. The whole interior is in RLM 66 and the shade is more or less a good match.

The big set includes the basic set described above but also another sheet of metal parts for the external details of the kit. With this set you can build the kit with outstanding detail. This set requires more time, and, of course, experience! You can find this versatile products here and here but also can see our Bf 109 Group Build!

Srecko Bradic

Sample product is provided by Eduard

This class had 10 ships in total: Essex (CV-9), Yorktown (CV-10, name changed from Bon Homme Richard in September 1942), Intrepid (CV-11), Hornet (CV-12, name changed from Kearsarge in January 1943), Franklin (CV-13), Lexington (CV-16, name changed from Cabot in June 1942), Bunker Hill (CV-17), Wasp (CV-18, name changed from Oriskany in November 1942), Bennington (CV-20) and Bon Homme Richard (CV-31). Today, four ships have been preserved:

Yorktown (Patriot’s Point, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina)
Intrepid (New York City)
Hornet (Alameda, California)
Lexington (Corpus Christi, Texas)

The specific features of this set are that it is made from etched brass and the top is painted. Detailing is excellent and the set is easy to use; all you need to do is to cut it from the framing. You can display it in many ways: as in your display case; fix it on a piece of cardboard, wood, plastic or anything you like. It is excellent base for a diorama, or just as a base stand for your aeroplane model. This product is available here!

Srecko Bradic

Sample product is provided by Eduard

These two sets offer two ways to detail the kit; one is a simple basic upgrade and the other is a more thorough upgrade resulting in an overall redesign of the kit’s appearance. The first set is a self-adhesive set (stock code SS427). It contains all basic elements for the cockpit interior with most parts being already painted. The first step with the basic kit is to remove detailing from the fuselage interior walls, and then the etched parts (there are just a few) need to be painted. The assembling itself can be completed quickly; not many of the original parts are used, being replaced by Eduard parts, including even the pilot’s seat (the new etched seat looks amazing as completed!). The whole deal can be carried out in a few hours, so this set is recommended even for beginners, and can be purchased from here!

But if you wish to do even a better model, then you should grab the other set. It contains the basic set as above, and an additional set with exterior parts. The stock code for this is 73 427. It has replacement parts for many of the original ones, plus some entirely new parts like radiator surfaces, control connectors and landing gear elements. The most significant of these is the landing gear assembly plus a new flaps set. You need to cut out the original flaps and some wing material to provide space for the new flap assembly. You need to be very careful while doing this, and thus this set is not suitable for model makers with little experience.  But when you have completed this upgrade the resulting kit is more than great! This one is definitely recommended for experienced modellers! You can yours here!

Both of these sets are highly recommended!

Srecko Bradic

Thanks to Eduard for sample products