Spitfire Mk.VIII Cockpit
for Eduard kit

Eduard BRASSIN, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

Eduard's 1/48 BRASSIN Spitfire Vb Gun Bays are available online from Squadron.com

I built Eduard’s 1/48 Spitfire Mk.IXc back in 2014 and was impressed with the detail and fit of the cockpit parts.  I’d chosen a Weekend Edition release that didn’t have the photo-etched details of other boxings, but the plastic cockpit was very well done and outshone several resin Spitfire cockpits I’d purchased over the years.

As good as this detail was, however, it paled beside the mixed media Brassin cockpit that Brett used in his Eduard Mk.IX build. Painted and assembled it looked stunning, and I was immediately keen to use one in a future Spitfire build. 

Eduard’s 1/48 Brassin Mk.VIII cockpit is every bit as impressive as its Mk.IX stablemate.  Comprising 30 resin parts supplemented by a fret of pre-painted photo-etched brass and a sheet of acetate film for the gunsight lens, the cockpit is – as Brett described the Mk.IX set – “a remarkable little model in its own right”.

The resin parts are well cast with no air bubbles, warpage or other flaws.  Larger parts such as the sidewalls and cockpit floor are on substantial casting blocks, but these have been engineered with cutouts in the waste resin to simplify cleanup.  There is a little flash on some parts, but nothing that will take more than a couple of minutes to clean up.

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Thumbnail panels:

Detail is superb throughout, and closely matches my reference photos.  Eduard makes good use of the different properties of resin and photo-etched brass, using each of the media where they will be most effective.  For example, cabling in the sidewalls and floor is represented by resin rather than photo-etch, which often appears too flat when used for this purpose.  Conversely, folded photo-etch is used to convincingly depict the throttle levers.

One area where modellers are given a choice is with the instrument panel, which is supplied in both resin and pre-painted etch.  The latter delivers finer detail, I think, but I’ve also achieved good results with resin panels.

Brett’s build of the Mk.IX cockpit proved the set to be almost viceless in terms of construction, and I expect this set to be the same.  Eduard has done a good job with the instructions, which are printed clearly on two doubled sided A4 sheets, but you will still need to study and follow these closely throughout your build.  Colour callouts are provided in Gunze Aqueous and Mr Color paint numbers.

I look forward to installing this cockpit in one of my “Aussie Eight” Spitfires.  It appears to be very well engineered and produced, and will give the model a cockpit that’s a notch above what can be achieved from the kit’s already good plastic parts. 

Highly Recommended.

References

Robert Humphreys, The Supermarine Spitfire – A Comprehensive Guide for the Modeller.  Part 1:  Merlin Powered (SAM Publications, 2000)

Thanks to Eduard for the samples and images.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2017 by Brad Fallen
Except Blue Background CAD Images by Eduard
Page Created 19 July, 2017
Last updated 19 July, 2017

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