Home  |  What's New  |  Features  |  Gallery  |  Reviews  |  Reference  |  Forum  |

Grumman FM-1

Cockpit and External Detail Set

Eduard BRASSIN 1/72 scale

S u m m a r y
Catalogue Number, Scale, Description and Price:

Eduard Item No. 73774 - Grumman FM-1 Cockpit and External Detail Set

USD$22.95 plus shipping available online from Eduard's website

GBP £11.99 UK Price (GBP £9.99 Export Price) plus shipping available online from Hannants

and hobby retailers worldwide
Contents and Media: Colour and brass plated photo-etch; assembly instructions
Review Type: FirstLook
Advantages: Very nicely etched, with a mass of super-detailing flaps, engine and undercarriage parts and a great cockpit set printed in colour.
Disadvantages: None noted apart from the need to take care and time folding the flap assemblies.
Conclusion: This is a great flap and undercarriage detailing set with a full coloured cockpit set that is aimed at the Arma kit but should fit the Airfix one as well. Recommended to the super-detailer, or the modeller who would like his/her model to stand out from the crowd.

Reviewed by Graham Carter

F i r s t L o o k

 

Designed to fit the ARMA kit of the FM-1 ( the F4F-4)  but probably useful for the Airfix Wildcat kit ( which is also an F4F-4) but please check your kits to make sure they can fit.

This includes one of the pre-coloured sets that Eduard have become popular for and comes in the familiar clear sleeve with a card backing and a double sided A-4 set of instructions with suitable colour details.

This set is much larger than SS774 (q.v.) as it also provides a larger fret of dropped flaps, a wire loom for the engine and undercarriage doors and attachments as well as a coupe of external bibs and bobs. Some of these will require careful folding in two planes.

 

 

The cockpit parts are very nicely etched and the colours look suitably toned for a 1/72 model. They comprise some 27 parts covering all that one could want in the cockpit, instrument panels, levers, some cabling and nice set of seat belts. The instrument panel comes in three sections with rear piece containing some delicately printed dials over which one attaches the overlaying pieces with holes in the appropriate spots. A dab of PVA in each dial will give you a fine little panel.

 

 

The flaps will require a great deal of care in folding and assembly but will look spectacular when added to the model - you will need to remove some of the plastic and some components are tiny so remove from the fret with care, probably best in a plastic bag to avoid feeding the carpet monster. The operating chain mechanisms will be a great addition to the undercarriage bay as well. The ignition loom will add great deal of scale wiring to the engine front and can be bent to fit where needed. The exterior parts are mainly linkages for the control surfaces and are clearly superior to the moulded parts in the kits. 

 

 

This is a tour de force for anyone looking at super-detailing their Arma or Airfix kits  and comes highly recommend but probably best suited to the experienced modeller as some of the folding and fitting is quite complex.

Thanks to Eduard for the images and information

Barracuda Studio products are available online from their website

Text Copyright © 2022 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2022 by Brett Green
This Page Created on 10 October, 2022
Last updated 10 October, 2022

Back to HyperScale Main Page