A6M3 Type 22
Landing Flaps

for the Eduard 1/48 scale kits

Eduard PRINT, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

Eduard has released a plethora of accessories for its own 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M family since launching the series in 2021 - Brett’s roundup of A6M2 Type 21 accessories from last year is just a taste of what has come out so far. This Brassin landing flap set adds to the range, and is designed to be used with Eduard’s most recent A6M kit, the A6M3 Type 22, which was released earlier this year.

I haven’t looked at a new release Brassin set for several years, and Eduard’s use of technology has certainly moved on in this time. Landing flaps were probably my least favourite aircraft part to attempt to represent with photo-etched brass, involving lots of origami-like folding for a fragile and (from my handiwork at least) unconvincing result. These Brassin A6M flaps, while definitely fragile, do away with the tedious folding and, with careful assembly and painting, promise to look very good indeed.

Eduard has designed its A6M kit wings to enable the aftermarket flaps to be fitted with minimal surgery. The kit flaps, moulded in a neutral position on the single-piece lower wing, need to be cut away but taken slowly this should be a simple task. With the plastic flaps removed and the wings assembled to the fuselage, the kit is ready to receive the aftermarket flaps.

The flaps are made up from a combination of photo-etched brass and printed resin parts - just six of each. A large flat photo-etched part makes up the upper half of each structure - these nestle into the overhanging upper wing and their ends fold up to close off the cavities that would otherwise appear where the flap buts up to the aileron and wing root. This is the only folding that is required in the entire installation process.

The strengthening ribs that are attached to this upper photo-etched part are printed resin. In old-school etched flaps, these would have been the metal parts that gave me the most conniptions. Here, while the resin parts are delicate (I accidentally broke one of the ribs getting the parts out of their packaging), with care they should be reasonably straightforward to install. Additional smaller metal and resin parts are then used to complete the detailing of the upper structures.

The lower flaps are single piece printed resin with extremely fine rivet and engraved detail on the outer surface, and convincingly deep rib detail on the inner surface. They are lovely examples of printed resin, and should be easy to clean up, paint and install.

The instructions are printed on a small double sided sheet. The style is typical Eduard: well-illustrated, easy to follow, and with colour call-outs for Gunze paint.

This set is a relatively straightforward upgrade for Eduard’s latest 1/48 A6M release, and is highly recommended.

Thanks to Eduard for the review samples

Text and Images Copyright © 2023 by Brad Fallen
Page Created 25 May, 2023
Last updated 25 May, 2023

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