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| I got this kit from a local store of mine, spotted it in the window, was the last one left, cost me �8.50, not bad for 1/48th scale kit!!! I'm not going to give a brief history on the aircraft, thought I would just get straight to the proper preview: |
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| Just from opening the box, it looks very nice, its very crisp, no flash or sink holes. There are four main sprues, one for the wings, one for the fuselage and assorted bits, one for the external stores and lastly one for the clear canopy. |
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| Firstly I would like to apologise for the terrible photos, not a very good camera I'm afraid, or photographer for that matter!!! The wings and fuselage undersides look really nice, all details are recessed, the only problem is the lack of moveable surfaces, ie. the flaps. The top side of the wings are nice too, again recessed detail but no moveable surfaces. The undercarriage bay doors look a litle thick, and need a bit of work to get them to a decent scale, though the need to file inside to get rid of nasty plastic circles means you'll finish to jobs in one go. |
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| The quality of Italeri's mold really comes to light on this sprue, lovely crisp lines on all parts, quite a bit of detail on the undercarriage too, though a few wires to simulate hidraulic lines might go a long way in improving the look. The wheels themselves are in two parts with good hub detail. The seats are nice with the seat belts molded on, so a nice paint job required. The cockpit is infact the area that will need the most attention, all the controls are on the decal sheet, so those who like to have raised detail in the cockpit will need to scratch build quite a bit before you get to the dry-brushing stage! Some of the external stores are on this sprue too, I'm not too sure about these, they look nice enough, but not sure if they are the proper thing, bit of research needed for those who like to be realistic to the last! |
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| Here as you can see are the rest of the external stores, the airbrake bay, back of the cockpit bits and of course the clear cockpit and lights. The quality is consistent but I think the cockpit canopy is gorgeous! Shame I'm not very good at painting them! |
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| Last but not least, the decal sheet. Pretty standard this, gives you all the cockpit controls, not for me I'm afraid, at 1/48th scale I reckon there should be raised details. There are markings for the three parner nations: Germany, Italy and Britain. They all look nice too, but I must confess I don't know what squadrons they pertain to, so I'll need to get on with my research before the review! |