Eduard P-38J Lightning Over Europe 1:48

Price around €56.25
Review by Julian Seddon (Jul 2012)

Something to get you in the mood!

This is the second Eduard Limited edition aircraft kit that I have reviewed, the first being the English Electric Lightning. The Lightning theme continues, this time with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning of WW2 fame.
For their base kit they are using the P-38J kit from Academy and adding, as they did to the E.E. Lightning, their Brassin range of updates.

Initial assessment

It arrives in a big box for a 1:48 scale model
As the sprues are (to my eye anyway) almost identical to the Academy kit, I am showing most, but not the duplicated, sprues. These are well moulded with very little flash and plenty of panel and hatch details.

Instructions

These are clear and well art directed they are available for download here off the Eduard site.

Eduard additions to basic kit

The kit still appears to have the alternative noses for different gun configurations. In the past there have been comments on the fit of the nose. Eduard’s added value to this kit is the addition of their Brassin parts for the cockpit, wheels, superchargers, pre-painted cockpit brass and an etched sheet containing bomb tails, hydraulic wheel pipes and internal details for the wheel bays etc. I will deal with these in more detail:

1. Wheels

As it is plain to see the wheels are of a much higher quality than the kit supplied parts and are even detailed enough to show partially disassembled in a diorama. These should work well with the nicely detailed undercarriage legs from the kit and a bit of piping from the Eduard etch.

2. Superchargers and intakes

These are more meticulously made versions of the kit parts shown on the sprues. They are a great improvement.

Read on…