Eduard 1/48
Lancaster Flap Detail Set

Eduard from the Czech Republic is easily the most prolific producer of aftermarket details. Period. Their series of photo-etched detail sets have brought additional fidelity to otherwise bland subjects, and have taken even the best-produced models and kicked them up a notch or two with details that cannot be produced with injection-molded plastic.

This set consists of two frets of photo-etched details to dress up the flaps and flap wells of any of the Tamiya 1/48 Avro Lancaster releases. While the kit is nicely detailed out of the box, the landing flaps were molded up as the job of capturing that detail in styrene would have been a challenge (look here to see what I mean).

The job begins with removing the flaps from the lower wing halves and discarding the flaps themselves as these will be replaced with photo-etch. You can see in the instructions that it looks like you cut out the upper wing area of the flap wells, but look closer - you merely trim and flatten this area to receive the photo-etch flap wells.

Something that will test your dexterity (and sanity) are the individual ribs that are placed in the etched-in tracks. This will take a little practice if you haven't done this before, but you can use a wire through the lightening holes to keep the rib in place and aligned as you cyano each rib into place.

This set will really look impressive on the Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster kit, whether you're building the standard B.I/III, Grand Spam or Dam Buster releases. This detail set is not for the beginning modeler. You will need to be able to remove the photo-etch parts from their frets (simple once you know how) and then be able to apply these details using cyano adhesives without gluing yourself to the kit parts. It isn't difficult, or else these sets wouldn't be so popular.

You should be able to find this detail set at your local hobby retailer or one of the many online hobby shops. Trust me, this is worth looking for!

Recommended for experienced modelers!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!