Eduard 1/48 TBD-1 Devastator Landing Flaps First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

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.

Many AMS modelers will collect the relevant Eduard photo-etch sets for a given project, and here is another must-have for the Great Wall Hobbies TBD-1 Devastator kit in 1/48th scale. This set replicates the fine rib detailing inside the flaps as well as up inside the flap well inside the trailing edge of the wing.

In the 'old days', you'd remove the ribs from the photo-etch fret and lay them individually into the etched-in recesses in each flap and flap well. With some of these projects it was easy to lose your will to live. To enhance your modeling experience, Eduard changed their intricate rib designs from individual small pieces to large subassemblies that require some simple (but somewhat intricate) origami. Look at the two flaps on the left side of that fret - each rib is carefully rotated 90 degrees before the flap frame is folded over the flap panel and each of those ribs automatically fall into the recessed rib wells etched into the surface and a touch of cyano makes the assembly permanent.

This set will provide nice detailing with the deployed flaps and open flap wells of that beautiful GWH TBD-1 kit. 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!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!