Eduard | #BIG3316: J2M3 Raiden Big Ed Set
Reviewed by Nigel Frampton
With the approaching release of the ZM Raiden, I started thinking, what's available to upgrade my Hasegawa kit? I got the kit out of the stash and had a look through the Sprues. I now realise, I have never built a Hasegawa aircraft kit! AND I'm 50!
Anyway, I went over to the Hannants website to see what's available to detail my kit up and found this, the Eduard Big Ed set for less than £30. The part number is BIG3316.
The set contains two etch sets and one set of pre-cut masks. The PE covers the interior and exterior of the aircraft with most of the exterior parts going into the undercarriage bay.
I shall give a brief review of the sets as I feel they are well worth the money and add a great amount of detail where it's needed, rather unlike some other sets...
32 313: J2M3 Raiden Interior
I shall begin with the Exterior set, 32313. This set contains one fret of plated PE brass measuring 139mm x 89mm and containing no fewer than 110 parts, as mentioned earlier, going mainly into the undercarriage bays. The fret is etched on both sides so you get rivet detail on both sides of the panels.
This is a close up pic to show the detail on the lovely U/C doors and bay panelling.
There are 4 pages of instructions with the set. These are printed in A4 colour for this review.
Sheet 1. Here we can see the multitude of panels lining the U/C bay. These areas are plain and/or injector pin marked on the kit.
Sheet 2. Here we begin the intricate door assembly.
Sheet 3. More U/C door detail and intake grille. We also have ignition wiring for the engine, which is practically invisible on the Raiden.
Sheet 4. A piece for the fuselage side? And some tail wheel detail.
Overall, this set adds a lot of missing detail and those undercarriage doors will really enhance the model with their intricate detail and multi part assembly.
Thanks to Eduard and my wallet.
32 736: J2M3 Raiden Part 1
The Eduard Interior set for the Hasegawa J2M3 Raiden is part number 32736 and consists of two sheets of PE Brass, both plated and one self adhesive and Pre painted and one small sheet of clear acetate with the outlines for 6 parts printed on it.
Fret 1, pre-painted in great colour measures 70mm x 60mm and contains 55 parts. The accuracy of the green colour is up for debate, but it is very neatly done.
Note that seatbelts are included along with many panel fronts and control levers and handles. Here we can see the detail on the IP, beautifully done.
Fret 2 contains 76 parts and is plated, measuring 83mm x 70mm.
As can be seen, there are all sorts of brackets and trim for the cockpit. Of note are the parts which replace or add to the detail area behind the seat, very visible behind an open or closed canopy. In my opinion, one weak area of the kit is the triangular holed structure behind the pilots head, this set replaces all that with very realistic metalwork.
The instructions consist of 5 sheets, but I have only shown 4 A4 printed sheets here as the 5th page is just instructions on how to handle the self adhesive parts.
Sheet 1.
Sheet 2.
Sheet 3.
Sheet 4.
In my opinion this set is a must for the Hasegawa Raiden. The extra detail added, especially around the rear of the seat is just too good to resist. As already mentioned, the green on the IP may be inaccurate.
JX 137: Canopy Masks
The last part of the Big Ed set for this review is the Mask set, loved by some, loathed by others...
The set comprises one sheet of yellow masking tape measuring 90mm x 80mm and pre-cut with 21 masks.
As we can see the set has multi-part masks for the complex canopy and the armour plated glass behind the gunsight.
All in all this Big Ed set has got to be one of the biggest AM bargains out there. At under £30 you are getting a whole lot of extra detail for your model. I'm guessing that the Hasegawa and ZM kits will be very accurate, and therefore very similar, so this set could probably used to dress up your ZM kit as well.
© Nigel Frampton 2013
This review was published on Tuesday, October 08 2013; Last modified on Saturday, January 14 2017