DRdesign | Set Interiores - Aircraft interiors
Reviewed by Rato Marczak
dRdesign is a relatively new company and, as far as I know, the first Brazilian manufacturer of PE sets for plastic modeling. Alberto Resendes, the man behind the company, is doing a wonderful job in producing some of the best PE sets I´ve ever saw.
Besides a large line of PE sets for dioramas, ships, cars and military, dRdesign recently has started to offer sets for aircraft in the three most common scales. There´s no specific set as yet. Instead, the first products are intended for general use.
The first dRdesign item directed to large scale planes is the Aircraft Interiors set (no product number). It is a generic set for 1/32 aircrafts, containing seat belts, gunsights, pedals and throttles. Like all his sets, the fret comes in a clear CD type case, a neat idea that will keep your order safe against folding or crushing.
dRdesign aircraft interiors PE fret.
The throttles are also generic, and they can be ´sandwiched´ according to your need. Some of them look like pre-WWII items. You also get a pair of allied type gunsights and another pair of the Luftwaffe/Japanese type. I´m quite impressed with the quality of the etching: very crispy, no blurs, consistent thickness, and very thin fret attachment points. In addition, the metal used in all dRdesign products is a Cr-Ni stainless steel type, and so oxidation won´t be a problem. And you don´t have to bother about painting the buckles (like in brass sets)... Enlarged view of the seat belts and buckles... I know purists don´t like ´generic´ sets. But it is understandable in the case since this is the very first aircraft accessory produced by dRdesign, probably used to ´test´ the uneasy South American modeling market. Hopefully, dRdesign will expand the line for specific subjects. Having talked to the owner, I know this may happen in a near future. Meanwhile, no doubt this set will find its place in many almost-out-of-the-box projects. The quality of the etching is the high point of dRdesign products. The retail price for this set in Brazil is around 8,00 to 10,00 USD, and in my opinion the seat belts/buckles alone are worth the price. dRdesign doesn´t have a website, but they can be reached by e-mail. Recommended. © Rato Marczak 2004 This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016