Eagle Editions | EC96: Me 262s Part Two
Reviewed by Jay Laverty
As 32nd scale modellers we should all be well aware of Eagle Editions productions and the fact that Jerry and Judy Crandall consistently strive to bring us high quality products that have been thoroughly researched and will add realism as well as authenticity to our modelling projects.
With the release of the Trumpeter Me 262A-1a we all knew there would be several decals sheets produced for it and thankfully Eagle Editions did not let this opportunity go by.
I recently found myself building the Trumpeter kit and wanted to do something different than the standard schemes provided in the kit. For years I have had an Eagle Strike sheet that included “Gelb 5” w.nr. 501232 of 9/KG(J) 6, Captured by Watson at Munich-Riem, but had avoided using it as wanted Eagle Editions to do it. After I started into my 262 sure enough Judy announced the forthcoming release of this sheet, and I was very happy. Unfortunately I had a limited time frame with which to complete the model for a magazine article and it was going to be touch and go if the sheet would reach me in time. Of course it came a week after I had the model completed, and photographed for publication! I seriously wished I had waited as the differences between the sheets was astounding. The actual 5 on the Eagle Strike sheet is the wrong shape and the werknummer is also incorrectly laid out.
When it comes to the Eagle Editions sheet, both of these parts are correct, and the painting instructions are much more clear.
There are two more aircraft included on the sheet:
- “Yellow 3” of 8/JG7 w.nr.501221. Shot down on 21/4/45 by PFC Ralph Caputo with a machine gun.
- “Yellow 5” of 3/JG7 w.nr. 110007.
The decals themselves are printed in perfect register and as they are printed for Eagle editions by Microscale they are among the best in the world so we can be assured of their adhesive qualities.
Also worth mentioning in this review is the usefulness of Stormbird Colours, written by Brett Green and Benjamin Evans, and published by Eagle Editions as well. I found it extremely useful when it came to painting the model, and detailing the interior parts thanks to the plentiful photographs of the restoration of the Australian “Black X”.
Overall these get a great recommendation from me and a note of thanks to Jerry and Judy Crandall for continually producing decal sheets (and resin) of superior quality and of interesting subjects!!
© Jay Laverty 2005
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This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016