Le Superkit Eduard

I don’t like Eduard much. They are the standard bearers of the New Age of plastic model kits, with all that photo-etched stuff, and I don’t like it.

But I’m enough of a chump to buy their Hellcat, because, well, because a man has to buy that Hellcat. I had to. I had no choice. If you are the type of man I am, you will understand.

But the damn thing bored the hell out of me. Not that it was “too easy.” Oh no. It wasn’t easy. It just… well… dammit.

It just reeked of Euro-modeller superiority and every subtle put-down of American dunces who don’t appreciate the latest and the greatest. Complete with cheesy pictures of buxom women to complete the clearly focused message that the American Century is over, and it’s time to jump on the colorful streetcar of the future.

So here I am. I had no trouble making a model out of the Eduard kit, even though it was clearly marked “Weekend Edition” which contains the message (as is so often the case with Eduard) that “we are not native speakers of English and we are proud of that.”

Le Weekend Edition. Make that, you fat American pigs.

Now let’s get this clear. I know that Americans are fat pigs. I’m one myself. But I don’t like foreigners implying that us fat pigs are, indeed, fat pigs. It seems, I don’t know, negative to me.

So here’s the result of my spiritual journey to the mountains of the Czech Republic, where the best toys in the world have always been made. Read it and weep, Amerikaners.

Does it look real? Hmmm… no.

I had intended to build this kit into a -3 Hellcat, but then I discovered that although the kit contained many of the parts for the -3, the wings were different. Can’t build a -3 with -5 wings! Right?

Right?

My enthusiasm, never that high, began to seep away. But I pressed on, irregardless of the bitter cold or the missing details that naturally arise when one does not have le “PE” is it not?

The biggest challenge was the drop tank. I actually had a photo (thank you, internet) of this plane (not provided by Eduard but I forgive them–sorta) and the funky drop tank is the only interesting thing about this big blue monster.

Note: Nobody ever mentions how BIG the Hellcat was, compared to other fighter planes of the time. It was every bit as big as the “huge” P-47 but nobody ever gushes all over their homework about how massive and huge and gigantic the Hellcat was, while every hack aviation writer in the business constantly burbles on about the giant Thunderbolt.

Just sayin’.

The filthy tank.

I had to add in some “straps” that help to stabilize the tank. I made them out of paper, they must have been a part of the PE set that came with the “proper” version of this kit, but were omitted here and not mentioned at all.

See what I mean? There is a name for that kind of attitude in America. It’s called a “f**k you attitude.” Thanks, Eduard.

Anyhow, I had to work at the weathering to match that one photo of the real aircraft. This is the result, and it demonstrates something about model building that is important, but is seldom discussed on macho forums.

It’s this: how you feel about the subject incorporates itself into the model, and you build your hang-ups into the model along with the plastic parts.

I dislike Eduard for their sexist advertising and f**k you attitude, and this shows in the finished model built from “the superkit.”

I won’t take Eduard off my “buy” list. They just might make a Mirage IIICJ and I NEED that kit. But they still bug me.

4 Replies to “Le Superkit Eduard”

  1. I don’t know much about Wingnut Wings… but they have exhibited a remarkable degree of marketing savvy. I just wish I could find a few examples of built-up models that are mediocre or poor. Every one of the damn things is the result of five thousand hours of intricate lacing of 1/32 scale boots–complete with spit-shine. Imagine it–using one of those fancy Tamiya cotton swabs. Poor in the solvent. Light the shoe polish up with your Zippo. Extinguish the fire with the lid. Then, the application of the polish to the tiny boot. Eeep eep eep eep eep. SPIT! Eeep eep eep eep eep. SPIT!

    Waiting for the development of bottled micro spit by Mig or Flory. Applied by airbrush, of course (but still requiring the buffing! musn’t kill the hobby!)

  2. Hah right. I guess that when one pays the cosmic price for one of their kits, one does not screw up too much.

  3. Eduard makes great kits —

    They also make great manipulative marketing. Poor little guy can’t afford the cosmic kit, so he saves his lunch money to buy the “pro” stuff, or suffers the scars of unrequited lust. If he’s so impoverished he has to buy “overtrees” it’s hard to ignore the accompanying ads for all the add- ons at exorbitant and very profitable prices. Horror.
    I despise MARKETERS, they are black hearted MARKETERS.

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