In the box

The contents of the top opening box, with the artwork by
Koike Shigeo adorning the cover picture, is packed with plastic and resin.
So in the box comes -

• 1x Hasegawa plastic sprue based A-4 Skyhawk
  
• 1x Eduard plastic sprue based MiG-21PFM
  
• 3 sets of photo etch
  
• 1 resin ejection seat
  
• 2 sets of masks
  
• decal options for two aircraft
  
• colour instruction booklet
  
• 1x A2 artwork print by Koike Shigeo, packed in a separate large hard-paper envelope to prevent any damage.
  
• 1 certificate of authenticity
  

A-4 Skyhawk

This kit is based on the Hasegawa sprues and has no flash present, but the parts do have a high amount of very shallow pin marks. Most of these look to be in places that wont require any work to hide them.

Seven light grey sprues and one clear sprue along with one pre coloured photo etch fret, which has parts for the cockpit, undercarriage and a few external parts on it is supplied for the Skyhawk kit.

The exterior of the kit has some very fine recessed panel lines, and the wings do have some rather thick vortex generators, but at least they are moulded onto the wings.
The rudder, and elevators are all moulded as part of the tail and wings, but the forward wing slats are separate and can be deployed in the extended position, if modelled closed the slat actuators will need to be removed from the wings. The landing flaps for the wings can be deployed down, or up depending on which type of actuator you use.
The two fuselage airbrakes can be positioned open, but no reference is given to suggest you can close them in the instructions.
The inflight re-fuelling probe, tail hook along with the various ariels complete the exterior detail.
The only external stores supplied are two fuel tanks for underneath the wings. A centerline and two outer wing pylons are supplied, but as already stated nothing to hang off them.

The cockpit has a lot of photo etch supplied, with a 2 part instrument panel, side consoles, HUD display and P.E rudder pedals. A two part resin bang seat with P.E harness and ejection handles completes the cockpit.
Mirrors and handles for the canopy are supplied as P.E parts, but the canopy itself is shown closed in the build, which is a shame. I would imagine modelling it open would present little difficulties.

The plastic parts for the wheel wells is very good, they are packed with hydraulic lines, servo boxes and spars. Once painted up this will look very nice indeed. The nose bay is part of the cockpit flooring and the main wells are moulded into the lower wing. The nose gear bay has one small piece of P.E to go into the front wall. The nose gear door has the actuators replaced with new P.E part's. The main nose gear leg has the wheel moulded onto the strut itself which should add strength to this long, thin, delicate part.
The main undercarriage legs have a few parts of P.E to attach to the legs which should detail these parts up well.
The wheels have a nice bit of detail on them, and have separate hubs, which will help with painting.
The detail on the plastic parts for the bay doors inside face is in the form of raised and recessed detail.

The exhaust is probably the weakest part of the kit with the exhaust ring having minimal detail present. The exhaust tube does lead to a fan. The air inlet also benefits from a fan, which is moulded into the air inlet tube.

A nice touch by Hasegawa is the inclusion of a boarding ladder for the cockpit.

The clear parts are thin, and crystal clear. The canopy is in two parts with the front windscreen as separate part.

MiG-21PFM

No introduction is really needed for Eduard's range of MiG-21 kits with several variants released over the years, and is probably the best 1/48th kit of the MiG-21 around. Most of the differences between the variants is the dorsal spine, and Eduard basically mould a new fuselage spine for each variant.
There are quite a few inbox and build reviews on Aeroscale, so I'm only going to go over the main parts in this review.
This boxing is of the MiG-21PFM version and comes with seven dark grey sprues and one clear sprue. Two frets of photo etch make up the rest of the kit. This is basically a ProfiPack version, but with just one decal option.

The parts have no flash and pin marks are few and far between.

The exterior detail is exquisite with fine recessed panel lines and rivet detail.

The cockpit is a mix of P.E and plastic, and once complete is a very detailed pit.
The instrument panels is made up of a P.E sandwich and the side consoles and walls are a mix of P.E and plastic.
The ejection seat is made from several plastic parts and with a P.E pre-coloured harness, will really add to the detail.
The exhaust system is made up of eleven parts and is well detailed with exhaust fans and the afterburner nozzle.
The main undercarriage bay slots into the center of the fuselage and is also well detailed with raised spars, and some pipework added to the sides.
The nose well doubles up as the cockpit floor, and is as well detailed as the rest of the kit.

Weight is needed too fit into the nose cone too stop the plane being a tail sitter.

The fuselage spine and tail is made up of two parts, split along the center. A separate rudder is supplied, so it can be modelled off center.

The wings are split into lower and upper halves, and the wheel well housings are made up of several parts each and are very detailed.
The undercarriage legs have P.E hydraulic lines and oleos fitted and the wheels are made up of separate hubs and tyres.
Separate flaps are supplied. Photo etch strakes are supplied for the wings.
The large airbrake that sits underneath the fuselage can be modelled open or closed, by using different parts.
Several P.E ariels need to be attached, which is probably best left until last, due to the delicate nature of these parts.

Several external weapons are supplied and are -

• 1 x 490L external fuel tank
  
• 1 x GP-9 gun pod
  
• 2 x S-24
  
• 2 x RS-2US
  
• 2 x R-3S
  
• 2 x R-3R
  

Two SPRD packs can also be slung underneath the aircraft.

Masks

Two sets of masks are supplied for both aircraft, and have full masks for the windscreens and edge masks for the main canopies. Mask are also supplied for the various sensor patches on the MiG. The tyres for the Skyhawk have masks which is very handy for the one piece moulded nose wheel.

Instructions and decals

A full colour book is supplied in this boxing and also features the artwork by Koike Shigeo.
The build starts with a parts breakdown and symbol guide for the Skyhawk.
The build is simple to follow and ends with the one painting and decal guide.
The instructions them move onto the MiG-21 and is in the same style as the Scooter before it.
A full colour painting guide is supplied for both aircraft and the MiG also has two pages for the stencilling of the plane and external weapons and pylons (yep there is hundreds of stencils for the MiG).
The one sheet of decals are printed by Cartograph and having used these in the past are a pleasure to work with.
Two markings are available and are -

• A-4E BuNo. 151046, VMA-311 Tomcats, MCAS Chulai, 1967 - 1970
  
• Vietnamese People´s Army Air Force, 921st Fighter Regiment, 1968
  

The artwork

Well what can I say about this, gorgeous, beautifully drawn and painted, and well worth the price, Eduard did supply the art work for this review, (thank you Eduard, you made my week).
I must have just looked at this piece for about 15 minutes before I even opened the kit, it is that good.
Its A-2 size which translates to 48 x 27 cm, so its a fair size, and will look good hanging from your wall (arguing with the Better Half on which wall it will hang atm lol).
The artwork comes flat packed in a cardboard envelope, and it should be safe from most postal services.
A certificate of authenticity is supplied which features a small picture of the artwork and a little history on it.

Conclusion

I am quite liking this boxing Eduard are doing, two kits and some great artwork all for a little more then one Profipack boxing.
This boxing costs €82,45.
Profipack MiG-21PMF costs €44,95 .
Profipack Vietnam scooters costs €67,45.
Thus saving €29,95, plus you get the artwork. 
The only downside is the one marking option for each kit, but I can understand why Eduard do this as it adds to the allure of the artwork supplied.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.