The Airfix Victor is a pretty detailed kit in its own right, but Eduard has stepped in with this photo etched detail set to add a little more finesse to some of the parts.The three sets of photo etched parts and the set of masks comes in a very robust cardboard envelope and it contains:

1 x 72678 Victor K.2 Exterior
1 x 72679 Victor K.2/Sr.2 Airbrake
1 x 73645 Victor K.2 Interior
1 x CX529 Victor K.2 Paint Masks

72678 Victor K.2 Exterior
This etched sheet [142 x 100mm] has no pre-painted parts. There are around 66 parts demonstrating some really fine detail. The majority of the parts detail the main undercarriage bay and all the undercarriage inner bay doors and legs. There are also parts for blade aerials as well as the aerial on the upper fuselage and the wing fence at the wing root. The retracting arm of the nose wheel is further detailed with a single length of brass. The doors also have brass parts to fit over the inner surfaces of the undercarriage doors. No detail on the plastic needs to be removed.
The main gear retracting arm needs its detail completely removing and the four sides are clad with PE sections. The solid sections of plastic at the base of the legs have some detailed parts to add also. The details on the walls and roof of the main landing gear really benefit from this set, but a lot of the detail on the plastic needs to be removed. Although the detail for the walls is very good, the eye will be drawn to the rather complex network of hydraulic lines that Eduard has reproduced. This looks very delicate so the utmost care must be taken removing it from the fret and fixing it in place. The rather bland looking plastic surface of main gear doors will be brought to life with the additional PE detail for the inside.
There are a couple of PE grills to add as well as numerous aerials. There is a PE replacement for the wing root fence. Obviously the plastic fence needs to be removed before fitting.

72679 Victor K.2/Sr.2 Airbrake
This etched sheet [70 x 55mm] has no pre-painted parts. Very little of the good plastic detail within the airbrakes is removed. This set just adds to subtlety. Some of the plastic detail needs to be removed. The ‘Y’ shaped actuation arm needs the ‘V’ part removing and this is replaced by PE part. This part requires some careful folding to create it into the right shape. A pity the instructions give you little clue how to do this, though it is easy enough to work it out.


73645 Victor K.2 Interior
The two photo etched frets have a mix of pre-coloured photo etched [PCPE] and none coloured photo etched [PE] parts. Both frets measure 69 x 52mm. The instrument panel [IP] for the pilots and the three crewmen at the rear looks packed with interest. The pilots IP is built up from five PCPE parts and the rear IP is made up from thirteen PCPE parts. Some detail needs to be removed from the pilots IP and all the detail needs to be removed from the rear IP. There are additional PCPE panels and PE electrical boxes to mount on the side of the cockpit walls. The boxes need to be folded and additional PE detail is added. The printed detail for the instruments looks very good and will give a degree of business that the real thing has. A nice touch is the PE riser to the step at the cabin door. The throttle quadrant looks interesting and is made up by folding the PE part multiple times. The throttle levers are attached. There are PE parts to place on the treads of the rudder pedals. The kits moulded on seat harnesses need to be removed and these are replaced by PCPE items, which look so much better. The pilots ejector seats are further detailed with PCPE parts including seat firing activation cords and seat supports. Two further additions nothing to do with the cockpit are the indicator lights for the rear of the Victor which aid any aircraft taking on fuel.


CX529 Victor K.2 Paint Masks
The kabuki masks cover the compound windscreen, side windows and bomb aimers window as well as all the wheels and the navigation lights on the clear plastic wingtips. Some liquid masking agent is required to supplement the kabuki masks.

Instructions
The instructions are generally printed on A4 sized paper. With the PE parts the instructions take the usually format. Good line drawings with parts of the Airfix plastic parts to be detailed numbered according to the Airfix instructions and each PE part is numbered too. Areas where the PE parts are glued are highlighted in blue and the red highlights indicate areas of detail to be removed.
The masks instructions are pretty straightforward and thorough and provide help placing the many masks on the sheet.

Conclusions

One advantage of buying this set Eduard is that you save 22% on the price of buying the sets individually. Another advantage is that these sets do offer a level of finesse regarding the detail. The pre-coloured cockpit parts will offer an excellent focal point through the windscreen or if you have the hatch open. Not a set for the beginners, but anyone with some experience of using photo etched parts will really make a big difference in detailing Airfix Victor tanker.