Introduction

Hasegawa designed a nice serie of P-40 kits in 1/48 scale last year (the review of the P-40 K can be found here ) so it was not a surprise to see Eduard release some aftermarket items to enhance the already high level of detail of the model. Now you can buy all references altogether in one BIG ED set. A very good initiative from the Czech manufacturer!

The set

Eduard's P-40 E set comes in a cardboard envelope with only three references. I say "only" because there are BIG ED sets were much more is included. Having said that, I must be honest and say each single PE set is composed of two photo etched frets, so in fact you have a total of 4 PE frets plus a sheet of masks. Below are the exact references of what is provided in the P-40 E BIG ED set:
- 49314: P-40 E interior and exterior
- 48508: P-40 E landing flaps
- EX058: P-40 E mask

interior and exterior set

This reference is simply awesome! Two PE frets are provided, one for the cockpit interior and one for the exterior details.
To enhance the cockpit of the Hasegawa kit you have a new seat, a new (pre-painted) instrument panel, a set of seat belts (also pre-painted) and a multitude of levers, dials, knobs and placards. Given the fact that the kit's cockpit is already nicely detailed from the box, I don't think any aftermarket resin replacement will be necessary with Eduard's additional parts.
The exterior of the plane hasn't been forgotten by Eduard. On the second fret you have new cowling flaps (with inner detail), cowling grils, new wheel bay interior walls, new gear covers, landing gear details, wheel brake disks, new bomb fins, external load attachments (for bomb or fuel tank), various actuators (for rudder, elevators, ailerons etc...), fuel caps, external surface details etc... quite a lot in fact so if you use this set, no doubt the level of detail will be outstanding!
Three (!?) pages of instructions are provided by Eduard, proof that there will be a lot to do if you choose to include all the parts... there are about 180 of them, some being very, very small.

landing flaps set

As said above, this reference is also composed of two PE frets. They don't look very spectacular when you look at them but once you have studied the instructions, you realize how impressive the work is the Czech manufacturer has done here. The Eduard flaps don't "enhance" those of the kit but are replacements, so you will have to cut some plastic on the Hasegawa kit prior to fitting the PE ones... once you have finished them.
On the instructions, the building sequence seems rather complicated. But Saúl García (sharkmouth) already reviewed (and built) this set and had both flaps ready in less than half an hour! You can see his efforts here. I think there's nothing more to add, the pictures and Saúl's work are more explicit than thousand words.

mask set

The last addition in this BIG ED set is die-cut fexible mask sheet. While I'm not a big fan of those (I mask the canopies myself and prefer to save the money for other stuff), they will make the painting of the canopy and wheels much easier and faster.