When Eduard released their 1/48 scale Royal Class edition of the Bf 110 one of the bonuses in the box was a ¼ scale instrument panel. This seemed to be met with mixed feelings from the modelling community but Eduard seems to have taken the risk of releasing the panel on its own as a limited edition kit.

The Parts

Upon opening the box you are greeted by four clear bags containing the sprues, two frets of pre-printed etch metal sandwiching the trademark Eduard white card, a sheet of printed vinyl stickers for the dial faces and a six page black and white A5 instruction manual.

The panel is the biggest of the parts and is moulded in a dark grey which some say is a close match to RLM 66, as this is a large piece Eduard have very cleverly hidden all the ejector pins marks behind where all the dial faces are so they will be hidden during construction. The next two sprues are the dials and switches, these are mould in black and again care has been taken to hide any ejector marks. The detail on these three parts are exquisite, however I would have preferred the screw heads (part K9) to have the sprue attachment on the part that would insert into the panel rather than on the side of the head but I assume this is due to the limitations of the moulding process. On my sample the switch housing (part K15) had a little rough feel to the plastic but nothing a quick swipe with a sanding stick won’t solve. Finally the last two sprues are the instrument glazing’s, these are crystal clear but part M2 on my sample had a small sink mark in it.

The two frets of pre-printed etch metal are to the usual high standards of Eduard as are the vinyl sticker for the rest of the dial faces and both are in register. The stickers seem to be a of a low tack nature, similar to vinyl masks, which I imagine is to aid with getting the placement right and as they will be going behind the glazing’s so there should be no fear of the coming loose over time. The instruction manual is clear and concise but as stated my copy was only in black and white although a colour version can be downloaded from the Eduard website the colour call outs according to Eduard are, the dashboard is RLM66 and the instrument frame Black.

Conclusion

Looking at my references Eduard has produced a very detailed copy of the real Instrument panel to build this straight out of the box but due to the mixed media in the kit this is not for beginners. I for one am glad that Eduard has produced this as a standalone kit as it gives you a change of pace from building aircraft but is still aircraft related. I feel the quarter scale is just right as any and would certainly look good on its own or mounted on a display base. I only hope this is a start of things to come, As there are many other famous aircraft panels they could produce, Spitfire, Hurricane, Bf 109, Fw 190 P-47, P-51?

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