Scale Plastic & Rail

1/48 G4M Betty Interior S.A. set for the Tamiya kit from Eduard

1/48 G4M Betty Interior S.A. set for the Tamiya kit

Eduard

Catalogue number 49537

Available from Eduard and other good hobby retailers

There are only a very small number of multi-engined Japanese aircraft kits available in 1/48 scale or larger. Perhaps the best known of these is Tamiya's 1/48 Mitsubishi Isshikirikko Type 11, the G4M1 code named "Betty" by the allies. I can't remember exactly when it was first released but it is probably about 15 years old (below). It has proved a good seller in the Far East and in the USA, a little less so in Western Europe,perhaps partially because it has always been priced not too far apart from Tamiya's 1/48 Avro Lancaster, which has proved much more popular as a kit subject.

It is a good kit overall, but has very little internal structure provided, and quite a bit can be seen through the various transparencies. Eduard previously released etch set 48191 for this model, covering the cockpit, tail gunner's position and a few other parts. Now they have taken part of that set, those parts associated with the cockpit, and released them as a self-adhesive, pre-coloured fret (below).

The parts provided are accurate from the photos I have as reference, including the shade of Mitsubishi interior green used on several of the parts. I know from experience the previous set fitted the kit well, so there is no reason to doubt that this one will as well.

I have to say that I think Eduard missed a trick here; this is one kit that needs a lot of interior detail added, which set 48191 certainly helped with. This new set only covers the cockpit; a better release would have been set 48191 as a complete coloured SA set, more expensive perhaps, but meeting a greater need for the kit.What it means is that modellers may well opt to still purchase the older set in preference to this new release.

So what do we think?

Functional and accurate, recommended to builders of the Tamiya kit. My personal preference would still be for Eduard's older, larger etched set.

Overall: 7.5/10

Our thanks to Eduard for the review sample. To purchase this and other Eduard products, click THIS link.

Robin Jenkins