Part 1: First Look

Interior # 36007 MSRP: $19.95 Exterior # 36012 MSRP: $14.95 Website: www.eduard.cz Background: Our new IPMS method of reviewing detail sets requires us to use that set, not just give a quicky report and toss it in the stash. The good news is that we are getting more choice in the process, so when my Bronco Humber kit started beating on the stash door while I was reading the Eduard menu, it wasn't a hard choice. Just so you know, I am not a great after-market person, in particular photo-etch. Part of it is eyesight and skill, but mostly I just like to cherry-pick a few details or use the photo-etch as a pattern to enhance/correct the kit using plastic card. I'm far more comfortable with resin. Nonetheless, away we go ... I should also mention that I have lots of historical information on the British Army starting from the mid-1600's and ending in the Western Desert of the early 1940's. The Humber Scout car didn't come into service until 1943, in Italy and NW Europe, nor could I find a whole lot of pictures of the Humber in use ... Oh, well ... A first look at the Bronco Humber: I'll not do a review of the Bronco Humber, we have one of those going here already, but here's a few thoughts. Kit # is 35009, MSRP is $59.95 and when I bought mine, I paid around $52; it's available for less now. My first impression on receiving the kit was to wonder if they could have reduced the hefty price by using a smaller box -- it's about 40% full, at best. OTOH, it is well packaged - each sprue is in it's own baggie and all that is held inside one big baggie. The only thing loose in the box was 'Michael Caine', which almost caused me to loose one of his arms right off the bat. Having said that, there are lots of parts, well over 200, with lots of interior and exterior detail, to include the engine compartment and a small sheet of photo-etch. A driver would have been nice. Parts look very detailed and molding is crisp and fairly clean. One issue I see is that in an effort to keep the exterior of parts clean of sprue attachments, most of them attach on the mating surface - nice idea in concept but one that guarantees lots of mating surface cleanup time.

The instruction book requires a lot of study. The back cover is labeled "Color Guide" but is really an assembly page belonging between the numbered pages 11 and 12. Parts show up installed before they are actually are, and I think a few haven't been referenced anywhere. The color and decal guides for the six options have been shrunk to a total of less a half page. There is very little detail color info in the construction steps -- you don't even find out the interior color until nearly done. Fortunately, to apply the Eduard detail sets, I'll have to go through the instructions with a fine tooth comb and I should be able to sort all this out. These comments aside, it really does look like a very nice kit and I am looking forward to this build. A first look at the Eduard Detail Sets: The two sets contain a total of 3 shiny brass photo-etch sheets. One nice thing is that the total MSRP cost is less than the street cost of the kit. Each set comes with a single A4 instruction sheet, in black and white. Typical for Eduard, they are well done and detailed. I do recommend the Eduard website. The instruction sheet may be downloaded as a 4-page color PDF and there are many photos of the sets already built onto a model (so why am I doing this review, you ask). I did this and was able to start planning my build several days before the actual sets arrived on my doorstep. The Interior set applies to the fighting compartment only, not the engine compartment. It contains lots of trays and straps useable after you cut/shave the same off the kit parts. The roof gets lots of panel construction, why I'm not sure because it's already there. But whether the interior set is of use depends on whether you intend to open up all the hatches and even then it is questionable how much can be seen - particularly on the inside of the roof. It all looks great when the compartment is open but when the top and bottom of the model are clamped together it gets dark in there.

The Exterior set provides all the usual exterior details -- straps, can holders, light brackets, reinforcing strips, etc -- even a couple padlocks for storage compartments. On the big plus side, it contains many details for the inside of the engine compartment and a replacement hood to allow opening the engine compartment. Another plus is that no photo-etch has been provided to replace already thin kit parts, such as the fenders. There are several options, such as storage bays for the right side of the vehicle but in the limited pictures I have I have not seen many of those in use. The Exterior set appears to be a great value against the Interior set, given the amount of useful detail contained and it costs less.

For some reason, the exterior set replaces the two kit sliding hatches with bent-up photo-etch; I do not know why at this point. The odd part is that the interior set provides inside handles for the kit hatches, but the exterior set does not provide them for the photo-etch hatches. Other than this, there does not appear to be a lot of replacing for the sake of it. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the exterior set for the Bren Gun and mount -- surprising and disappointing given the prominence and the complexity of it. I haven't decided if I'm going to use it, but if I go to all the work to use these sets, I'm not then going to leave an un-adorned machine gun on top. Likewise, but not unexpected, there are no detail parts for underneath. Also unfortunately, and as usual, the photo-etch instructions bear little relationship to the kit instruction sequence. I spent about two hours comparing and cross-marking the kit instructions and the two detail instructions so I knew what to do when and where. It is my opinion that all after-market instructions should refer to and conform to the kit instruction sequence, regardless of how good they may be or not.

The build starts I'll do the build in three additional parts -- roughly, the interior, the exterior, and the final product. I have done two things to start off. I removed from the inside/outside of the hull all those things Eduard said to -- so I wouldn't be scraping away later with delicate parts installed. I also installed the kit firewall and gear box cover (A7,A8,A26) into the hull so I wouldn't have to do that with delicate parts installed. The firewall doesn't lean against the little ridge in the hull, it sits on it and there is nothing to hold it in place -- see mini-pins holding it in place. Also see the fill of ejector pins - maybe they won't be as visible as I first feared but I went after 'em anyway. I also picked up a set of resin non-directional wheels/tires (Hussar #35059) to replace the kit rubber tires. I still haven't decided on the paint job and markings. To close this First Look, I would like to thank Eduard and IPMS/USA for providing the review items and allowing me the opportunity to review them. References: · Scout Car, Humber Mk.I, Service Instruction Book, Chief Inspector of Fighting Vehicles, June 1943. (Reprint from Military Library Research Service Ltd, www.mlrsbooks.co.uk). This is the operator's manual for the Humber and contains lots of diagrams and a large explanation of how everything works. This is my preferred reference because it tells you what every little item is. It also contains, on the last few pages, complete stowage diagrams for equipment. · Humber Mk.I,II Scout Car, Army Wheels in Detail Photo Album, Petr Brojo, Capricorn Publications, ISBN 978-80-903945-0-6. This book is cited as the reference for the Eduard sets; it has lots of photos and many extracts from the 1944 edition of the Instruction Book above; the disadvantage is that it doesn't tell you what the bits and pieces are as does the Instruction Book. · British Army Handbook, 1939-1945, George Forty, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-3190-6. · The War Wheels SIG, www.warwheels.net, Patrick Keenan.

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