AH-64D Apache Longbow
Detail Set (Zoom)

Eduard

Eduard's 1/48 scale Apache "Zoom" set is available online from Squadron.com

Reviewed by Dave Williams

This new set, designed for the new 1/48 scale Hasegawa Longbow Apache, is in Eduard’s “Zoom” line of photo-etch detail sets for aircraft kits. The Zoom line can be considered as the “lite” version of Eduard’s detail sets which generally only contain items such as instrument panels, seat belts, and some small external details.

Personally, I’m a big fan of the Zoom sets as I feel their reduction in scope and price makes buying PE sets more palatable to the average modeler. Some people are intimidated by a full PE set that costs $20 or more and contains perhaps 100 parts, some almost too small to work with. I’m sure that more than one of us has bought a PE set and ended up not using much of the set as some of the parts were not thought to be worth the trouble to cut out and fold, or to modify the kit to accept.

You probably won’t end up with a lot of leftover bits from a Zoom set as they seem to be limited to the parts that most modelers want to improve on their kits.

This set contains full five point seat belts to correct what is probably one of the main areas for improvement in the Hasegawa kit.

As the kit cockpit is pretty good out of the box, you don’t need a full replacement instrument panel. Instead, the set contains various small instruments and details to improve what is already there. In a change from the standard black-on-clear acetate film used for instruments, this set has the instruments and displays on a paper sheet which allows them to be printed in full color. Finishing up the cockpit, the set includes replacement rudder (tail rotor control) pedals.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

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For the exterior you get the auxiliary air inlet doors for the underside of the engine nacelles, which are always open on the ground when the engines are not running. In addition, the set has replacement slime lights and a couple of antennas. Finally, you get a yoke that runs around the front of the tail wheel to replace the kit part that is molded integrally with the wheel.

A recent innovation made by Eduard is the ability to pre-color some of the parts on the PE fret. I’m not sure how it is done, but the results are quite impressive. For example, the seat belts are done in black with the stitching done in an off-white (?) color, but the buckles are left in their natural metal color. The crispness and evenness of the tiny dots that represent the stitches must be seen to be believed as it is far better than 99% of modelers could do by hand. Well done, Eduard!

Similarly, the slime lights are done in an appropriate “slimy” lime green color that looks much better than the decals in the kit. Note that the color is only on one side of the parts, so you’ll need to paint the other side if you decide the drape the belts such that the underside is visible.

Eduard's "Zoom" etched detail set is a great enhancement for Hasegawa’s new Apache.

Highly Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of my wallet.

Dave Williams
IPMS/USA 19050

Review Copyright © 2001 by Dave Williams
Page Created 06 May, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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