Eduard 1/72nd SPAD XIII Early Dual Combo
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Introduction
The first SPAD XIIIs that were put into production had rounded wing
tips. I'm not exactly sure how many were delivered this way, but it was
found to be pretty unstable and the solution was to "square up"
the wing tips. The first solution was to sew "pockets" to the
end of the wings, but that helped only a little. The final - and best
- solution was to produce the squared-off wings right at the factory.
The Kit
 This
release of the Eduard SPAD XIII has the same number of parts as their
first, "Late" release. The only difference - besides the markings
- are the rounded wings and the fact there are two kits included. This
includes two sets of masks (this time using the "Kabuki" tape)
as well as two sets of photoetch. The initial release of the kit was released
prior to Eduard including colored photoetch as a norm in all their kits,
so the photoetch included is not colored. Not a big deal, just provided
for informational purposes.
There are decals for for versions, done to the excellent Avi Print standards,
two French, one British and one Italian. The French machines (both finished
in the French "Yellow" scheme) are for Guynemer and Roques of
Spa.48 (with the rooster on the side); the British machine is Hewett's;
and the Italian is Baracca's, with the "Ferrari" horse emblem
(both the Britsh and Italian machine are five-color). (For those that
don't know, Baracca agreed to let Ferrari use his "horse emblem"
as their own.) My only complaint is there is only enough national markings
to do one aircraft. So, if you want to build both kits as French, both
as British, or both as Italian, you'll have to search for alternative
national markings.
 I
won't go into any more detail, since this release is almost identical
to Eduard's prior releases. You can view my First
Look on the non-profi release, or the full
build of the same kit for more information. Besides the wings, the
only other major difference were the center struts. The sloped, forward-most
strut does not exist on the round-wing version, so must be "snipped"
prior to adding these to the kit.
Conclusion
It's awesome that Eduard has provided an easy way to build the early,
rounded-wing version of the SPAD XIII. No longer is any kit "surgery"
required to build this first release of one of the best fighters of WW1.
In addition, I have heard that Tom's Modelworks is releasing photoetch
"ply pockets" that can be added to the rounded wings to build
the interim solution prior to SPAD producing the newer, square-tips wings
in the factory. So, all versions of the SPAD XIII (that I know of) are
now possible in the most excellent 1/72nd scale.
 Finding
schemes is another thing. Definitely search all references for these early
types, as I haven't come across a lot of photos in the "usual"
sources. It will be even more difficult to find the ones that flew with
the "ply pockets" if wanting to go that route. One scheme that
appeals to me is Madon's - he is known for painting the fuselage of his
aircraft all-over red, and I think it would make a striking contrast to
the usual five-color-only schemes of other aircraft.
I have one suggestion for Eduard. Most of the known producers of SPAD
XIIIs (there were a number of non-SPAD companies that produced XIIIs)
had their own version of the layout for the five-color scheme. I think
it would be great if Eduard could provide their "Kabuki" masks
for each and every five-color layout. I know I would buy sets, and I bet
others would as well. Create it prior to the release of the their 1/48th
SPAD XIII release(s) and all they have to do is scale up their designs
to match the new kit(s). Please?
My sincerest thanks to Eduard for
supplying the review kit.
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