Upon examination of the bomber and night fighter kits side-by-side, the differences are limited to three areas, and of course the colour schemes and decals. The front glazing is a new piece with four holes in it into which the radar array is inserted, and a couple of small pieces that the arrays attach to. The antennas themselves are quite delicate, they will have to handled with care. One novel thing is the way Hasegawa has formed the sprue around the antennas. It is basically four sides of a box slightly taller than the antennas to protect them from damage. The attachments to the sprues are also more sensible, no sprues to cut away from the very fine dipole areas. Instead the sprues attach on the frame so that cutting them free will not be so traumatic. There is also a Morane antenna that attaches under the nose which does not come with the bomber version.

 The camera installation of the bomber version is replaced by a very claustrophobic looking radar operator’s position. It is comprised of seven parts, namely a tub with side consoles, a four part seat assembly, a bulkhead forward of the tub, and the radar boxes. The third area is a five part cannon pod that replaces the bomb in the ventral recess. This version does not include the sprues for the bomb or the cameras, but the external fuel tanks and RATO units are still included. As thirsty as the Jumo 004 engines were, they would be practically mandatory. The decals surprised me in that the white is much more opaque than Hasegawa’s norm, and include very nice ones for all the consoles, instrument panel and sub-panels, and the radar readouts.

  Hasegawa are constantly improving the quality of their product, and this kit is no exception, it looks like a great build, but will be delicate on the shelf due to the very fine radar array. With Revell Germany’s release of the four-engined version, the triad of Ar234’s will be complete, in a thoroughly up-to-date set of tooling. This truly is the golden age of modeling!

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