With the wide selection of 1/72nd F-16 kits available (Hasegawa, RoG, Academy, Aeroplast, Airfix, Fujimi, ect) the quality of cockpit detail is quite varied and having an excellent set, like those produced by Aires, can help add that little extra to take an average kit to an outstanding kit.

The Aires set consists of 13 resin parts (14 in my case as a small piece of the rear tub was broken off) and one sheet of photo etched parts. The level of fine detail on all of the resin parts is up to the usual standard that we’ve come to expect from Aires. Just looking at the tub, you can see all of the knobs, dials, hoses, etc., that you’d find in the real article. When you consider that all of these little details are crammed into a 1/72nd scale cockpit, the parts are quite amazing.

The ejection seat, an ACES II in this case, again has great detail already cast into it and this is then enhanced with several PE parts to complete it. A little bit of flash will need to be carved out of a few areas, but nothing that even a beginner shouldn’t be able to handle easily with a little patience.

Both the front and rear cockpit instrument panels are nicely cast with only one straight cut required to remove the casting blocks. There are several PE/acetate parts to compliment the resin that will round out the “missing” details and make the panels look complete.

To help control the airframe that your applying this set to, Aires has done an incredible job making the side mounted joystick look nearly functional.

Other parts to complete the front and rear “offices” are the side panels and the arm supports, which again are very nicely details.

Overall another excellent product from Aires! A little assembly, some careful painting and your Fighting Falcon will look several orders of magnitude better than when using just the kit supplied cockpit.

A big “Thanks” goes out to Aires and IPMS/USA for this highly recommended review sample.