Aires

1/72 Ju 88 Weighted Wheels & Paint Mask Set For the Hasegawa 1/72 Ju-88

Stock Number: 7162

Reviewed By  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $6.95 Distributed by Stevens International,PO Box 126, 706 N. White Horse Pike, Magnolia, NJ 08049 USA. Aires website is www.aires.cz. The Kit This is a simple kit, but it could add a lot to your Hasegawa Ju-88. 2 resin main wheels and a tail wheel, nicely detailed. The masks are on a 1.5 inch square sheet. The main wheels are slightly flattened next to the pour sprue. The hub detail is crisp and clean, even down to the little holes around the edge of the hubs. I did the wheels exactly as the instructions say, except I didn't bother removing the wheels from the pour sprue. I am holding off building the Ju88 until later, and I didn't want to lose any of the parts. Nevertheless, there are light connections to the sprue on the circumference of the wheels, and the main connection is at the flattened point. So the place where you have to cut to make the separation is hidden. Good thinking, Aires! I painted the tail wheel hub RLM 02. I then cleaned the airbrush, got out the black paint, and mounted the black on the airbrush. By now the 02 was dry, so I applied the masks for the tail wheel. I then painted the main wheels black and also the tail wheel. I then cleaned the airbrush again, got out the RLM 02 again, reinstalled the 02 on the airbrush, and put some Glad Cling Wrap around the tail wheel as a mask. The black was pretty much dry by then, so I installed the main wheel masks. The black was not completely set, so I knocked a little of the paint off putting the masks on. Easily fixed with a fine brush. Another Attaboy for Aires here. The mask material is not opaque, but is pretty much translucent, so you can see where the mask is in relation to the hub. Makes the job a lot easier. Spray the 02 on the main wheel hubs. Clean the airbrush and put away the paint. Remove the Glad Cling Wrap and the tail wheel hub masks, then remove the main wheel masks. It's nice to do something where there's a quick feedback and it turns out well. I spent 28 minutes on this kit, from first photo to last. Except I forgot to set the camera for "macro" on the last shot, and had to reshoot it. It took me longer to write this review than to do the modeling part! This is a great job by Aires. The instructions and sequence are well thought out, the wheels are nicely done and well detailed, and the idea of using translucent masks made the job even easier. You go guys! Thanks to John Noack for another adventure in modeling.

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