Quickboost is a line of resin replacement parts produced by Aires of the Czech Republic. The idea is to provide the AMS sufferer with parts which replace the details provided with their kits, which are “not up to standard”, whatever that standard may be. In this case, it’s the engines and upper turret guns on the Dragon/Bilek P-61. Here’s a drawing of Bilek’s P-61:

Note for the Dragon kit, the turret is blanked off, no .50 caliber guns at all.

Now for a small problem doing more than a “first look review”. The Dragon kit is unavailable. It’s not listed in their catalog, and I couldn’t find one anywhere. Ditto for the Bilek kit, although it’s probably available in Eastern Europe. I couldn’t find anything on it at Hannants. It’s now there under “new arrivals”.

SO, I went ahead and did the review with what I had. The old, awful Airfix P-61. The one I couldn’t sell for $3 ten years ago, so it’s still in the stash. Sigh.

Of course with the project nearing completion, I got my hands on a Dragon kit. That’s where the boxtop scan came from.

Engines:
Each engine is nicely molded, with both rows of the radial. There are 2 parts which I think are distributors, and the air intake. Each engine is finely molded, flash free, beautiful. I had no problem doing the assembly, but the engines didn’t fit the Airfix cowlings. I cut the Airfix parts, rather than ruin the nice resin.

The Quickboost engines are far superior to Airfix’s offering. Since I now have a Dragon kit to look at, Quickboost’s are better. The Dragon engines only have one row of cylinders, and the small details aren’t as clean or good looking as the Quickboost engines. For these reasons, I do recommend these engines for the extreme AMS sufferer.

But here’s the catch. The P-61 had close cowlings and large spinners. You really can’t see all that wonderful detail in there.

Guns:
OK, here’s a replacement / add-on which is really useful. The guns are very nicely molded, very finely done. They have the cooling ports in the barrel shrouds, and the very tiny holes for the muzzles are there. These are definitely far superior to Airfix’s 4 little sticks with zero detail. Since my Dragon kit is the “gunless” version, I can’t tell if they’re better, but I suspect that I’d have to say yes.

Overall:
I really wish I had the Dragon kit when I started this project a month ago. As it is, I’ve had the Dragon kit for 3 days. The better interior and all-around nicer, cleaner parts would have made the whole experience better. But sometimes you go with what you’ve got.

I also added True Details wheels to this project. What the heck, if you’re putting lipstick on a pig, and mascara too, why not add some eye shadow?

Quickboost parts are available at fine hobby shops and online stores.

Thanks to John Noack and Quickboost for the review parts.