Aires

1/48 F-105 Thunderchief Wheel bay For the Monogram / Hasegawa kits

Stock Number: 4437

Reviewed By  Rob Folden, IPMS# 45545

MSRP: $26.99 Website: www.aires.cz The old Monogram 1/48 F-105 Thunderchief has been around for MANY years. And until recently, it has been able to hold its own, being the only Thud in that scale. That was until recently when Hobby Boss released an all new F-105 in 1/48 scale. Now the old Monogram Thud needed a facelift. Paging Doctor Aires to the rescue. Aires released a very finely sculpted wheel bay set for the old Thud. Providing full resin bays for the wings and the nose, the set also includes PE screens for the wing bays, and resin door actuators for all the bays. The pieces are very well sculpted with crisp details and little flash. The pour stubs are shallow, yet do require some grinding.

The set is marketed for the Monogram and Hasegawa kits. It just so happens I had the old Monogram kit in my stockpile, so I set to work to see how the bays fit. The nose bay fits in place with little effort, basically replacing the kit part. The wing bays, however, were a different story. The first step is to cut away the molded in sections of the kit bays. Then you have to grind the plastic down to make it as thin as possible, without compromising the integrity. Then, the entire pour stub, and a bit more, most be removed from the back of the resin bay. Make sure to continuously test fit the parts. On my sample, I had to grind away until you could start to see light through the resin. Test fitting showed a good fit, and I glued the part in place on lower wing half using thick CA and accelerator. It wasn't until I went to add the top of the wing, that I found my wing was warped. I began with the wing root, and clamped the parts together, using thick CA to glue from the inside. Eventually, I had the wing completely glued, and after some gentle nudging and bending, the wing was straight.

Overall, I have to say the wheel bays are a vast improvement over the old kit parts. The detail is amazing and I highly recommend them to modelers with experience in resin conversions, as there is some cutting and fitting required. My thanks to Aires for supplying the review sample and to IPMS for allowing me to review it. Happy Modeling!