Aires

1/48 F-22 Cockpit Set & Exhaust Nozzles Set For the Academy Kit

Stock Number: 4410 & 4430

Reviewed By  Dave Morrissette, IPMS #33653

F-22 Cockpit Set Part No. 4410 MSRP: $29.95 F-22 Exhaust Nozzles Part No. 4430 MSRP: $29.95 Website: www.aires.cz Academy issued its 1/48th scale F-22 to a lot of great reviews as the kit has good fit and good detail. The two areas that need a little nudge are the cockpit and the exhaust mostly due to the limitations of injection molding. The cockpit in the kit is basic; the Aires cockpit is a gem! It includes the cockpit tub, an excellent resin seat, instrument panel and coaming, a new canopy railing and parts for the locks to the canopy. All this is resin, enhanced by a small photo etched fret that is used for the seat belts and detail bits like the HUD. The seat and PE belts are a great improvement to the kit parts and that is expected. The resin is perfectly cast and the detail on each part is better than the kit. This shines in areas that include wiring and piping which Aires does a great job replicating. The best part, IMO, is the canopy rail and locking mechanisms. These are not present on the kit and Aires has all the wiring and ducting on the frame plus all the locks to set off the area. The exhausts on the Raptor are different from most other planes in that the F-22 uses vectored thrust engines. Academy does a good job replicating this, but the Aires set goes one up on it. By using resin and photo etch, the Aires set provides the texture and feel of the real exhaust, plus it eliminates that almost impossible-to-remove seam in the two-piece Academy exhausts. The Aires set comprises two seamless tubes for the interior plus accurate engine faces in resin. PE is used to duplicate the flame holders and the insulating panels on the sides near the engine exhausts. The remaining parts are the afterburner petals to the engines and come in two parts each that looks great. Both of these sets are highly recommended and will provide excellent upgrades for a great Academy kit. My thanks to David Lajer, Aires and IPMS/USA for the review samples.