Aires

1/48 Ta 152H-1 Cockpit Set For the Italeri kit

Stock Number: 4406

Reviewed By  Paul Hofle, IPMS# 44622

MSRP: $23.95 Website: www.aires.cz This release from Aires features a complete cockpit set for the 1/48 scale Italeri Ta 152H-1. Included in the set are a resin Cockpit tub, a pilot's seat and Instrument Panel base, a clear acetate panel encompassing printed instruments dials and a gun sight, as well as a photo-etch sheet with instrument panels, seat harness, and rudder pedals, topped off with 3 pages of instructions.

The resin casting is a nice light grey in color, bubble free and quite crisp. In my review sample the control column had broken off in shipping, but was easily reattached with some careful application of CA. Comparing the kit cockpit with the one supplied by Aires shows how much of an improvement the Aires set is. Even the seat cushion detail is a big improvement. The single piece instrument panel coaming is a particularly nice touch, although it does mean careful removal of the kit coaming to get a tight fit; its well worth not having to fiddle with filling the kit's seam later. I found the edges of the instrument panel a little wider than the area left when the two fuselage halves are joined, but nothing a little thinning of the interior fuselage with a sharp scraper didn't fix. Construction was uncomplicated. I left the three resin pieces separate until the very end of construction and painting; when I added the seat to the cockpit tub.

I formed the two photo-etched rudder pedals and added them to the cockpit tub. Then I joined the upper instrument panel faces together by removing photo-etch part 2 and gluing it to part 1 while it was still on the photo-etch sheet. I then sprayed the three resin assemblies and the photo-etched instrument panels RLM 66. When the paint was dry I carefully detail painted the control column, various buttons and knobs, seat cushion etc. The rudder pedals were painted aluminum, and the seat cushion leather. The instrument panel faces were carefully dry brushed black to highlight the instrument bezels. At this point I sealed everything with a quick coating of matt clear, and when dry did a little wash to highlight the recesses with a thin mix of black and brown watercolors. Assembly of the instrument coaming was fairly easy, the acetate is sandwiched between the resin backing and the photo-etch parts. I applied white enamel paint to the back of the acetate to act as both glue and to highlight the printed detail. After this was attached to the resin combing I brushed future on the acetate and pressed on the photo-etch panels; this not only acts as the adhesive but levels very well and adds a shine to the instrument dials. The seat harnesses were painted on the photo-etch fret and then assembled, bent and glued to the seat; this was then attached to the cockpit tub - completing this project. I now have a really nice cockpit ready to install in the Ta 152 H-1. I would like to thank Aires and IPMS USA for providing me with this review sample.