Aires

1/72 A-7E Corsair II Cockpit set. For the Hobby Boss kit.

Stock Number: 7228

Reviewed By  Mike Howard, IPMS# 30741

MSRP: $17.95 Website: Aires Aires is well known for their finely detailed resin accessories and this new item continues this fine tradition. This cockpit set, designed for the Hobby Boss early A-7E series, contains a combination of resin, photo etched (PE) metal, and printed acetate parts. As this is a mixed media set, with some kit surgery required, having some intermediate level modeling skills is highly advised before jumping into this one. My first mistake in performing this review was to assume that the cockpit set was for the older Fujimi A-7E kit. When it arrived and I found out it was for the Hobby Boss kit, which I don’t own, I contacted the powers that be at IPMS. I mentioned that, on initial appearances, the set could be made to fit the Fujimi kit, but asked if I should return the set rather than try to adapt it. I was given the clearance to move ahead with working to fit this to the Fujimi kit, so a portion of this review will be addressing that side of the cockpit construction. (Aires does make a very similar resin cockpit set specifically for the Fujimi kit, #7147) This Aires set most definitely improves the very basic detail that is provided by Fujimi in all aspects of the cockpit. Here are some pictures to illustrate the levels of difference in detail that the excellent Aires resin and PE parts provide:

I started by washing off all of the resin parts with Polly “S” Plastic Prep and allowing some time to dry. The seat was assembled, with the exception of the ejection handle and harnesses and readied for painting. Next all of the resin and PE parts were sprayed with MM Dark Gull Gray (FS 36231). Once that was dry I painted the details with various colors, based on my references and then assembled the PE/acetate/resin sandwich that makes up the instrument panel. All of this was left to dry for a day in the food dehydrator (I use forced heating to speed drying in the damp, cold “Great Northwest” winters here in Washington state). The first thing that needs to be done to fit the cockpit tub into the kit fuselage halves is to mark and cut the instrument coaming and also the small overhang at the back of the cockpit area. Next is to sand the sides of the cockpit tub very thin (I got a little carried away with the coarse grit side of the sanding stick as can be seen in the pictures!! OOPS) and also taper the front area of the tub. The insides of the fuselage were also scraped down to help accommodate the resin tub. Lots of test fitting of the cockpit tub into the fuselage will need to be done to determine when you’ve removed enough material. Based on how much material was removed, there is apparently a pretty big difference in the Fujimi and Hobby Boss kit. Finally, after all of the dry-fitting and additional sanding, the tub fits in with minimal compression required to bring the fuselage halves together. The next challenge is getting the instrument panel/coaming assembly to sit properly and allow the front windscreen to also sit where it should. Some carving, shimming and more sanding was needed to get the assembly to meet up correctly with the cockpit tub and the fuselage sides. At first it appears that there is a large gap between the front of the coaming and the fuselage that will need to be addressed, but once the windscreen is put in place, this gap is not at all noticeable or visible. I delayed installing the PE/acetate HUD, but realized that I needed to be sure that there was sufficient clearance between the two or else the windscreen still wouldn’t fit correctly. The side supports of the HUD are two separate PE pieces that fit into small slots on the resin coaming. To ensure these parts fit in deeply and securely, I used the back of an X-Acto blade to remove the paint and enlarge these slots. This worked well to allow a much more positive placement and the parts were glued with CA. The reflector plate is printed with a black outline on the acetate sheet and, with a little trimming, fits quite nicely. To secure the different media (PE and acetate) I used Testors clear parts cement on the bottom and Future along the sides where the PE and acetate touch. This gave a pretty good bond and the slightly hazy acetate is now very clear (due to the coat of Future).

The seat (an ESCAPAC seat) paints up quite nicely. The harnesses are multi-piece PE and don’t require any folding together or lacing of parts through each other (big relief for me!). The shoulder harnesses are five parts and the lap belts are four. At the top of the seat are the canopy breakers, in PE and some connecting straps that are resin. I. of course, managed to drop the small connecting straps/bars and fabricated new ones from some brass rod. There are two small resin pieces for the “head knocker” arming device that must be added to the head rest. These fit well, but are very small! An additional small piece if stretched sprue or small diameter wire also needs to be added to the left side of the seat. Finally the ejection handle, located at the front center, is put on. The seat slides down into the rails of the seat tub and this positions it exactly where it needs to be. With the seat installed, I added the control stick, which completes the cockpit assembly. The only piece that has yet to be added is the canopy lift piston and that will be put in place when the entire build is nearly finished. In conclusion, the Aires cockpit set, designed for the Hobby Boss kit, can be made to work with the Fujimi kit, though some extra effort is definitely needed. If I had it to do over again, I would have found a Hobby Boss kit through one of the modeling web sites (I’ve seen them going for as little as $12.00, second hand) and fitted the cockpit to it. The detailing cast into the resin is excellent, very petite and can be readily brought out with some careful painting, washing and dry-brushing. Ultimately this set does a great deal to enhance the cockpit area of the kit and, when applied to the correct kit, shouldn’t be anything that the average builder can’t handle. A big “Thanks” goes out to Aires and IPMS USA for this highly recommended review sample.