Aires

1/72 - F-15E Strike Eagle Exhaust Nozzles For the Hobby Boss kit

Stock Number: 7235

Reviewed By  Ben Guenther, IPMS# 20101

MSRP: $23.50 Website: www.aires.cz This is Aires' fifth 1/72 scale exhaust nozzle set for the F-15 Eagle. Of the previous four sets; two were for the F-15C (both Hasegawa) and two were for the F-15E Strike Eagle. (Academy and Hasegawa) This new set has been sized to fit the Hobby Boss F-15E, but more about that soon. You get two cast resin nozzles, with excellent details inside and out, as well as two exhaust tubes that have interior detail. Two aft turbine blade assemblies are provided to plug the otherwise open hole and the afterburner assembly is provided for each via two photo etch parts. Finally, you are given 32 rods that are mounted on the outside of the nozzles to move the petals, fifteen per nozzle so you have two extra just in case. The instructions clearly show you where material has to be removed and I used a Zona saw to cut the casting blocks off the nozzles and exhaust tubes. A flat file cleaned up the cut and I proceeded to paint both these parts with a flat white lacquer on the inside surfaces. Photos show that part of the nozzle and exhaust tube interior have bands of a dark metallic color so after the white paint had dried I used masking tape to mask off sections that would be spray painted with Alclad II Steel. Once dry the masks were removed and a dark brown/black acrylic wash was applied to pick up all that nice details. The exterior of the nozzle was painted with Model Master Titanium and Aluminum; with the Titanium getting a flat Aluminum dry brushing later. The rods were applied as per instructions. You'll have to be careful in removing the rods from the casting block as the rods are spaced closely together. You'll also have to remove the thin resin web on each rod as these aren't on the real rods. Once the rods were glued on using CA I painted them with Model Master Stainless Steel and then cut out the photo etch afterburner ring assembly and carefully placed it inside of the exhaust tube. I tried different ways to get that ring to stay put and glued in place but finally had to place some white glue on the turbine blade cone and let the ring settle on to it and be glued in place. Some thin CA bonded the turbine blade assembly to the exhaust tube. I don't have the Hobby Boss F-15E kit so I can't comment on how these exhaust nozzles fit that kit, but I thought I see if they would fit the Academy and Revell F-15E kits that I do have. Well they don't fit either, in both cases the Aires set is larger and can't be made to fit. So the Hobby Boss nozzle must be slightly larger than the Academy and Revell kits. Regardless, this exhaust nozzle set has excellent details inside and out and I'm sure it will make the Hobby Boss F-15E more accurate. I can recommend the use of this set for any modeler wanting to improve his Hobby Boss F-15E. I want to thank IPMS/USA and Aires for the opportunity to review this product.