Quickboost

1/48 Spitfire 22/24 Cowling & Exhausts For the Airfix 1/48 Spitfire 22/24 or Seafire 46/47.

Stock Number: QB48-236

Reviewed By  Paul Bradley, IPMS# 35554

MSRP: €6.00 (Approx. $7.50) Website: www.quickboost.net The Airfix 1/48 Spitfire 22/24 kit, along with its naval equivalent the Seafire 46/47, are amongst the best kits that venerable British company has produced. Released back in the late-nineties, these have been widely praised, and have recently been re-released by Eduard with all the appropriate goodies. Aires themselves have released various resin detail sets for these kits over the years, but this is the first time they have released a corrective cowling, to alleviate one of the few issues with the base kit. Like the previous Aires cowling set I reviewed, for the Academy XIV, this is a three-part set, comprising a replacement cowling with molded-in rocker cover fairings, plus two sets of exhaust stubs. Unlike that previous set, this does not correct a cowling issue, but instead concentrates on the shape of the rocker cover fairings, which on the kit parts are too large overall, and too broad at the front end. This throws off the look of the nose of the model. Cleanly molded in Aires' standard medium grey resin, the parts need no cleanup before use; indeed, there is no need to remove the pour stub from the cowling part. Placing the cowling simply involves minor surgery on the subject kit, cutting along existing panel lines. Fit is excellent. The exhaust stubs are simple, drop-in replacements for the kit parts. As can be seen from the photos, these parts will make a big difference to the look of the completed model, and are very reasonably priced. That being the case, I can highly recommend them. My thanks to Quickboost for the review samples. Quickboost products are available directly from their website.