IPMS/USA Detail Review: Aires 1/48 P-39 Wheel Wells

Aires

1/48 P-39 Wheel Wells
For the Hasegawa Kit

Stock Number: 4420

Reviewed By Charles Landrum, IPMS# 26328

MSRP: $13.00
Website: www.aires.cz

Aires has introduced a set of replacement wheel wells for the Hasegawa P-39. Made of durable gray resin, the set includes: the main wells, main gear doors and nose wheel well. The kit details are pretty nice and begged the question, do they need replacing. So I did a side by side comparison of the parts.

The main wheel wells of the Hasegawa kit are boxed both where the wheel stores and the strut. On the prototype the edge of the well at the strut is recessed. There should also be lightening holes in the main well sidewall where the wheel recesses. The Aires parts correct these details and are essentially corrected copies of the Hasegawa well.
The Hasegawa main gear doors have nice detail but two ejector pin markings on each. The Aires parts are copies with the ejector marks removed.
The nose well on the Hasegawa is a two part affair that replicates the prototype except for some hydraulic detail. The Aires nose well is one piece copy that adds some plumbing detail.

To use this set you will need to remove the kit main wheel wells since they are molded to the lower wing of the Hasegawa kit. This will take some steady surgery. For the nose well, since it is one piece, all you have to do is sand away the detail on the underside of the cockpit floor; Aires omitted this step from their instructions. The main gear doors are a drop in replacement.

The question the modeler needs to ask - " is the effort to remove the main wheel wells worth the extra detail that Aires provides? " In my opinion no; unless you are a diehard fan of the P-39 and want that extra level of detail I think that the kit components are workable. I also think that the replacement nose wheel well adds little in additional detail and that the kit main gear doors are fixable.

So I recommend the Aires set based on level of detail and cleanness of the casting. I let the modeler decide if the additional detail is worth the labor.