A-7E Corsair II
A-7D Corsair II
Electronics Bays for Hasegawa

Aires, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

Aires' 1/48 scale A-7E Corsair II Electronics Bay will be available online from Squadron.com
 

The Aires Hobby Models resin avalanche thunders on with the release of two new sets that provide upgraded and enhance electronics (avionics) bays for the ageing Hasegawa 1/48 scale Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II kits.

The subject of this review is 484349 for the Navy version of the Corsair II, the A-7E.

The detail/enhancement set is a mixed media one, it supplies ten resin parts (but you only need eight) as well and six photo-etched ones (again, you only need five of these parts).

The resin parts include the entire avionics bays replete with their crowded interiors as well as the ram air turbine (RAT) and liquid oxygen (LOX) bays, their four individual doors and the RAT arm, base and spinner. The photo-etch parts comprise the mounting base and propeller for the RAT as well as the door operating tracks.

The parts themselves are cast in mid-grey resin. No problems with the casting were evident on my set; there are no mis-casts or pinholes.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

How do the Aires parts compare with the ones supplied in the Hasegawa kit? A definite improvement to say the least and I have included pics of both for comparison purposes with this review. Whilst the four Hasegawa bay doors do exhibit the reinforcement web present on the one-to-one scale versions, the detail is both soft and basic. The four Aires ones on the other hand are crisp, comprehensive and sharp and carry extra riveting detail.

The Hasegawa avionics bays were pretty good for their day but do suffer from soft detail and sink marks. Once painted, washed and dry brushed they looked okay though. They have however been eclipsed by the Aires offerings. They are very well and comprehensively detailed indeed. Are the contents correct? Gee, a hard one! The A-7 has evolved over the years being flown by the U.S. Navy, the USAF, the Portuguese Air Force and the Greek Air Forces and their equipment fit-out varied so it would be a brave man to say ‘yes, the contents of the bays are correct’. What I can say though is that they compare well to the pictures of them that I found in various books and magazines as well as the ones I found on the net.

The RAT itself is vastly different and far more detailed than that provided by Hasegawa. It is in four different parts too with the shaft and spinners as resin parts and the base and propeller as etched metal ones. You get two spare spinners too just in case you lose one to the carpet monster.

Will they fit? To be truthful, all of the Aires sets that I have used needed a lot of cutting, sanding and filing to make them fit. However, Aires does make mention of this on the instruction sheet. You will have to be very careful with this set too as the base of the avionics bay fits onto the top of the airbrake bay.

Assembly instructions are by way of black and white exploded view drawings on a small instruction sheet that also carries a "parts map" to help you identify the pieces.

As with all Aires detail sets, there are no painting instructions provided whatsoever so you will need to find assistance elsewhere – a quick Google will help you here.

Packaging is by way of a plastic blister pack with a stiff cardboard backing. The resin parts being placed in the bottom and larger blister with a foam backing whilst the etch- metal fret is contained in a smaller one at the top.

This is an excellent detail set from Aires. It provides you with enhanced detail pieces that that will make your 1/48 Scale A-7 Corsair II stand out.

Recommended.

Addendum

As mentioned above, Aires provide the same set for the USAF version of the A-7, the A-7D. This set (4350) is essentially the same as the one reviewed above with the exception that the contents of avionics bays differ slightly. The same comments above apply to this set – well and truly worth the price and the effort of adding them to your Hasegawa A-7D kit!
 

Thanks to Aires for the sample

Aires accessories and conversions are available online from Aires website
and in retail model shops worldwide

Review Copyright © 2007 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 18 October, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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