Aires specializes in creating replacement parts for kit items that are either lacking in detail or have detail that isn’t quite sharp enough. This set provides replacement parts for the exhaust nozzles for the Academy kit of the F-22 Raptor.

The set is cast in medium grey resin, with no pinholes or miscast parts, along with a nice photoetch sheet for fine parts. The set includes the aft end of the turbine compressors and the afterburner section. The flame holders from the PE sheet are attached to the end of the compressor section, then the afterburner tube is added. The four long triangular pieces are the side pieces of the vectoring nozzles, and the smaller, wider, triangles are the vectoring parts of the nozzles. Each of them receives one of the four “batwing”-shaped pieces of PE, adding to the detail.

The Staghound Armoured Car was produced in America for the British Army and other Allied forces. It first went into action in Italy in 1943. The Staghound Mk. III had a modified Crusader turret with an Ordnance QF 75 mm gun. The bow machine gun was not fitted. It was supplied to some British armoured car regiments during 1944. I have seen the number produced listed as 37 and as 100.

Bronco Models has released this vehicle as their first 1:48 scale kit. The kit consists of 5 sprues of dark yellow plastic parts, one of clear plastic, a small photo etched fret, a length of nylon string, a small decal sheet for 2 vehicles, and a 15 page, 22 step construction booklet. All the parts and the decal sheet are in plastic bags.

Included in the box are two identical sprues, molded in hard grey plastic. Each sprue contains 9 parts to build a complete 81mm Mortar and a crew of two with a base, as well as 3 additional parts for use with the Art of Tactic ruleset. Also included are two game data cards for use with the Art of Tactic ruleset and an instruction sheet. Only minor flash was present and was easily cleaned off with a sharp knife.

Assembly is easy and straightforward. The kit is a snap-together kit, and the model builds quite well in this manner with no major gaps are seen. However, I glued my sample together for stability while painting. The plastic base supplied with the kit is superbly detailed with ground texture compared to other figure manufacturers in this scale and price range, and all the alignment pegs in the figure fit perfectly into the alignment holes in the base.