You may remember I was a bit confused by the extra 8 pages in the middle of the last issue I reviewed. This month my habit of reading everything in a magazine paid off. In the Editorial Gary indicated that the extra 8 pages are for subscribers as a extra thank you for fronting up for a year’s sub. This month the extra pages cover the Sub-Cutaneous which is not the name of the 8 pages but an article on Colour. A build of a couple of 1/144th scale Vampires. A page of aircraft model pics from the US Nationals in Omaha (I would have liked these to be part of the regular magazine, but I might be a bit biased). The last 3 extra pages cover a nice build of the Hasagawa 32nd scale A6M5c Zero.

So what is in the rest of the magazine? Quite a bit as usual.

Want an easy upgrade to any 1/48 Saab J 21? Step right up to the new Quickboost Saab J 21 air intake set that provides a beautiful replacement to what is supplied in the kit. As a bonus, you get two air intakes! That’s right! You will find that this honey of a kit is so good you will want to build a second.

The parts are packaged in the standard Quickboost re-closable packaging with a paper stiffener along with the description card. These parts are specific to fit the Pilot Replicas accurate and highly detailed 1/48 Saab J 21 A-3 injected plastic kit. A promised future release of the Saab A 21 will also use the same air intake. I believe this currently is the one and only kit release of a Saab J 21 in 1/48 scale, but I can’t promise you there is not a vacuform kit out there somewhere.

This update set is typical Aires, coming in a sturdy plastic package with foam backing and instructions tucked in between the cardboard back and plastic. First impression is how crisp the detail is on the internal afterburner nozzles and after burner cans. Mold release is non-existent however I still recommend washing the resin before use.

Compared to the Revell kit parts, the Aires set has a finer detailed afterburner fuel manifold & flame stabilizer at an astonishing degree of detail. One word or warning as you will see in the pictures, be very careful when removing the excess material. I used a belt sander and trimmed to what appears correct in the instructions and it gets very thin. Portions of the burner ring backing vanish just leaving the fine webs of the fuel manifold. This will allow you to see right through the part until it is installed on the kit. I fine-tuned removing the back of the part with 600 grit wet/dry sand paper so be very careful.