Aires has an obvious love affair with the Ar-196 from Italeri. They offered up no less than two cockpits in their own range. In their Quickboost range they have a corrected cowling, exhausts and weapons. Now the only thing missing from those sets is addressed, the wheels.

Aires provides two main wheels with perfect circumferential tread. They are cast in light grey resin with no bubbles. They are suitably bulged but not overly flat. There isn’t much more to say about the wheels themselves as they are just perfect.

Aires also includes a set of masks which will prove useful in the painting process. There are four masks for both sides of each wheel.

Adding the wheels is as simple as substituting the kit wheels with the resin ones. Simple, easy to use and perfect in their execution. You can’t ask for more from an aftermarket set.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Aires and IPMS/USA for the review copy.

This set consists of 4 figures all conducting land mine removal.

The figures come on two sprues with 67 parts, the bulk of which are the odds and ends that the soldiers are carrying. The box art and instructions on the back of the box show the figures as completed. The first figure is using a probe to find mines, the second is digging with a spade, the third is removing (or placing) a mine, and the fourth is using a mine detector. The poses are well done and depict a reasonable amount of action.

The set had very minimal flash and no ejection pin marks. What mold lines that were there were easily removed with a sharp blade. There are no decals and the painting instructions are just for the major items. You will need to copy what you see in the illustration or consult your references for actual colors for the badges, shoulder boards, and metals. The paint colors are coded for Vallejo, Testors, Tamiya, Humbrol, Revell, and Mr. Color.

Aires continues to produce some very finely detailed resin parts that upgrade the accuracy of model manufacturer’s releases. The Aires Hobby Models F-100C/D exhaust nozzle for the Trumpeter 1/72 F-100 is no exception. It is molded at the correct length, and comes with a very nice turbine complete with fins and a photo etch flame holder, plus a really nice ribbed burner can and exhaust. The interior of the burner can has only one barely perceptive seam on the inside, but I can certainly deal with it being there. When compared with the short, two pieces can from the kit, it’s a no brainer. I’m still trying to clean up the seams in the 1/8^thinch space between the internal ridges. And there are no nasty ejector pin marks to clean up, either. I don’t know how Aires made the mold, but I’m happy with it. The kit burner can has two locator rings molded to it and corresponding grooves on each of the fuselage halves, which lock and align the can in place.