Aires has come out with a nice upgrade for the Hasegawa A6M series of kits with their horizontal control surfaces set. The Aires parts allow you to alter the position of the elevators and provide improved stabilizer to elevator detail. There are no supplied instructions; you simply swap out the kit provided plastic parts with the new Aires replacements.

Aires has molded the stabilizer and elevator perfectly in light grey resin with no apparent bubbles. The Aires stabilizer and elevator are supplied on a single resin sprue with thin resin attachments to the parts that should minimize any cleanup.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash the parts to remove any remaining mold release and prime them first. They will need to be installed with your favorite CA (super glue) or epoxy, as the normal plastic glues or solvents will not react with the resin.

Highly recommended!

History

In response to the USAF’s 1970’s initiatives to launch new fighters, the F-15 and F-16, the Soviet Union fielded their own modern equivalents, the Su-27 Flanker and Mig-29 Fulcrum. All these aircraft are still in service with their respective, and other, countries. During the last twenty years, the Mig-29 has even seen service in several nations that are now part of NATO. They mostly operate as interceptors. In the plastic modeling world, the F-15, F-16, and Su-27 have been well represented in kits, but the Mig-29, not so much. Trumpeter has filled the void with a quality model of an early production version, Product 9-12, of the Fulcrum.

History

Due to a urgent need for tank destroyers towards the end of WWII the United States took the turret from the M36 and mounted it on a M4A3 hull and chassis. The reason for the use of the M36 turret was that it packed a 90mm gun that could destroy German armor from a distance.

Kit

When you open the box, you will find it packed with ten sprues of green plastic, one photo etch sprue, several loose parts in green plastic and one section of rope. For you spare parts lovers, there is a plethora of leftover parts. Sherman fans may find these most useful.