The AIRES 1/72 Mig-15 control surfaces aftermarket set gives you elevators and horizontal stabilizers for the Eduard 1/72 Mig-15 kit. The four piece set replaces the two single piece horizontal stabilizers and elevators. The difference is that with the AIRES parts you get separate elevators so you can position them. When I compared the kit parts to the aftermarket parts the resin parts were a bit finer in size and shape and the detail was slightly more refined. The biggest gain of the AIRES set is the positional elevators.

Those who have studied the collapse of the mighty French military machine in May 1940 at the hands of Germany’s armed forces know that it wasn’t a lack of quality fighting equipment as much as an inability to utilize it effectively that sunk the French cause. In a number of large and small battles between the two sides, effective French leadership together with the proper tactical use of the equipment at hand had the French blunting if not outright defeating their German counterparts. And when it came to tanks in particular, the French had some pretty formidable weaponry. One of the finest tanks of the day was the French Somua S35, weighing in at 20 tons, and carrying a 47mm main gun plus a coaxial machinegun. With frontal armor at 40mm, this was equal to anything the Germans had on hand at the time. It also had mobility, able to reach speeds of 29 mph on improved roads.

The new website for Airscale (Model Aircraft Enhancements), out of the UK, describe the company as providing ‘High resolution cockpit detailing for aircraft modellers’. This is my first exposure to this company’s impressive products, which range from 1/48th through 1/24th scales and include highly detailed cockpit decals placards, and etched brass. The decals are offered as individual images as well as full panels, and products are offered for WWI, WWII and post-war, for RAF, USAF, USN and Luftwaffe, and for prop aircraft and jets. Their website is well designed, easy to navigate, and they take PayPal. ‘Comprehensive’ is the word that comes to mind, and I will be returning to their site often.

Eduard recently released two very good 1/144 MiG-15 kits. This is the PE detail set designed to make the kit even better.

What you get is a fairly small PE fret with color cockpit components and aluminum colored parts. This is pretty good, since most of the exterior parts are will be natural aluminum when finished. There are only enough parts to upgrade one aircraft per PE set.

The Cockpit

This utilizes the Eduard cockpit tub. I painted the interior medium gray (36320) and the seat black. Then the PE instrument panel goes in, and the PE seat belts. The seat belts are absolutely super. There are also two side consoles and two handles which go in the cockpit. I used Gator Glue to put these parts in.

Following the instructions, I put the cockpit into the fuselage along with the intake splitter, and glued the fuselage halves (top & bottom) together. Back to the PE.

The one-off racing car “Eldridge", derived from the old Fiat SB4 chassis, became known as Mephistofele for the infernal noise emitted by its powerful aircraft 6-cylinder in-line engine, giving a capacity over 20,000 cm3, not attenuated by exhaust mufflers kept “free” to provide the most significant performance. On 12th July 1924 in Arpajon, the Mefistofele was able to reach, driven by its pilot and designer Ernest Eldrige, the amazing speed, for the time, of 146.01 miles per hour (over 230 Km/h) and broke the World Land Speed Record achieving an impressive result. The Mefistofele, was characterized by the high back bodywork able to contain the powerful Fiat A-12 liquid-cooled engine and for its structure especially made to achieve the speed record.