This set provides replacement parts for the auxiliary air intakes and associate doors for Academy’s recent 1/72 F-4J kit. The set includes replacement bays for each side, replacing the single part provided in the kit. The set also includes replacement doors and actuators for the doors, again replacing the somewhat simplified kit parts.

As shown in the attached photographs, the resin bays are very nicely detailed and really capture the look of this area of the Phantom’s engine. The doors are very thin and include nice rivet/fastener details on the exterior side and sharp interior details on the other side. The actuators are also crisply molded and Quickboost wisely provides two extra actuators for those of us who are guaranteed to lose at least one of them to the carpet monster. The bays and the doors are sided, as the left side set is different from the right side set, but the bays are conspicuously marked with “L” and “R” on one of their exterior sides and the pour stub for the doors is labeled “L” and “R” next to the appropriate door to help minimize confusion.

Unfortunately, the kit I ordered to install these in is still enroute somewhere, so I cannot comment on how they will fit in the kit. In looking at the kit’s instructions online, I note that the kit includes a portion of the J-79 engines that will need to be installed before closing up the fuselage and wing part, however I do not know where those engines will sit in relation to the aux intake bays, so I do not know if the resin parts will or will not interfere with the installation of the kit engines.

As I have a fairly large pile of Hasegawa 1/72 Phantom kits, I pulled one out to see if I could install the Aires set in one of those kits. Unfortunately, they will not without some significant work. Part of the problem is that when I located the auxiliary intake doors on the Hasegawa kit, I discovered that the corresponding doors on the Hasegawa kit are both longer and wider than the Aires doors. In addition, on the Hasegawa kit, the doors are curved as they follow the contours of the underside of the Phantom, whereas the Aires doors are perfectly flat. I guess the parts could be made to work, but you would have to file in and re-scribe the panels around the auxiliary door in order to get the panel lines, etc., to line up.

This is another nice set from Aires and will look nice painted and installed in your Academy Phantom.

Recommended. Thank you to Aires for providing the review sample and IPMS-USA for letting me review it.