Gloster Gladiator Air Intakes
Want an easy upgrade the new tool Airfix kits of the Gloster Gladiator? Step right up to the new Quickboost Gloster Gladiator air intakes that provide a beautiful replacement to the kit parts. The supplied instructions identify which Airfix kit provided plastic parts with the new Quickboost replacements.
Quickboost has molded the air intakes perfectly in light tan resin with no apparent bubbles. The Quickboost air intakes 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.
Quickboost (QB1) provides the two trumpet shaped air intakes that protrude through the engine to replace the Airfix parts (B13). These intakes have the proper intake lip angle and are hollowed out at the front to provide a great improvement over the Airfix parts. Fit with the receptacles at the back of the engine is somewhat loose with both the Airfix and Quickboost air intakes, so be careful with your alignment.
The standard Gladiator carburetor intake (QB3 and Airfix A18) fits at the lower rear of the engine cowling where the air intake vanes highlight the Quickboost part. The Irish Gladiator intake (QB2 and Airfix A16) also fits at the lower rear of the engine cowling and also displays a great hollowed intake with good depth. As always, check your reference photos for placement and alignment. A good source is Richard Griffith’s walk around of the Imperial War Museum Gladiator (N5903) on Facebook.
Be very careful removing the parts from the resin block, especially the two air intakes that fit through the engine. I used a photo-etched razor saw to remove the parts and then touched up with a swipe of a sanding stick. Total preparation time for the air intakes was under five minutes.
This product is a good way to enhance your Gloster Gladiator and well worth the time and cost. This product is highly recommended due to the superior appearance of the Quickboost parts and attention to detail.
Thanks to Aires Hobby Models and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this set.
Reviewer Bio
Frank Landrus
Frank retired from the Ophthalmic industry with over thirty-six years of Research and Development experience. Frank's first model kit was a 1959 Hawk 1/72 US Marines Vought AU-1 Corsair and has been building models for over sixty years. Frank's first encounter with IPMS was attending a North Central Texas ScaleFest show in 1984. Frank soon became more involved in Make-N-Take activities and became the IPMS Western Coordinator for Make-N-Takes [West of the Mississippi River]. Make-N-Takes quickly became a local model contest and airshow staple reaching a high of reaching over 1,300 children before the COVID shutdown. Frank has volunteered to assist in contest judging since 1985 and is currently the Nationals Head Figure Judge until he is dead or they find someone better.
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