Aires Quickboost has released a replacement for the Eduard series of 1/72 MiG-15 kits that replaces the kit air intake with a resin air intake. There are no instructions but this is a replacement for the kit part.

Quickboost has molded the air intake in light tan resin with no apparent bubbles. The Quickboost air intake is supplied on its own resin sprue with a thin resin attachment to the air intake. On my example there is some excess resin on the indents where the intake splitter fits that will have to be removed for the splitter to fit properly.

Although most paints will adhere to resin alone, I would recommend that you wash this part to remove any remaining mold release and prime it first. This part 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.

I used a photo-etched razor saw to remove the part and then touched up the rear with several swipes of a sanding stick. To fit the intake splitter I used a micro chisel to take the excess resin out (see the comparison pic below). There is no modification to the kit required, the new air intake simply is placed where the kit air intake would go. Not counting painting, total preparation time for the air intake is less than ten minutes.

So what is different? First off the S-13 gun camera fairing is slightly different between the Eduard part and the Quickboost part. I reviewed several references, and the difference is in my opinion best shown on pages 16 and 17 of the Squadron Walk Around (5540) on the MiG-15. The Eduard depiction appears to show the gun camera installed, the Quickboost part appears to show the gun camera removed from the fairing. One may be able to solve this if you paint the inside of the housing black and place a few drops of Future to give the appearance of the camera lens.

Second, as you look at the front of the Eduard part, there is a panel line at nine-o-clock. This panel line is not present on the Quickboost part. I could find no references that would support this panel line in that position.

The third difference involves the gun blast shields. The Eduard part depicts the large one-piece gun blast shields that were typical of the majority of MiG-15bis Fagot-B aircraft that provided protection for the cannons on both the port and starboard sides. The Quickboost part only depicts a blast shield on the port side, but no blast shield for the starboard side. As always, check your references!

Thanks to Aires Hobby Models and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review this set.