The usual “Thanks very much” goes out to our friends and suppliers at Aires for providing us a brace of detailed, upgraded Mark 46 torpedoes – excellent parts as usual!

These torpedoes only took about 10 minutes to assemble; careful removal of the parts is called for, as the aft fairing and torpedo fins and propellers are extremely fragile, but they look great once assembled.

There was no filler required on this set; the keyed front body fits tightly into a socket on the aft section with the fins, making them a perfect fit. NO PE FINS OR PROPS! I was so pumped over this…

The instructions include a full-color painting diagram of various Mk 46 torpedoes in use; you just need to figure out which you are using. In my case, simple bare metal with a bit of Titanium silver with a black guidance assembly worked well. Held up next to the only decent Mark 46 out there (from Hasegawa’s SH-3 kit), you can see there are some shape differences, but I can’t tell which is more accurate.

The detail on the Aires parts is much better, with a very fragile aerodynamic fairing over the propellers, separate props, and well-defined carrying straps. There are also some fins on the drogue chute housing, which I could not determine where they “clocked” on the actual item (12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, whatever).

These took a half-hour to assemble and paint. Again, 10 of 10 for detail, fit, and appearance…well done, Aires! And thanks to IPMS USA for allowing me the pleasure of reviewing this product.