Welcome to the world of heavy details. That is the banner on the homepage of Aires Hobby Models.

It is quite apropos. The company, in the Czech republic, has been producing aftermarket resin bits for years. The have an extensive assortment of aircraft air-brakes, arms and weapons, cockpit sets, ejection seats, and figurines. They market their figurines under the Aero Bonus line.

The Aero Bonus line consists of 1/72nd and 1/48th scale figures. Aero Bonus includes a painting guide with each figure as well as recommendations for the kits that would be appropriate for a particular offering(figure). Some of the subjects they offer are designed with a specific kit in mind. However all of their subjects will work nicely with any suitably scaled kit. The subject of this review is one of the recent release from Aero Bonus: a Modern Russian Tank Commander in 1/48th scale.

All of their figures are cast in light gray resin. The Modern Russian Tank Commander figure contains just four parts: legs and torso, left arm, right arm, and head, all on a single casting block. There was minimal flash on my example and the only clean-up that needed doing was the removal of the casting flash between the tank commanders legs. A pleasant surprise was the lack of mold lines on the other bits.

A word or eleven about the quality of their castings: They are excellent and far exceed expectations, particularly in this scale. Their castings are as crisp and detailed as some other manufacturers larger more expensive figures.

The first step, of course, is to remove the parts from the casting block. After clean up, I mounted the figure on a base for easier handling and painting. In my case that base is just a piece of 2X2 knotty pine. At least I think it is knotty pine. It could be a chuck of rare and endangered rosewood but probably not. You may use anything that your heart desires but mounting the figure in this way gives a convenient device for holding the figure as you complete assemble and begin the painting process. Just glue the figure down with some Elmer's or other craft glue and wait for that to dry, thoroughly.

When dry, I attached the arms and head to the torso with superglue. At this point a thorough spray of gray primer is all that's needed before getting to the colors. As mentioned earlier, Aero Bonus does provide a painting guide with generic colors for a Modern Russian Tank Commander. Feel free to consult your own resources and select the color scheme that works best for the project that you’re working on. I choose to go with the provided painting guide.

This beautifully sculpted (note the puckered epaulet on the left shoulder) and well cast figure from Aero Bonus will complement any Russian or Soviet block scene you can imagine.

My thanks to Aires Hobby Models for the review copy.