Product/Stock #

• 148 003 Navy Chock/ Bar (Early Production) $5.99
• 148 002 Universal Navy Chock/Rope (Early Production) $4.99
• 148 006 Universal Navy Chock/Rope (Late Production) $4.99

Anyone’s who’s seen the Aires line of detailed aftermarket aircraft parts is well aware of the high quality and attention to detail that goes into all their products. Now, Aries has dug even deeper into scale modeling minutiae with their offering of these 1/48th scale Wheelliant resin wheel chock sets. These ubiquitous pieces of equipment are on hand wherever Naval Aviation is found, on land or at sea.

The three sets reviewed here are all representative of modern day Navy polyurethane wheel chocks. All are extremely well cast, with intricate tread patterns on the blocks and grooves on the extension bars. The Chock & Bar set also contains a short ~1.5” length of thin wire (which I managed to lose right off the bat, before I could even photograph everything) which serves as a locking pin handle (see accompanying photo of the real thing). The Chock & Rope sets each contain a short length of white thread to connect the chocks (one package came with a 2.5” piece –more than enough for two sets of chocks; and the other with a 1.5” piece – barely enough. Why the difference? I suppose one can clandestinely raid the wife’s sewing box if need be).

To be honest, I was hard pressed to tell the difference between the “early production” chocks and the “late production” ones until I broke out the magnifying glass and noticed a slight difference in the tread design between the “early” and the “late” chocks. That just goes to show you how good Wheelliant’s mold designers are. Then again, what modeler is ever going to look that closely at a model, right (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)?

Other than those minor differences, the blocks in all three of these sets are essentially the same. A cursory Google search of Navy wheel chocks showed me many images of deck apes using these exact chock/bars on carrier flight decks, but none of the chocks with rope. My very dated NavAir experience indicates that chock/rope types were confined to shore duty, but perhaps times have changed. No doubt a deeper search would provide better results, but all the images that I came across showed a different style of block with the Navy’s chock/rope units than what these Chock & Rope sets use. (Wheelliant also makes replicas of these standard wooden chocks). If you’re a stickler for that kind of detail, double check your references.

Nevertheless, each of these sets is very well made. You needn’t be making a diorama to use these with your next modern aircraft build if you just want to add an extra touch of realism, and keep them from rolling off the shelf.

Thanks to Aires for supplying the review sample.