While this cabinet may be small and easily overlooked, it can bring a sense of realism to a 1/32 display or diorama. As a retired C-130 Crew Chief, I have personally used (and abused!) roll around cabinets such as this.

The kit comes with 9 cast resin parts on three runners. One part, the handle on the top of the box, was broken in my sample. Being fragile, it is easily broken, and I suspect that it was broken in transit. My intent was to repair the handle and install it as intended. However, the hungry carpet monster ate both pieces, so I had to create a new handle from brass rod.

Assembly of this kit is easy, with the only problem that I had was getting the bottom of the cabinet (part 9 on the instruction sheet) absolutely flat. The runner for creating this part covers a good part of the cabinet’s bottom. I recommend sanding the bottom of the cabinet on a flat surface. I didn’t sand it completely flat, and as a result, both part 8s on the bottom of the cabinet did not fit correctly. However, this does not affect the location and height of the wheels.

I would recommend painting the cabinet after installing parts 10 and 11, and before installing the rest of the parts. The instructions say to paint the body of the cabinet red. However, all the ones that I have seen have been painted a shade of green (Testor’s Field Green, FS 34097) that was slightly different than olive drab.

Final assembly went rather fast, and took me approximately a half hour. I started by installing the two handles (they are tiny, so be careful with them!) and the cart’s large handle, which I would highly recommend installing last.

The kit comes with decals, with small black rectangles that represent the dark reflective tape that the Air Force has started to use while I was on active duty. I did not use any of the kit decals, as some of these carts are only used in the hangar, and the numbers that are on the decal sheet didn’t match the numbering system we used for our toolboxes.

Finally, I weathered this tilt cabinet. These kinds of equipment boxes did not stay pristine long on the flightline. The paint fades from exposure to the sun, and it is not unusual to see dents and bent parts on these cabinets, and sometimes they have oil stains from being used as a table (I kid you not!). One of the door handles on my kit isn’t connected to the hole for it, which I have seen during my career. Chipping and rusting was accomplished using artist’s color pencils.

This kit would make any display or diorama “pop”, especially if it is positioned in an odd location, such as next to the aircraft (the doors usually faced the aircraft) or in a corner somewhere. These cabinets get a lot of use (and abuse), and it is not unusual to see them sitting next to an airplane, or put on the edge of the parking ramp (and sometimes in the grass/dirt/etc. that surrounds the parking ramp).

I highly recommend this kit for any 1/32 scale aircraft diorama or having it just sitting somewhere on a base.

A special thanks goes out to Aires for providing this excellent kit for review.