Aires continues its rich tradition of detailed aftermarket parts with a wheel set for the Kinetic S-2 Tracker. This set contains two front wheels and two main wheels as well as a masking set for the wheels to help painting. The set is cast in Aires’ usual gray resin and has no defects or issues.

The set is simple to use. The wheels can be trimmed from the pour stubs. One thing you will need to do is to sand the mold seam off and rescribe the wheel treads. Total prep time is maybe 5-10 minutes. You will also need to drill the hole slightly deeper to allow the axle to slide fully into the wheel.

The kit wheel has a separate hub and a two-part wheel. To build it, you paint the hub and glue the two wheel parts over it. This leaves a seam that needs sanded down and then painted. The Aires set wheel is a single piece with better detail. It also has a masking set, allowing the wheel to be painted and then masked and the hub painted.

The feature article of September’s issue covers some of battleships of the Pacific during the Second World War. They use the Hasegawa 1/450th Yamato (there are actually two builds of this particular model by two builders), Fujimi 1/700 Kirishima, Pit Road 1/700 USS North Carolina 1944, Dragon 1/700 USS Pennsylvania 1944, and the HP Models HP 1/700 USS Tennessee 1944 as representatives of some of the vessels that were used by the Allies and Axis. Each model is beautifully built and accompanied with color photographs during the build and b&w in-action photos. This article encompasses thirty six pages of this issue.

Jeep must be an American icon. They’ve been around forever and keep on going.

Engine

Well, there isn’t an engine. All you get is an oil pan molded into the chassis.

Chassis

The chassis features nice detail and crisp engraving. The exhaust pipe, front and rear differentials, and springs are separate assemblies. The kit comes with actual springs for springs – they were a very pleasant surprise. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to screw the chassis to the body, but this kit calls for it. Fit is right on and the screw heads are covered by the suspension parts. The kit also has metal axles to hold the wheel/tires to the suspension. Wheels are gorgeous bead-lock units and the no-name tires are just beautiful. I’d like to see the wheels/tires in a Revell Parts Pack that they had years and years ago.

You want your Flogger to stand out on the model table? How about opening up the entire nose section? Now we are talking. What can be cooler than complete electronic bays? Normally the whole process would be hours of research, and then hours of scratchbuilding. Thanks to Aires, this will be significantly easier.

You get 25 high-quality light grey resin pieces that feature bulkheads, access panels, and radio/radar equipment. Unlike most Aires sets, this set does not come with any photo etch parts. Everything is rendered perfectly in resin. The bays are deep and have the equipment added from behind. Just exquisite molding.

You think you have to wire the electronics? Nope; miraculously, Aires has even molded the wiring. All the modeler will need to do is artful painting.

Plusmodel’s Aero Line continues its tradition of providing the modeler with simple and interesting pilot figures. The latest is a pilot for the MiG-15. This is a two-piece figure. The biggest part is the pilot himself. The other piece is the parachute pack. Both are perfectly cast in light grey resin. There is very little clean-up required. The thin wafer of material around the figure is easily removed by hand and cleaned up with a sharp blade. The face is perfectly formed. The proportion of the figure are perfect. The stance of the pilot is relaxed and completely natural. The equipment is perfectly sculpted, as well. I could not find anything I didn’t like. The small parachute pack is easily attached to the pilot’s backside.

The figure is safely packaged in a plastic container with the parts safeguarded by a piece of foam. Included on the packaging is a painting of the figure. Inside the packaging is the same painting but much larger.