Need advice: cockpits

[pubkeybreaker]

The cockpits by Aires for the Tamiya F14 & F15 are horribly expensive. 

Although superbly detailed, I have seen reviews that they do not fit well.

If I am paying $65 for a cockpit, the least I can expect is that it fits!

 

Both Black Box and Teknics seem defunct. The Eduard PE cockpits

really don't provide the details.

 

I am seeking wisdom: Can people advise as to alternatives to the Aires?

 

Or perhaps, do people think that they are so superbly detailed that Aires is

worth the price despite the bad fit??

[DesTROYer]

Are you a modeler or an assembler? A modeler will make it fit and will find it all worth while...  Another option is to use the Eduard photo etch sets to improve the kits own pit, and scratch build what you can that may still may be missing.

I usually feel cheated of a challenge if its all too easy and try and teach myself a new skill or try something difficult with every new build.

 

My recommendation would be to give the Eduard sets ago with the kit parts and if you aren't satisfied with the result, the splash out for the Aires set. Its amazing how much you learn and improve when you push yourself.

[Bill_S]

I can't speak for the F-14 or F-15 Aires cockpits, but I bought one for my Tamiya F-4. It was quite a bit of work to get it to fit, but the end result was, in my opinion, well worth it. I hate the textured look of Eduard's pre-painted instrument panels.

[Jasta 14 addict]

You have to make a choise between what you want to pay, and how much detail you want to put inside you're model.

 

Just beware, if you chose to use aftermarket, it's not a shake and bake kit anymore, work is needed to make all detail set's get a good fit.

If you want to use Aires stuff, you know that sometimes the fit isn'T really the best, but, you get a whole load of very nice detail and extra's, that is something you have to consider for youreself.

.

If you find the Aires pit to expensive, then there are others, like Eduard colored pe set's, but just know that you have also some work to do, these set's also are not perfect and you will have not the same result like an Aires pit. To get to that, i think you will have to put an equal effort to get to an equal result.

 

Just think about the fact, that you're model it's worth it,if you want my opinion :

 

Lot's of modellers have fitted with succes the Aires pit's of both Tamiya F-14 and F-15 into theire model, so it can be done, why wouldn't you. About the price, you have to see for youreself, but Aires stuff isn't really that expensive in my opinion.

 

Succes with you're project.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

Edited September 21, 2016 by DannyVM

[cbk57]

I would not take the modeler vs assembler view of this question personally. I phrase it more like the following, how much of my sanity is it worth, and how determined am I to expend my mental and financial resources to achieve that end. Sometimes that means making a compromise like using the kit parts and upgrading some bits such as some of the Eduard set. Sometimes that means going the full Aires set which typically does require more work to make it fit, however typically is superbly detailed.

 

Also time is money. You might expend 10 times as much of your time replicating the detail of the Aires pit that with painting and a few hours of thinning plastic and resin will fit into your airplane. A good aftermakerket set will ideally improve detail and reduce complexity of adding details that would otherwise take you many more hours of work and research to recreate yourself. There are examples on this forum of modelers who spend a great amounts of time scratch building details and doing extraordinary works on this website. I highly respect that approach but I also believe in short cuts where available.

[Big Texan]

Then, if all else fails, and your brain is oozing out yer ears......build it out of the box! Nothing wrong with that type of build! Sometimes, to spare myself all that anxiety, it's simply fun just to build out of the box. No thought to detailing, just hone my craftsmenship in filling, sanding, painting, and decaling. You will also build more models this way than you would by scrutinizing every detail aspect, looking for detail sets, wondering how far to go with the details, and on and on. Anyway, as Dave Klaus would say, "Let nothing rob you of your joy!"

 

[Lee_K]

Unless the kit cockpit is horribly under-detailed (Tamiya F-14 comes to mind), I rarely spring for an aftermarket cockpit set.  In most cases, I find them more trouble than they are worth and certainly a source of considerable effort and aggravation getting them to fit inside the fuselage.  Instead, I find a tremendous improvement in just replacing the seat with a resin one.  The pattern makers for most aftermarket companies do these very well and they are relatively less expensive than the entire cockpit set.  Also, the casual viewer of the finished model tends to focus on the ejection seat rather than the side consoles or instrument panel.  I know the Cockpit Accuracy guys get all apoplectic when a console is missing an important gauge or control device from a kit, but I'm in the Shep Paine school of "creative gizmology" where if the cockpit looks busy enough, then it's good enough for me.  Even when I bring my models to club meetings for show 'n' tell, no one has ever stared inside the cockpit and yelled out loud, "It's missing the CRM-114 Discriminator panel!"

 

Build models to satisfy yourself.  If your modeling satisfaction requires absolute accuracy, then aftermarket solutions are often a shortcut (but not always -- they have research errors too) to achieving that goal.  But please be prepared for an awful lot of work that isn't necessarily much fun to do.

[DoogsATX]

Are you a modeler or an assembler? A modeler will make it fit and will find it all worth while...  

 

To each their own I guess, but if I had the choice between two detailed aftermarket cockpits at the same price - one being a drop-fit and the other requiring hacking and sanding of the kit plasitc and the resin to get everything to fit, I'd go with the drop fit every time.

 

But then, I find that the hack-and-slash rabbit hole is a great way for me to burn off all my enthusiasm for a build and wander off to something else. 

[rubegoldberg]

Are you a modeler or an assembler? A modeler will make it fit and will find it all worth while...  Another option is to use the Eduard photo etch sets to improve the kits own pit, and scratch build what you can that may still may be missing.

 

I usually feel cheated of a challenge if its all too easy and try and teach myself a new skill or try something difficult with every new build.

 

My recommendation would be to give the Eduard sets ago with the kit parts and if you aren't satisfied with the result, the splash out for the Aires set. Its amazing how much you learn and improve when you push yourself.

 

 

i'd say this is 100% beside the point.  if a product is lousy, some arbitrary labeling of oneself as a "modeler" doesn't change that, especially when 80% of what you do is still assembly.

[Iain]

In my experience some of the 'fit issues' are brought about through an attempt at scale fidelity in terms of things like fuselage wall thicknesses.

 

Last Aires pit I used was in a MiG-23 - I had to considerably thin the insides of the kit fuselage to get it to fit - but it didn't take that long - and the result was well worth it IMHO.

 

Mind you - I've never really expected a 'drop fit'...

 

Iain

[DesTROYer]

My Modeler/Assembler answer was more a question than an accusation and never intended as anything insulting.  All I meant is, if its the only one available and you are prepared to go to the effort and you have the skills, go for it.  If not, there are other options all as valid.

 

One of my early builds was a 1/48 Tomcat and I intended to use an aftermarket cockpit and got in completely over my head and resorted to using the kit one in the end.  I apologise if offence was taken, as it was not my intent. I just wanted to say, don't be afraid to push yourself.

Edited September 21, 2016 by DesTROYer

[LSP_Mike]

For me....

 If one adds some PE, careful painting and shading, and a resin bang seat, how much more can really be seen?

[pubkeybreaker]

For me....

 If one adds some PE, careful painting and shading, and a resin bang seat, how much more can really be seen?

I want to thank everyone for their advice.  I will probably go with the Eduards PE  plus ejector

seats instead of the full cockpit.

 

Note:  I did *extensive*  modelling  ~40 years ago.  Before aftermarket PE/resin.  This

will be my first experience with after market details.  

 

I plan on doing the F15 after the F14.  Depending on my experience, I may do a full

cockpit then.

 

I just dug out my 40 year old Badger airbrush;  It's amazing that I still have it........

[Dragon]

For me....

 If one adds some PE, careful painting and shading, and a resin bang seat, how much more can really be seen?

 

Agreed. Once my builds are in the display case, I can only see the seat. So, I no longer bother with resin cockpits just resin seats.

 

Mike

Edited September 22, 2016 by Dragon

[DoogsATX]

I want to thank everyone for their advice.  I will probably go with the Eduards PE  plus ejector

seats instead of the full cockpit.

 

Honestly in 1/32 I would stay away from cockpit PE. It's passable in 1/72 and maybe in 1/48, but (especially in the open cockpits of modern jets) its lack of depth is very apparent. 

 

I can't speak to the F-14, but the F-15's cockpit is actually quite nice. A resin bangseat would set it off just right IMO.