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Aires Cockpit Fit Issues???


Bill Cross

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I started last night on the F-104G with the Aires cockpit. It looks fantastic for its detail, but IT DOESN'T FIT.

 

WTF? After sawing off the pour plug on the tub and dry-fitting it to the fuselage, I can't close the front end parts.

 

Is this normal? I haven't even installed the cockpit wall panels. I'm seriously concerned about making this blob work. Am I over-reacting?

 

This is a new kit, not something released in the 1900s.

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Yup - nothing but normal for resin parts. Sometimes even serious grinding and sanding isn't enough. As others have done this kit with the Aries pit - I'd say it's just down to how much fitting is needed.

 

Find where the parts are too wide, start by sanding the interior of the fuselage halves to thin the plastic there first, then again on the tub where there is excess that doesn't match the curve of the fuselage. Inevitably a Dremel with a grinding bit is your best friend in these situations. Check the plastic against a light often to make sure you're stopping when the plastic is thin but not too thin that you risk blowing a hole in the side of the kit.

 

Or forget it and use the kit cockpit - it fits pretty good without modification. Use the resin parts to detail as you can (cut off and use as scab on parts) or as a template for some scratch building.

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I love the Aires stuff Bill - but sometimes it fits with very little work - sometimes it takes quite a bit of work.

 

Don't have the F-104G set - but when I used the MiG-23 'pit I had to shave off a lot of plastic from the insides of the fuselage mouldings to make everything fit - but the thinning did result in a better look IMHO.

 

I'm sure that when finished and fitted it will look good!

 

Iain

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To fit Aires parts, I have had to thin the surround plastic down to near paper thin thickness.  I put an Aires pit and wheel wells in a Hasegawa 109F, it took hours of thinning plastic and resin to get those parts in there.  Eventually though it all closed up.  I am not a caliper guy for the most part, meaning I don’t sit with a set of plans and measure the Aires parts to see if they are scale accurate or not.  But as you know if you put a scale accurate part in a plastic model, the plastic airframe is always about 2 or three inches thick if multiplied times 32.  So that has to be thinned down to scale also.  

 

All I can say is getting the heaviest grit sanding block and a really sharp set of blades, the curved ones are helpful for this.  Scrape and sand, scrape and sand.  Probably will need to see a little light through plastic by the time you are done.  

 

With my 109 and thinning the sides, they got awfully flimsy by the time I finished but I did manage not to ruin it.

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It's been my experience with Aires pits as well, Bill. I bought the cockpit for the D-model, and as I recall, it wasn't too bad to get it to fit. The LG bays, however, were a different story. I'm currently doing a lot of sanding trying to get the A6M2 cockpit to fit; so much so that I've actually considered dressing up the kit parts using the Aires pit as a template. If you have a dentist visit planned any time soon, ask him (or her) for a few sheets of articulating paper - it's like carbon paper, and is sometimes useful for finding interference points.

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13 minutes ago, Bill_S said:

If you have a dentist visit planned any time soon, ask him (or her) for a few sheets of articulating paper - it's like carbon paper, and is sometimes useful for finding interference points.

 

Thanks for the tip Bill - sounds really useful!  :thumbsup:

 

Iain

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Sorry to disappoint you Bill but this is possibly their worst cockpit set regarding the fit. Personally, I intend to cut sections of the tub to detail the kit one as I do not know one modeller who could assemble it in the kit as it is, even with prior heavy sanding of all the parts including the fuselage halves. Too bad. 

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Here's a pic comparing the width of the kit cockpit and the Aires one:

 

IMG_20160630_234939-L.jpg

 

There was no way to remove that much material from either the tub or the fuselage so I ended up not using the tub. I did use the rear firewall and the sidewalls which still helped to improve the cockpit. 

 

IMG_20160630_234247-L.jpg

 

IMG_20160714_145113-L.jpg

 

Carl

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WOW, major bummer. :( :(

 

I've got to re-think this one obviously. I figured I could sand off the tub edges, but if you guys think it's never going to fit, I don't want to commit to it and then find out I have set sail on the Titanic.

 

I don't understand how a major AM company like Aires could screw up THIS badly.

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Hi Bill, I ran into something similar on the SU 27 from Aires, not being great at problem solving and never thought of thinning the kits sidewalls I ran a hobby saw down the centre of the resin cockpit (trying not to saw into anything important) and kept narrowing the cockpit floor until it fit the model, the seat was a little tight after all that but I did eventually get it all in there. It does look great in the model if you can get it to fit!

not saying you should try this but maybe turning the problem around and looking at it from a different angle will help?

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3 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

The question is is it still possible to use the rear bulkhead and front IP if you remove the floor to narrow the tub while keeping the side consoles?

 

I'd have to say no. I had to narrow the bulkhead and IP alomg their outer edges to use them with the kit tub. Also, the side consoles are wider than the kit ones which is where much of the extra width  comes from. 

 

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