F 14 Aires wheel well / Tamiya F 14 ???

[alain11]

hi Gents

I would like to know if the Aires wheel well sets , would fit to the Tam... F 14 ... any feedback ???? thanks 

Alain 

Edited September 18, 2022 by alain11

[crobinsonh]

I asked this previously and the answer was no or at least the amount of effort was not worth it.

[Confusionreigns178]

I must admit I've only tried to fit one Aires resin set into a model previously and that was a BIG struggle. The ironic thing was, I was using it on the kit it was intended for! From what I've read since then, the fit of Aires parts is often a major challenge. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris.  

[thierry laurent]

Indeed, for the F-14, you should rather detail the Tamiya bays yourself. Unfortunately, this will be easier! It is weird nobody ever released some resin bays for the Tamiya kit as the Tomcat is one of the rare planes where you can see them rather easily!

 

However, it is not true it is a pain to use ALL Aires sets. Actually, there are two parameters that sometimes create fit issues:

 

- First, when the resin part is under scale because of rubber/resin retraction. In that case, you must find a way to extend either the sides of the kit or the edges of the resin part to locate it correctly. I saw that issue on the Aires A-7 Corsair LG and avionics fuselage bays. I also had a major issue with one part of my MiG-23/27 Tumansky engine as one part was clearly underscaled and could not be matted as such with the other resin parts. As it was a cylinder, it was difficult to enlarge it. However, I did not even bother contacting Aires and solved that myself with another resin part as this was in a close to invisible area. I had similar issues with a lot if Mastercasters sets. For instance, I had to enlarge their Nieuport 17 cowling to be able to put it on the fuselage. However, with round parts, this is far from being always doable.

 

- Second, when the part is over scale because the master was not done to be appropriately scaled (to be positioned between the kit plastic parts). In such a case, you may have to thin the kit parts to paper thickness to be able to use the resin part. The two worst Aires sets I have seen/used were the F4U Corsair landing gear wells (for the Trumpeter kits) and the F-104G cockpit set (for the Italeri kit). However, they are really the exception and surely not the rule.

 

Actually resin sets are rarely a drop fit whatever can be the quality of the master and the competency of the caster. There are many parameters that can easily create issues as soon as you have to mix them with plastic parts. However, I rarely found cases where it was close to impossible to use resin parts. It is true this often asks for serious work but this is the price to pay if you do not want to do it yourself!

 

Hth

 

Thierry

 

 

[alain11]

thanks guys !!! well it's not a good news !!! I scratch built the bays once , it was a fastidious step , and I hoped thanks to the Aires set that it would be easier ....too bad !!! 

Alain