Caesar Alexius Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Hi everyone, The latest project I've been working on is Hasegawa's 1/72 scale F/A-18D which I'm doing as a RAAF B model. I decided to go all out and buy resin air intakes and landing gear wells. The more I've shaved the fuselage and resin well down, the better it fits but I've run into a problem. The top of the well is still far too high to allow me to install the cockpit and I've only got around 2mm of shaving to go until it reaches the bottom of the fuselage. It's a bit hard to explain in text so hopefully these photos show what I'm talking about. The red line represents the top of the resin well and the green line is where the bottom of the cockpit is supposed to be. This final photo shows how much room I have before the resin well reaches the bottom of the fuselage. h Has anyone else worked with this resin set before (Aires #7183)? As you can (hopefully) see, the issue seems to be that the resin well is simply to tall to allow the cockpit to be installed even if it's entirely flush with the bottom of the fuselage. Is this the case or is there something that I'm not doing correctly? Thanks, Alex. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lucas C. Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 You also need to grind material off of the top of the resin well (on the surface that touches the bottom of the cockpit tub). In addition, grind material off of the bottom of the cockpit tub. In some cases with Aires parts you need to shave nearly all of the material off of both parts to get a decent fit. Do it slowly and check your work against a light source. When you can see the light very easily through the part, you're getting close to sanding right through. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Platycqb Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Welcome to a world of pain: Aires sets in 1/72 scale. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
31Tiger Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Sand, sand, scrape....typical aires. And its not only the older sets, i am trying to get the 1:32 f-104 cockpit in the italeri kit...pure agony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) What's that famous line again? Aires... Czech for "Does Not Fit". I had the same issue with an F-16D cockpit. I ended up using the bottom (or top, depending on your perspective) of the wheel well as the floor of the cockpit. I basically sanded the floor off the cockpit totally off and a mm or so of the cockpit sidewalls and then adjusted the seats in the cockpit accordingly. With the seats in there and pilots you couldn't see a thing. Edited February 5, 2016 by Crazy Snap Captain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mfezi Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I haven't used this particular set, but I have used several other Aires sets. In almost all cases, you have to thin them and remove extra material before they will fit. Most of the time you also have to remove material on the mating plastic surfaces. It does tend to require a lot of patience and a lot of work. In a few cases, you may end up with just a thin, transparent sliver of resin/plastic by the time it fits. That being said - in all cases I have found the effort to be worth it. The detail in most Aires sets are incredible, and I think one of the reasons they are not "drop ins" like some resin brands, is because they try to keep the internal dimensions as accurate as possible when it comes to wheel bays and cockpits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gregax Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) Well, Aires can be a bit troublesme to fit, they take lots of sanding and dryfiting to get a great result. But it depends - for example, detail set for Me-262 fits like a glove. In your case I can see the problem... You have to sand the sides of the fuselage so the wheeltub almost protrudes through the bottom of the fuselage.(make the hole for the wheeltub a bit bigger than the Aires part if You look it from the bottom of the fuselage) Then You will have to fill the gaps with putty and sand them smooth. I had the same exact problem with my su-27 wheeltub. I hope that helps. Edited February 5, 2016 by gregax Quote Link to post Share on other sites
galileo1 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I HATE Aires but yet I used them in almost every build! That should tell you something... Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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