Valiant Intakes & Exhausts (for Airfix)
1:72 AlleyCat Resin
The new Airfix Valiant has a few tricky points to resolve, and perhaps the trickiest is obtaining a smooth finish on the intakes for the four Rolls Royce Avon engines, due to their cramped nature, and the need for moulding in two halves due to the nature of injection moulding. AlleyCat have been busy resolving this issue, and this set includes a new set of intakes, new intake faces, and some more realistic exhaust cans as a bonus.
They have chosen to put the seam on the outside of the wing, with a portion of the intake lip moulded into the intake. This lip terminates at the first panel line, making clean up of the joint easier. It does require the modeller to do some minor cutting of the wing however, but it’s nothing too taxing.
The large intake parts are moulded in white resin, so if you don’t fancy painting them, you don’t have to! The small T-shaped blades that nestle in the outer intake lip are also supplied in white, as well as four spares in case you’ve a tendency to let them ping off into oblivion. The front faces of the engines are provided I grey resin, but they aren’t too different from the kit parts, save for a slightly larger mating surface and the possibility of mounting them on their backing plate for added strength.
Moving aft, we have the exhaust tubes, which are microscopically thin, and a sight to behold. They replace the overly thick kit parts, and have the tiny rear compressor face buried at the end of the tube. A set of u-shaped extra parts are included that clamp the exhausts at the correct depth, to ensure you don’t end up with a bunch of wobbly looking exhausts. These parts are a drop-in replacement of the kit parts, and enhance the look immensely.
Conclusion
To avoid endless sanding and a possibly unsatisfactory job on the intakes, this set ticks all of the boxes. As long as you are careful with your cutting of the wing, and test fit at every stage (as the instructions suggest), you will end up with a much more professional finish to your intake/exhaust area. I’ll be using these on my stalled Valiant build for certain – there’s nothing more tedious than poking sanding sticks down jet intakes.
Review sample courtesy of 
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