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ASF-X Shinden II "Kei Nagase Color" Hasegawa 1:72 Limited Edition In 2008 Taiga Heavy Industries was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence to begin developing the ASF-X. In 2014 the CTOL ASF-X-10 prototype 40-8011 made its maiden flight. After an additional year of testing it was formally accepted by the Ministry of Defence. 40-8011 as a test aircraft had problems with its electrical system, and structural cracking. Data from this was fed into the second prototype. In 2016 the second STOVL ASF-X-02 60-8002 was accepted by the Ministry of Defence and subjected to additional testing. Ultimately two of each prototype participated in in research and development programme. By this time the design showed every promise of living up to its proud name "Shinden II" According to legend the "Kei Nagase Color" paint scheme has its origins in the pre-development of the aircraft, when experiments were being undertaken for painting the airframe with a special stealth paint. Masking of reinforcement points resulted in a black and orange appearance which test pilot Kei Nagase found very appealing. In response mechanics later painted the units aircraft in this scheme. Source Ace Combat in the skies, ASCII Media works. Ace Combat Ace Combat is a Japanese hybrid arcade-simulation flight action video game published by the Namco Bandai Games company. Most games take place in fictionalised worlds loosely based on real life location, events and even wars. These games have been released on many different gaming platforms from 1996 up till the present. Over the years in Japan typical aircraft model kits have been detailed after aircraft used in the games. Hasegawa tapped into this market in 2000 with the issues of some 1.144 resin model kits, and has continued to do so ever since, as they have done so with the Idolmaster series as well, giving them another outlet for plastic model kits. The Kit On opening the box you are greeted by the two main fuselage halves and an additional 5 sprues all in a dark grey plastic. A large clear sprue for the stand, and a small clear sprue for the canopy. The quality of all parts is top notch as you would expect from Hasegawa. Detail is a mix of fine panel lines, and raised detail where it is needed. There is no flash evident any where. Construction starts with adding all the internal detail to the lower fuselage half. Engines and the vectored thrust nozzle are made up and added (the vectored flight nozzle can be positioned in normal or STOVL flight modes). The air intake is then made up and added to the top fuselage half. The tail units must be added at this stage, care must be taken with glue as these are designed to move. Once these are added the fuselage can then be closed up. If you are going to add under wing stores then its important to open up the holes before closing up the fuselage. Following the the wing tips are added. Two different parts are provided depending on whether you wish to model the aircraft in normal or STOVL flight. The cockpit is moulded into the upper fuselage but you still have to add an instrument panel, ejection seat and pilot figure (if you want). Following this landing gear can be added, and the gear doors positioned. These are also designed to be positioned closed if you are doing your model in flight, however you will need to remove the mounting tabs. The last thing to do is to add the underwing stores if you are using them. There are six pylons which you can fill with all air-2-air missles or a combination of missiles and rocket pods. Six missiles (which look like AMMRAM's) and four rocket pods are provided. Canopy The canopy for this kit is a one part affair. It is clear and crisp with no distortions. As well as the canopy the kit contains a large clear sprue which is stand should the modeller wish to display the model "in flight". This is a welcome addition to the kit and I hope Hasegawa include it in more. In a break from normal tradition the slot for the stand is cut in the model, and if you are not using the stand then a blanking plate is provided. Decals One of the stars of this kit is the massive decal sheet which just about fills the bottom of the box. The aircraft features a two tone paint scheme similar in many ways to the F-22 and F-35 minus the orange! The second shade of grey and orange are all provided as decal. Care will be needed with the larger ones, and outline decals as the inside is not all clear decal film; though this will help prevent large scale silvering. The decals are well printed and with care and the appropriate setting solutions should look very good when finished. Conclusion While there may not be as much excitement outside of Japan for these kits, they are excellent models and can be recommended if you want to build something different. As the part count if fairly low and the subject somewhat different from the norm this might be an ideal kit to get for a younger modeller to encourage them. Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for