Bandwagon 106 Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 My first model for this group build! Hasegawa's superb 1/48 Mitsubishi F-2B from around 2006/7. I made the single seater version back in 2005 and loved it, so I'm really looking forward to this. Managed to find this on ebay in March, talk about a scoop! Loads of parts-a lot more than the standard F-16s and a thorough update of the parts-a full intake, wheel bay details and better interior. Of course, it is a bigger aircraft than the Viper we all know and love and is therefore a whole new kit. I remember thinking, hoping that Hasegawa would update their baby vipers in a similar way-not to worry- Tamiya did that for us! It will be finished oob and will be in that lovely blue camoflage and sporting a red tail stripe. (Got a Phantom to do in this scheme too! (Thanks Jay!!)) Looking forward to saturday... Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidsm Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Thats looks nice, would'nt mind getting one at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerPaulo Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 The tsunami one??? That is a very nice camo, it just looks good on Spooks and Vipers!! I'm very tempted to do the F-2A just to do one, yet I'm gonna wait for the proper decals!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 The Panther Squadron Phantoms looked very good, I don't know if any other F-4 units were painted in these colours. Talking of tsunamis, the one that hit Japan last year wrote off 12 of the 21st Fighter Squadron's F-2Bs at Matsushima Airbase . Afterburner decals do a very good sheet and you should be able to get it still. Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) Here's a good video selection of the F-2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDIFMaz6Nhg - this vid also has a picture of one of those lovely blue phantoms ! Made a start on this kit, nothing worthy of pictures just yet but should have something this weekend. Joel Edited May 10, 2012 by Bandwagon 106 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Cool video, almost want to get an F-2 now. That blue Phantom is something else too, very eye-catching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 (edited) Finally, some photos. Here are the main components-minus the tailpipe and tailerons. Both wings and vertical tail, both cockpits and intake / wheel bay can be seen here. The wings have seperate leading and trailing edge flaps and I also added the wingtip launch rails and outer most pylons. The tail seemed t fit better than the hasegawa F-16s. Front and back cockpits. The seats are placed, not glued as it is better to fit them after the fuselage is together. This is probably the strangest area of the kit. The IPs and side consoles have very nice details as do the throttles and sticks. The seats have no detail apart from the ejection handles / triggers and oxygen bottles. Very strange...(The seatbelts have been painted on!) The wheel bay and lower fuselage. I like the way the centre section is represented on this kit. Every other F-16 by everybody has this bit seperate to varying degrees. Nice and integral with this kit Not just tossing the instructions to one side, they were thrown out the window here, and with good reason!. I tested the landing gear and found it very difficult to get into position as it was. The rear bulkhead was removed, landing gear fitted and the rest of the bay glued into place. I also decided to do the same with the front landing gear and add the bay doors too for good measure. Possibly a little tricky with all those extra bits on the undercarriage, in the bays and on the doors, but everything goes into place. The detail is vastly improved over the F-16s. The intake is a little tricky to get everything lined up, but everything does get there. It is far easier to either mate the rear intake after the front section is in place, or do what Callum did with his. If you do this as per the instructions it will not fit right. Everything together Not too much filler needed-one of the wings would not fit, the other went in really well. The nose seam was very faint on mine, the hardest area was under the LERX's-a common area on most F-16s, but taking out the seats and moving the front IP did wonders! Somewhere along the way, the polycaps for the tailerons fell out of place-naturally I did not notice until the tail area had set!, but they fit just fine as is. First full coat of light blue. I chose humbrol 109, maybe it is a little blue, but the Xtracolour paint I originally chose was too "grey" Nozzle fitted. Again another area that is vastly improved over the F-16 kits, but I feel they could have gone a little furthur on the inner detail. The "inner" nozzles areas have been painted metallic black. The underside. The tailhook is a seperate item. The wheels are nicely detailled and the brakes are present too. From the front The HUD and glare shield are nicely represented and the canopy sections fit together very well. You can make out the AOA probes and conducting strips on the radome-both absent on the F-16s from Hasegawa Camoflage! Humbrol 104 used for the dark blue, this shot also shows the slightly different, planform quite clearly Not too far off finished now. I am going for a light load-4 AAM-3s and the centreline tank, although all the underwing pylons are included. A very enjoyable build and these colours make it look smashing! Thanks for looking Joel Edited May 21, 2012 by Bandwagon 106 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Looking good there, i really do like the colour scheme, so much more different than grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Looking very cool nice one Wellzy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Really coming on there Joel, those blues are quite eyecatching! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Looking good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandwagon 106 Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Thank you very much guys! It is actually a little darker and bluer than the photos suggest, but it is a great colour scheme-very little grey apart from the radome and the area behind the flaps, which makes a real change nowadays! Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leptiprince Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Super beautyful kit.... My mine what if Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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