Hasegawa 1/72 Mitsubishi F-2A

[-Neu-]

So I guess I should get a move on this GB... I want to have something done by the end. 

 

I'm doing a Hasegawa 1/72 Mitsubishi F-2A and I'm going to use a F-16 resin set from Modern Hobbies. 

 

 

The Hasegawa kit is originally from 1998 apparently, but this boxing (the white box) came out in 2003. Not much to say... it looks a bit nicer than their F-16 releases, which I'm a big fan of.

 

 

 

So here's a parts' breakdown... it also comes with a lavish arms sprue. 

 

 

What I wanted to highlight is the Modern Hobbies set. I can't go on enough about it... a resin set mastered by Greg Williams, who is an impressive modeller in his own right. I've used his products a number of times, and I have never been dissatisfied.... except with the fact that I didn't discover them sooner. 

 

 

Now the F-16 Set is not a perfect match both in accuracy and fit for this kit... but its pretty close. I asked greg what he thought and he made a couple of really useful diagrams for me when he sent the set. Here's an example. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what is the F-2? its actually a derivative design of the F-16 based on the Agile Falcon concept that emerged in the 1980s. Although F-16 originally emerged as the "low" part of the tactical fighter mix with the "high" F-15, the basic design was seen as being very adaptable. Early on you saw the F-16XL, a cranked delta that would compete and lose against the F-15E as a large strike aircraft to replace the F-111. AgileFalcon was seen as a direct competitor to the F-15C or even a low cost F-22/23 alternative. General Dynamics would increase the wing area, beef up the airframe, install a more powerful engine (Pratt and Whitney F100-PW 229 or GE F110-129, that would be installed on the Block 50/52), and markedly improve the avionics. Unsurprisingly the proposal did not elicit much interest, and much of the technology was incorporated into the F-16 Block 40 and 50. 

 

 

Events would conspire in Japan to give the Agile Falcon concept new life. The JASDF wanted to replace its indigenously produced F-1 strike aircraft, with a new indigenously produced fighter. The FS-X program would be an highly advanced multirole aircraft that would first replace the F-1, then the F-4 and eventually the F-15. However there was a number of issues. First that this was a massive technological undertaking that was not likely to come anywhere close to the budget. Furthermore while the F-1 was indigenously produced, it was by no means a world beater in terms of technology and design, akin to the trainer/light attack Anglo-French Jaguar. 

 

 

In the United States you saw increasing disquiet with the Japanese efforts, so a lobbying effort launched to dissuade them from pursuing the FS-X program and select an American alternative. Without going too in depth, they were successful and Mitsubishi and GD/LM partnered together to build the F-2. 

 

Anyway, that's a short history... I'll go a bit more into it while I build, and maybe come March I'll add a few photos of the actual aircraft... we'll see. 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2017 by -Neu-

[-Neu-]

So I got a move on the actual kit this weekend. I worked on the cockpit set. As I said before the set is a drop in replacement for the regular F-16 set, but it needs a bit of finessing to get into the F-2 kit. However despite saying that, its not even close to the difficulty of getting an Aires set into a kit it was purportedly designed for... or that time I fit a pavla cockpit set for an Modelsevit Su-7 into a KP Su-7. 

 

 

I took a bit of effort to work on the actual pit's details. Primed it, hand painted it, added some washes and highlighted buttons. (sorry about the crappy photos, I didn't have my tripod handy). 

 

 

Next I started by cutting the area identified above...

 

 

and then I attached it via super glue. 

 

 

Looking pretty good... I think (not that you can tell from the photos). I haven't got the coaming/instrument panel on yet, but maybe I'll do it tonight. 

 

Thanks for looking! 

Edited January 30, 2017 by -Neu-

[modelling minion]

Nice to see our first F-2 on here, I love their colour scheme.

Very nice work on the cockpit, looks very convincing.

 

Craig.

[Smudge]

Second that. Will be nice to see a pic of it next to a F-16 to get a sense of the difference in size etc.

 

No pressure 

[trickyrich]

Welcome aboard and I'm glad you brought one of these along! 

 

Just looking at the photos of the sprues and you'd be fooled into thinking this is just another F-16, it'll be great to see her beside a "normal" F-16.

 

Well you're off to a great start so good luck with the rest of the build and I look forward to seeing her in the gallery.

[Dermo245]

Looking forward to this one ! 

 

Dermot