jcjchung

At the risk of adding fuel to the fire ... anyone noticed the apparent and possibly slight sweep of the intake upper lip leading edges on these test shots? They're supposed to be straight. Can possibly just be perspective since these lips have a dihedral to them (inboard edge down).

It's currently out in Taiwan only, not yet in China (last I've heard). The following are different to the single seater kit AR48108: - New sprue with forward fuselage halves - New sprue with two-seater canopy - New sprue with two-seater tub, instrument panel, aft cockpit coaming, 1x additional seat, etc - New sprues in CLEAR with Taiwanese indigenous weapons - Re-tooled intake sprue to include C/D front IP panel (previously in resin). Note: efforts to contact AFV to purchase the retooled front IP panel went unanswered. Probably best to purchase a -D kit and build as a -B so the -C/D front IP can be salvaged for those with existing -C kit and don't want to work with the lesser quality resin. Source:

Please do! There are a number of build threads on the Taiwanese modeling Facebook groups I follow. I haven't seen anything on the English websites/forums as yet. Also just a nitpick for the title of this review, it should be ROCAF, not ROCKF. Cheers, -jc

Hi folks, I have both kits. As I've expressed on the Rumourmonger thread, the Freedom does have more details however whatever AFV has seems to be more accurate and/or refined. The AFV kit is also largely, but not always, better molded (cleaner, crisper, better defined and polished). The consensus from Taiwanese modelers is that the AFV kit is easier to put together. However, the Freedom kit is more flexible in the ancillary department including weapons choices and decals. At this time, Freedom also has a two seater out where as AFV does not. However, the windscreen and canopy cross sections of the Freedom kit two seater are not true 'Ω'. It's a toss up. Personally I prefer the AFV kit. But I've seen lovely models built from both and you really can't go wrong either way. Cheers, -jc

I have both. In my honest opinion, it's up to the modeler. In general, Freedom has more details, parts, options and weapons. Its decal sheet is also more plentiful. However, what AFV has is generally more refined, cleaner, well molded and in my perspective, a little more accurate. Both will build into respective models, and I'm quite thankful we now have two good starting points for this long-neglected subjects. -jc

So I wanted to position the wings at the full aft angle of 68-degrees, and not the 75-degrees oversweep for parking. However Hasegawa designed the wings with a single tab on the fuselage for positioning and two corresponding slots in the wings for either with 20-degrees (full forward), or the oversweep position. I thought I'd be smart and just enlarge the oversweep tab. Nope. All it gave me was a very sloppy fit. So I looked at it and thought, all I needed was something to fix the position of the wings. So I traced the outlines of the inboard edges of the wings, removed the existing fuselage tabs, and glued sheet styrene along the outlines to butt the wings into. This also gives me extra surface area to adhere the wings to for support. Bonus! Cheers, -jc .

Cheers, all. A little more update today. Some of these are get-ahead tasks already done to-date. The wings, including the slats and flaps, were assembled in the retracted position, which required some cleaning up and rescribing. The boat tails have been installed to their respective upper and lower fuselage halves, and the airbrakes closed. This is easier to clean up than if the instruction is followed. FInally, the intakes are cleaned and primed, and sanded, and primed, and (repeat, with a side dose of choised wording). These are also finished and ready to have the grey forward portions painted. -jc

Minor update. The forward fuselage is together. Perhaps it's the age of the tooling, but a lot of the panel lines are soft or disappearing. Most of the nose therefore warranted a re-scribe of the surface details. My kit also came with the very early gun vents so they were filled and new NACA vents made.I further elected to close the boarding ladder and steps. Also the MLG gear wells were cleaned up. In addition to some minor ejector marks, the forward wall left large gaps between the adjacent walls. It was therefore removed and new forward walls made from sheet plastic. Cheers, -jc

Thanks Gents. Alex, it will be the blue/grey spintered NSAWC bird. Cheers, -jc

Greetings, It's been a while since I built a Tomcat, so here we go. I'm also a rather slow builder these days, so progress will be slow, if you will bear with me. First off, some work on the Office. The kit seats are modified with a new seat pan and launch tube from styrene. New cushions and parachute packing are made from Tamiya epoxy putty, and belts are from Tamiya tape with the buckles from styrene. Kit tub and panels are used with a scratch built throttle for the pilot and new fabric on the coaming from epoxy putty. Primary colors were airbrushed Tamiya and Gunze acrylics, with detail painting done with vallejo and finally a light oil wash and a matt coat. Mike Grant decals instrument decals are used to embellish with the various dials. Happy (American) Turkey Day! -jc

Ahhh darnit, had no idea what you meant till I looked at the GB rules. Sorry, my mistake...

Started this eons ago, might as well take this opportunity to finish it up. Am currently working on another build however so it'll be a couple weeks till I can get back to this one. In the mean time, I'll start this thread. This is the 1/72 Academy kit reworked slightly to CF-18 standard. Leading Edge decals. Cheers, -jc