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In 2023, Special Hobby is to re-release its F-2A Buffalo 1/48th kit as Brewster Buffalo model 339-23 - RAAF & USAF - under ref. SH48057 Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=623277613141146&set=pb.100063767391074.-2207520000 V.P.

FineMolds recent 1/72 kit with a few add ons. DXM decals printed by Cartograf. Mr Color paints produce the exact matches for this build. And enjoyable build with few problems. Thank you for looking and comments welcome. Craig

Well, decided. Will be building the Mitsubishi F-2A. Could only get the XF-2A boxing here, but all the sprues and parts for the production version are present. Will have some white metal bits for the spares pile. Box art: Sprues: Still bagged and in white plastic. Not my favorite but cest la vie. Goodies! Got a DXM sheet so can do the funky blue the JASDF use. An Eduard PE fret from antiquity and a set of Reskit wheels round out the options. And of course a printed instruction sheet to make sure I don't mess things up...

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.

WUT? test build: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/blog/160511 parts: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10358199