Trumpeter 1/48 j-10a and j-10s review - Zone-Five Aircraft Modeling Forums

PEDRO RIBAS · #1 December 5th, 2009, 12:11 AM

It finally arrived and boy,what a kit these 2 are.i was thinking of doing a separate review of the 2 kits but as there are only 2 separate grids of the fuselage and main canopy between them i am doing the review of the 2 of them together.i apologise for the quality of the pictures but until i can get my hands on a good camera my nokia n95 will have to do the job

on to the photos:

first the grid A

this is the single seater main fuselage parts,not shown in the picture is the cockpit detail wich is raised despite the decals for the cockpit,so choices can be made to sand the detail and use the decals or use the decal as a reference to paint.

grid B

this is the 2 seater main fuselage parts,same level of detail as the single seater

grid C

this is the wing parts,common to both kits,detail is good,riveting looks a bit restrained compared to the usual in trumpeter kits

grid D

this is the flight surfaces grid,again common to both kits,it has leading and trailing edge flaps,separate rudder,canards and also the main landing gear side walls

grid E

this is the intake/exhaust grid,again common to both kits.it comprises a full air intake,compressor face,flame holder and 2 choices of jet exhaust,one with turkey feathers open and another with turkey feathers closed

grid F

this is the little details grid,common to both kits.it has the radome,landing gear doors,actuators,wheels(bulged tires

),refueling probe,air intake,cannon and all the small bits that goes with this kit

grid G

this is the external stores grid,again common to both kits(i feel i am being boring right now with that phrase).well,this grid has the hardpoints for the fuselage and wings,4 bombs similar to mk.82,2 wing external fuel tanks and a centerline external fuel tank(wich i don´t like to much because of the raised detail wich i believe should be recessed,but i don´t have a picture of the real one)

grid PL

this is the missile grid,2 of each,common to both kits and comprises the missile launchers and 6 different types of missiles,PL-5(looks like a AIM-9L sidewinder),PL-7(looks like a R-60 i think),PL-8(looks like an israeli air-air missile),PL-9(looks like an early soviet sidewinder copy),PL-11(looks like a AIM-7 sparrow) and PL-12(looks like a AIM-120 AAMRAM with a different rear fins)

grid J1

clear parts grid,common to both kits,has the front windshield and all the clear parts,very good

grid J2

this is the single seater main canopy

grid J3

2 seater main canopy

PE parts

this is the photo-etch parts,common to both kits,it has splitter plate detail,harness details,mirrors,hud shield and lateral

decal sheets

and finally both kits come with a good decal sheet,and weapon stencils decal
sheet,the pictures are from the single seater ones but the 2 seater are very similar

Conclusion:
unless there are monstuous fitting problems(wich i don´t believe)this kit is highly recommended

Matt Roberts · #2 December 5th, 2009, 09:01 AM

About the only thing I have heard fit wise is that one should attach the upper wings to teh fuselage before adding the lower wing (ala all of those older British modeling mag reviews) The other is the fit of the intake. Haneto on ARC has a good build thread going

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/...owtopic=197066.

Yufei is using some PE in his build but looks mostly OOB.

Matt

DemonLarkham · #3 December 12th, 2009, 04:37 PM

Where'd you get your kits Pedro? Thanks for the review.

-Awan

PEDRO RIBAS · #4 December 12th, 2009, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DemonLarkham

Where'd you get your kits Pedro? Thanks for the review.

-Awan

i bought the single seater from www.modelhobbies.co.uk,very good british modelstore with great prices and after looking at the grids i saw that a two seater would be a matter of time so i looked at the trumpeter site and saw it was already out so after a search on google i saw that www.hobbyeasy.com was making a promotion,about half the regular price of the kit

so i ordered one and i am very glad i did it but beware,the site is slow as it can be,almost one hour to registration and ordering.the only problem with the kit so far looks like the intake to fuselage fit wich needs some adjusting and probably a little sanding ,i will be making a thread about the progress as soon as i can,as i am having a health problem now and have not been able to do anything this last week

Samurai_Chris · #5 February 7th, 2010, 08:38 PM

Pedro, I just ordered this kit.. One thing I have noticed, is that I don't see any pilots?
Whats the status on pilots?

PEDRO RIBAS · #6 February 8th, 2010, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai_Chris

Pedro, I just ordered this kit.. One thing I have noticed, is that I don't see any pilots?
Whats the status on pilots?

no pilots in any of these kits chris,there is one guy who did one of these and he bought an resin pilot from a chinese brand,think it´s voyager.the article is on ARC

Samurai_Chris · #7 February 8th, 2010, 06:29 AM

Cheers Pedro, will look into it!

Kingfish · #8 February 8th, 2010, 12:33 PM

Lavi-san.

Samurai_Chris · #9 February 8th, 2010, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingfish

Lavi-san.

Anata wa baka desu ne....

Samurai_Chris · #10 February 14th, 2010, 03:00 AM

Hey Pedro.. Should get my kit in the next few days.. Will let you know what I think of it when it arrives.. I have to be honest and say that it will my first Trumpeter kit...

I don't want to spend any extra on it, so are there any suggestions to improving the kit and build with the J-10S.. Any ideas you can add?

PEDRO RIBAS · #11 February 14th, 2010, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai_Chris

Hey Pedro.. Should get my kit in the next few days.. Will let you know what I think of it when it arrives.. I have to be honest and say that it will my first Trumpeter kit...

I don't want to spend any extra on it, so are there any suggestions to improving the kit and build with the J-10S.. Any ideas you can add?

To my knowledge Chris,the only aftermarket available for this kit is a photo etch set from a chinese brand called dreammodel and a metal pitot tube from a new brand called eldelwiss.the pilot figure that i mentioned earlier is in resin and from dreammodel to.i found this build on ARC so check it out,it´s worth it

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/...&#entry1850116

the guy used all the aftermarket he could find but honestly i don´t think the kit really needs all of it.i think it´s pretty good from the box and as far as i have go until now the only troubled area is the intake fit and the intake to fuselage fit,that will require a lot of dry fitting and putty and sanding to get right but luckylly most of the area that is to receive the most sanding doesn´t have a lot of detail so sanding is done with ease.for me the biggest problem is the lack of good clear pictures of the cockpit area of the real plane so detail painting is lucky guess and common sense thing

Samurai_Chris · #12 February 16th, 2010, 11:12 PM

Thanks again Pedro.. I can't wait to recieve mine in all honesty.. Been in a funk of late, and this is the only kit that has given me any excitement of late..