Trumpeter 1/72 scale J-20 "Mighty Dragon" kit

[The Artist]

This is a kit-in-progress review of the Trumpeter 1/72 scale J-20 "Mighty Dragon" kit. (#01663) Molded in three colors of plastic - black, white and blue-gray - along with the clear parts and some etched metal detail parts.

I already had this kit in progress when someone asked to see a review. In this batch we're looking at the forward fuselage assembly. The lower forward fuselage is in two pieces which come together and attach to the forward underside of the upper fuselage half. The cockpit and nose gear well are enclosed by this assembly. Note the intake "speed bump" (as I've heard someone call it).

 

[The Artist]

Here we are looking at the intake ducting and the main gear well box. Note: I build most of my aircraft models with the gear retracted and with added attaching provision for placing them on stands. I have indicated which parts I've added to this assembly.

The intake ducting parts went together with no problems. The gear well box needed only a little bit of sanding and shaping to fit into the lower fuselage. For those of you who, like me, build with the gear retracted, I can report that the main gear doors fit fine after only the basic parts clean-up.

 

[The Artist]

Here the two-piece engine exhausts have been assembled. The tabs seen in the profile shot are part of the sprue and will be removed before the exhausts are attached to the kit.

One sprue is included twice in the kit - one in black and one in blue-gray. Here is the blue-gray one, though it's kind of washed out under the light. From studying the instructions it seems that this was done only to give a choice of which color detail parts to use.

The metal parts look nice but I rarely use them when I'm building a model to use as a model for art work.

 

[The Artist]

Here are some more kit parts and three selected images from the instruction sheet.

Note the assembly instructions for the main gear. That part attaching the wheel to the bottom of the strut looks like a stress failure event waiting to happen for someone who handles their models a lot.

 

[The Artist]

Here are some shots looking at the surface details. Note that the upper and lower fuselage parts are not glued together in these shots - therefore you are seeing gaps where there shouldn't be any.

You can see the tube I've added for the stand along with the hole for the tube's top anchor pin.

From a purely assembly stand point, this kit is going together with little problem. The one thing that has been standing out for me is that the tail booms (to which the verticals are attached) seem to be a bit too close to each other when comparing the kit to shots posted in the Aerospace thread.

This is all I'm posting this evening. Tomorrow - if anyone is still interested - I'll post some more detail shots along with comparison shots of the model in its current state with models of the X-32, X-35, F-22, T-50 and the Berkut.

Mike

 

[unclejim]

Very interesting, please post them all.

 

[flateric]

thank you! proceed as you can

 

[The Artist]

Here is the last batch of detail shots for now, though others may follow as I continue the build.

There are decals for the cockpit but with all that texture I'm not sure how they'd look when applied. (I didn't think to take a shot of the decals. Maybe next time.) The cockpit attaches to the nose gear well assembly (6 pieces counting the nose gear) and is to line up with the opening in the upper fuselage. I'd suggest following the steps in the instructions and not just gluing the cockpit to the underside of the upper fuselage part. I tested this method with white glue and found that doing it that way it is easy to create an alignment problem.

I've not taken the canopy out of it's package yet. I do like the care they took in packing it. The landing gear parts on the white sprue were also protected like this.

One of my impressions of the kit is that the detail is kind of soft. But then, this is not like it's an F-4 or F-16 where so much information is available that detail this soft would be seen as a fault.

In holding the model (in its current state) up to try to match the viewing angle and (scale) distance to the photos seen in the J-20 thread in Aerospace, the model seems to be close in proportions. My only question is about the distance between the tail booms which as I mentioned above seem to be a bit too close. However, that could be an illusion caused by the large openings where the exhausts will go.

 

[The Artist]

Now for some comparison shots. Starting with the Italeri X-32 and X-35 kits. The shape of the J-20 wing seems closer to that of the X-32 than to the other aircraft discussed in the other thread. Close but not a copy. The intakes do seem to take some inspiration from the X-35/F-35.

 

[The Artist]

Now shots with the Revell F-22 and with the DML YF-23. I see very little (if any) of the YF-23 in the J-20. I do see that the forward fuselage seems to have taken inspiration from the F-22. Note. Except for the cockpit, the F-22 kit is unpainted and the panel lines have been penciled in to aid in working up some artwork.

 

[The Artist]

As I said in the other thread, when I first opened the box and looked over the parts I found myself thinking about and making comparisons to the Su-47 Berkut more than about or to any of the other aircraft the J-20 was compared to in that other thread. Maybe someone else will see it in these shots.

Edit: Forgot to mention the kits. That is the Hobby Boss Berkut kit and the Zvezda kit of the T-50.