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1:48 F/A-22 Raptor: Hasegawa or Academy


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So how much you want'in for that kit...???...

Sorry, already been sold.

From what I've been told the paint is a bit rough similar to the Have Glass texture, and the details tooled by Hasegawa are for the most part accurate but just a bit exaggerated.

A rough paint texture, if that was what was on the jet, might make it look dirty, or have a sandpapery finish, or look like the Greek F-16s do in short order, but it wouldn't look like armor plating all over the jet. The panels that H-gawa have created make it look like an afterthought, up-armored Humvee version of the jet.

That would be inaccurate, from whomever you received that information. While there are small variances in the surface of the jet, they are nowhere near as profound as you'd think from the H-gawa kit. At best, they may be in the neighborhood of 2-3 millimeters when I've seen them. In certain pictures, the angle of the lighting can make them look significantly raised, and unfortunately, that's what I think H-gawa did in making their kit. And it is nowhere near to be found all over the jet, like they've made it.

Some folks will love the H-gawa kit, simply because its H-gawa and that makes it superior in their minds. Others will love it because they improved the nose profile and gave you full intakes, 75% of which can't be seen but they're there!

I am waiting anxiously to see how it looks when somebody bothers to correct that surface detail over the entire airframe. Like I said, that's beyond my personal tolerance, but I'm sure somebody will make a beautiful looking model out of it.

Edited by Waco
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Looks like a certain "Mad Riveter" has a relative with a slightly different vocation.... :thumbsup:

When my time comes to make a choice, I'll likely pick the Academy.

It would be interesting to see the reactions if the name on the boxtop was Trumpeter and not Hasegawa.

Regards,

Murph

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I'm building the Academy kit now. My biggest complaint so far has been joining the upper and lower fuselage halves. They were so warped that it took me almost two hours off and on with Tenax to get the fit right. Maybe it was just the kit i received.

:salute:

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Others will love it because they improved the nose profile and gave you full intakes, 75% of which can't be seen but they're there!

On the issue of full intakes: The Academy ones are definitely too short. In order to show the intakes correctly, you'll have to scratchbuild something to represent the depth of the intakes. The intakes are very deep and curved, and taper from a roughly trapezoidal cross section to a circle. This is not easy to do with the Academy kit, and the intakes fit poorly overall anyway. The Hasegawa kit eliminates all this extra effort by giving full intake tubes. Yes, I know that you can't see past the first curve, but it's a whole buttload easier than having to figure out how to make the Academy intakes deeper.

I am waiting anxiously to see how it looks when somebody bothers to correct that surface detail over the entire airframe.

Amen, brother. I'm kinda waiting to see how it looks when HASEGAWA bothers to correct the surface detail.

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On the issue of full intakes: *snip*

Oh, I know, the Academy ones are definitely too short and are very tricky to build up. I've seen a few interesting techniques using heat shrink tubing that show some promise. I personally think an aftermarket company could do well to make some one piece intakes that take them past that first bend, and...well, that's all they'd really have to do.

For folks who like to use intake covers, it pretty much resolves the issue.

Lotsa different ways to skin it, still ends up with dead cat fur on the wall.

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Oh, I know, the Academy ones are definitely too short and are very tricky to build up. I've seen a few interesting techniques using heat shrink tubing that show some promise. I personally think an aftermarket company could do well to make some one piece intakes that take them past that first bend, and...well, that's all they'd really have to do.

For folks who like to use intake covers, it pretty much resolves the issue.

Lotsa different ways to skin it, still ends up with dead cat fur on the wall.

Aloha Sir,

Count me in on the intake covers, my favorite technique!!! :D

I just ordered the Hasegawa kit, wish I had looked at this thread first... No worries of course, think A LOT of Mr. Surfacer is in order. Figure it'll be a fun project once I get back home. I'm just happy to see another Raptor on the market & hope for something a little bigger coming our way soon. Fingers crossed!

Back to the sand, sun, & surf... Okay, more sun than anything else :thumbsup:

Ahui hou :worship:

Mark

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Me, will pick the Hase kit, maybe the raised panels would be some pain in the ***, but, to build a model, sometimes you need to exaggerate, as we do washing/weathering.

Yes, that's what I thought too... the recessed lines are exaggerate in most of our models. If you look at aircraft pictures, you really can't see the panel lines, unless it's a very dirty jet with faded out paint, like some of the Russian aircraft.

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I love intake covers! And exhaust covers! And adding that silver foil sun screen covering to cockpit canopies! And building with the landing gear up. and wrapping the whole thing in white shrink wrap, and calling it an AMARG model.

Don't defend design problems with the model with "intake covers." By that reasoning, Academy could have put completely blank boxes for all the missile bays: "for folks who like to build with the doors closed, it's pretty much a non-issue."

And yes, I know I'm defending Hasegawa's design problems with the skin of the airplane. But if you read most of my posts, I also qualify that by either saying "I'll wait until I see how someone handles the texture," or "Has anyone tried Mr. Surfacing it?" or offering suggestions or questions of how it might be dealt with. As someone who's tried shrink-tubing Academy's intakes, I can say that it's a tough thing to do, and frankly, a pain in the backside. Not only that, but I had to get balsa, carve and sand that, order the shrink-wrap, wait for it to arrive, then figure out how to use it. (it was the first time I worked with this material on a model.) Not to mention lots of trial and error to make sure my intake forms would fit inside the model.

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Cool,

More pics. Thanks for posting

I guess that about covers all the sprues?

No worries about the iso.

I only have a camera phone that I can use to post with, and I doubt you'd be able to see anything at all.

To the Gentleman with the warped parts

The warping is a bit surprising. If it is really bad, maybe you can take it back to the LHS???

Get an exchange on it maybe?

Edited by Av8fan
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hi,

we all know that the nose shape and the tail size of the Academy kit is off ... when I compare the kit with the photos, yes, there is something wrong with the nose, but I did not realize the dimensions of the tail... so, does anyone have a correct line drawings of the jet to compare with the kit? if so please share with me because I couldn't find any good drawings on the web...

regards

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Two comments:

1: I am at a time in my life in which I have realized to my full satisfaction that there are more good kits out there than I can possibly build, so, why waste time with the bad ones?

2: I believe that it is Mr. Hasegawa in this photo, giving an interview:

BagOverHead.jpg

Edited by Almansur
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OK, I received mine and I am trying out sanding sticks and Mr. Surfacer right now. I do have one question. Hasegawa has fine raised lines outlining where the light gray paint is found on the leading edges and the nose- sort of like those really old kits that have the raised panel lines outlining the national emblem and other markings. Is this correct or should they be removed?

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