How old are these Hasegawa kits?

[Supertom]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone tell me if the old, raised-panel line Hasegawa F-14, A-6 or F-4B predate 1975? We have a pre-1975 GB coming up and I've been having a tough time tracking down the vintage.

[Jay Chladek]

The 1/72 A-6 does. I am pretty sure the F-14 came after, otherwise it would have a wide early beavertail. The old Airfix F-14 with the wide beavertail should qualify though. Of the 1/72 offerings Hasegawa did, the only other jet I am sure predated 1975 was the BAC Lightning. Checking my old Detail and Scale F-4 Navy variants book, it doesn't show a Hasegawa F-4B in the kit listing at all. Since the book came out in 1983, I would say that is a big negative Ghostrider since any Hasegawa F-4B would have been issued after (the 1/48 one came out in 1983 I believe).

Your best bet for 1975 and before would be Airfix, many Matchbox kits, older than dirt pre-merger Revell and some 1/48 Monogram (predominantly prop jobs though). Airfix's F-4B Phantom would work perfect for this I should think.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Jay Chladek

[Jennings]

The A-6 and F-4B definitely do. IIRC the first Hasegawa Tomcat came out right around that time.

[MoFo]

The A-6 was released in 1969. After a bit of digging on eBay, it looks like you can even get a period kit in an AMT/Hasegawa box, pretty cheaply.

Hasegawa tooled their FIRST F-4 in '67 or '68, I think. It sucks. It was released as both an AF and Navy version (the early days of re-boxing!), just using different decals: http://modelingmadness.com/scott/viet/origf4jpreview.htm

I believe their second Phantom (the one we all refer to as the "old tooling" dates to somewhere around '78. I'm certain that it's post-75, at least.

The F-14 is also going to be later. Probably around the same timeframe as the Phantom.

As for other pre-'75 Hasegawa jets... Here's a handy list: http://gregers.7.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=7983

In a similar vein, it would be nice to see a list of Hasegawa releases by year added to their Wikipedia page.

[Supertom]

Cool! Thanks guys! It looks like I'll be doing the A-6!

[Jennings]

I built the F-14A when I was in high school (graduated 1980) and it wasn't brand new. That's why I was thinking around 1975-ish. The MiG-25 came out in early 1977, and the F-14 was already out by then I'm sure.

J

[Rex]

the Hasegawa/Minicraft release shown on MM is just slightly newer than the AMT/Hasegawa release

I bought my first AMT version in the early seventies, and was pleasantly surprised that the decals matched my only F-4D reference article that I owned at the time,,,,,,it matched the Airfix conversion to a bare nose F-4D in a 1970 edition of Airfix Magazine

that release was after a few of the F-4B and F-4J releases had already been out,,,,,,,,,,the first release of the kit actually "matched the plastic",,,,,,it was of a B,,,,with B parts, instructions and decals

later releases had us build them as J or D,,,with those same wings

also,,,,that mold is both "old release Hasegawa" and "current release Hasegawa",,,,,I know, get out the rope, lol,,,,,but, if you buy a "1/72 Hasegawa F-4K",,,,you just bought the plastic to build an F-4B with Spey engine thingies

not a slam on Hasegawa at the time, though,,,,,Revell, Airfix and Hasegawa were all three doing the same thing,,,,Hasegawa was the only one that after a while released a new mold for their F-4E based kits,,,,Revell and Airfix just gave us some nose pieces to add on to make an E, and some nasty engine exhausts,,,,,,,you have to see the Revell F-4E Thunderbird nose to believe it,,words and pics just don't do it justice

timeline is easy,,,,,I left the farm in summer 1975,,,,,,my first AMT kit was on the built shelf, with a few more in the stash