Israeli Aircraft Industries
F-21A Kfir

Wingman Models, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Mick Evans

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The United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps leased 25 modified Kfir C1 from Israel from 1985 to 1989, to act as adversary aircraft in dissimilar air combat training (DACT).  These aircraft, designated F-21A Kfir, had narrow-span canard fore planes and a single small rectangular strake on either side of the nose which considerably improved the aircraft's manoeuvrability and handling at low speeds.

The US Navy unit VF 43 operated 12 F-21 Kfirs in the Ghost Grey scheme between the years 1985 to 1988.  The US Marine Corp operated 13 F-21 Kfir in three different colour schemes.  The Ghost Grey scheme used by the US Navy, an Israeli Kfir C7 type camouflage scheme using the F-16 desert scheme colours and a third colour scheme which is the early 4 tone desert scheme used on the Israeli C2. 

US Navy and Marine Kfirs were identified with a two digit number applied to the nose gear door and a six digit number beginning with 999 and ending with the last three digits of the aircraft number that was applied when in service with the Israeli Air Force.

This new release from Wingman Models contains a complete kit of the very nice Kinetic Models Kfir C1/F-21A and Wingman Models have included some very nice resin details to really enhance the already very nice kit.

As I reviewed the standard Kinetic Kfir C1/F-21A kit a few months ago, I won't repeat the basic information on the plastic parts (pictured in the Gallery below).

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Thumbnail panels:

The key thing to notice with the release from Wingman is the amount of resin parts supplied with this kit.  The resin is beautifully cast with superb detail and no air bubbles.

Resin upgrade details include:

• Cockpit tub with integrated wheel well

• Cockpit side walls

• Seat.

• Control stick

• Instrument panel

• Martin Baker Mk.6 ejection seat

• Engine exhaust nozzle

• Nose wheel and main wheels

• Nose cone

• Centreline fuel drop tank

• Centreline pylon

• ACMI pod

• AIM-9 Sidewinder launch rails

Photo-etched metal parts are provided for the ejection seat handles and canopy mirrors along with the canard reinforcement plates.

A turned brass pitot and angle of attack probe is also included.

The cockpit area is a major improvement in detail over the plastic parts.  While the plastic cockpit would suffice for most modellers this upgrade to the tub, control stick, sidewalls, instrument panels and seats is just short of brilliant.

The engine exhaust nozzle contains an amazing amount of internal detail that can only be captured in resin.  The individual nozzle flaps are picked out as is the inner mounting ring.

The main wheels portray the heavy duty braking units in superb detail and once again are a major improvement over the kit. A nice touch from wingman is the inclusion of laser cut paper masks for the wheels when painting.

The final upgrade inclusion is laser cut paper masks for the canopy and windscreen to allow for accurate painting of the transparencies.

Markings

There are 6 schemes provided by Wingman for this kit with the decals printed by Cartograf.

The markings supplied are as follows:

• KFIR F-21A #02 number 999732 of VF 43 of the US Navy in 1985. The aircraft is finished in the initial Ghost scheme of FS35237 Medium Grey, FS36251 Aggressor Grey and FS36307 Light Blue Grey carried between 1985 and 1988.

• KFIR F-21A #06 number 999716 of VMFA 401 of the US Navy in 1987. The aircraft is finished in the Ghost scheme of FS35237 Medium Grey, FS36251 Aggressor Grey and FS36307 Light Blue Grey carried between 1985 and 1988.

• KFIR F-21A #03 number 999764 of VMFA 401 of the US Marines in 1984 in the early Israeli 4 tone desert scheme of FS36231 Grey, FS33531 Sand, FS34102 Light Green and FS30219 Dark Tan.

• KFIR F-21A #01 number 999731 of VMFA 401 of the US Marines in 1984 in the late 4 tone desert scheme of FS36375 Grey, FS33531 Sand, FS34424 Light Green and FS30219 Dark Tan.

• KFIR F-21A #08 number 999708 of VMFA 401 of the US Marines in 1984 in the late 4 tone desert scheme of FS36375 Grey, FS33531 Sand, FS34424 Light Green and FS30219 Dark Tan.

This is a superb kit of the F-21 Kfir.  There is nothing that I can criticise with this kit as it has improved the already superb Kinetic Kfir, I have already built one Kinetic Kfir C1 and it went together in a breeze with no fit issues at all.

Big kudos to Wingman and Kinetic for this excellent kit.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Wingman Models for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2014 by Mick Evans
Images Copyright © 2014 by Brett Green
Page Created 2 October, 2014
Last updated 2 October, 2014

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