PLAAF J10B Vigorous Dragon Fighter Aircraft

This is a very nice kit from Trumpeter with a lot of detail and a great weapons selection. This was my first build of a Trumpeter aircraft kit, and it turned out to be very nice. The recessed panel lines and rivets are beautifully done throughout, and part fit was very good. I had to use a small amount of putty in a few places only. Cockpit detail was good, with kit provided photo etched belts, canopy mirrors and HUD frames. There is nice raised detail for instruments that made dry brushing a snap, or you can use nicely detailed decals instead. The canopy has a mold line that runs the length of the canopy and it needs to be removed. There is also clear parts for navigation and landing gear lights as well as a HUD display. Wheels feature molded weight distortion that look very convincing. There is a large set of missiles, bombs and fuel tanks to hang on the aircraft. I had a hard time deciding which to display - a good problem to have. There were a few things that could have been better, however. The color painting guide, in addition to showing painting instruction also shows decal placement. The decal placement was confusing, and didn't seem complete. Sometimes a decal was clearly printed in the guide, but no decal number was indicated. Also, the decals themselves were a bit disappointing. Although the decals were in perfect register, they all took some coaxing to get them to loosen on the backing paper, even after immersing them in water for some time. Once off the backing paper and down on a coat of clear gloss, they snugged down perfectly with a bit of decal setting solution. Also, be prepared to spend a significant amount of time applying all the decals - there are literally hundreds of them, and most are very small. There are two painting options with this kit - an odd prototype scheme of yellows, and a operational scheme of grays. I'm very happy with the way this kit turned out and recommend it to those looking for something different than the normal diet of U.S. and Russian fighters.