Trumpeter's 1/48 scale
JF-17 Thunder

by Ben Wang

Tamiya's 1/48 scale P-47D Thunderbolt is available online from Squadron.com

Tonight I present to you my last build in 2017 - A Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder of the No. 16 Squadron 'Black Panthers' in 1/48 scale by Trumpeter.

This is a third generation single engine multirole fighter jointly developed by Pakistan and China. Its early specs and performance are similar to that of the F-16A/B but is capable of BVR and carrying AMRAMS. The Pakistan Air Force currently epiup two squadrons with this fighter jet, replacing the previous Q-5 Nanchang fighter bomber also manufactured by China.

I built this kit out of the box. This kit in my opinion is generally accurate in shape and quite straightforward to build, the fit is reasonable.

The kit auxiliary tanks are completely incorrect in shape therefore I left them out, I might scratch build or 3D print them one day, then you'll be able to show off the beautiful panther artwork on the drop tanks.

The kit supplied exhaust nozzle lacks detail therefore I would recommend replacing it with a resin one such as Aires. The one on my model is sourced from the 1/48 GWH MiG-29 kit.

I replaced the kit decals with an offering from Caracal http://www.caracalmodels.com/cd72005.html. I personally think this is a must if you want to depict this jet in Pakistani Markings as the kit decal markings show the incorrect colour (more blue than grey), unfortunately the same problem lies with the Bronco kit which in my view is almost the identical to the Trumpeter's.

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This is first articIe submission to Hyperscale but it won't be my last. I hope you like it, Cheers. 

Ben Wang

Model and Text Copyright © 2018 by Ben Wang
Page Created 4 October, 2018
Last Updated 4 October, 2018

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