1/48 Wingman Latin American Kfir TC10

Gallery Article by Gerd Wilcken on Jan 20 2017

 

      

Again I´m away from my 1:144`s when I saw and bought this beautiful 1:48 model on an Scale Model Exhibition in Lübeck, Germany

This new release from Wingman Models is the Latin American Trainer Version of the IAI Kfir TC2.

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The Kit contains a complete Kinetic Models Kfir TC2 to which Wingman have added 

  • Excellent resin conversion parts to convert the Kinetic single seater to the two-seat versions TC-2 (Equadoranian Air Force- FAE-) an TC-10 (Columbian Air Force- FAC-).There are a full upper forward fuselage with integrated twin cockpit tub with extensive detail to the side walls and consoles. Lower fuselage half with excellently detailed nose wheel well. Kfir TC2/10 nose cone. New fuselage spine. Control sticks. Highly detailed instrument panels for both the front and rear cockpits and Martin Baker Mk.6 and 10 ejection seats. Engine exhaust nozzle. Nose wheel and main wheels. External Tank Connector and a rear Cockpit frame.

  • Etched metal parts for the ejection seat handles, seat bucket sides, fin and fuselage antennas and canopy mirrors.

  • Laser cut vinyl masks for the canopy and windscreen.

  • Two vac - formed canopys (fragile!!).

  • Two turned brass pitot and nose cone tip.

Heavy modelling starts with some kit surgery to remove (saw / cut) large areas of the original Kinetic C-2 Cockpit to fit the complete resin forward cockpit section (You could see the red marked areas in the modelling guide on Photo No.2). Due to the weight of this complete resin cockpit you have to fix it VERY well to the rest of the fuselage.

Care is also necessary when you built the resin cockpit in your chosen version of the kit, because FAE and FAC use different cockpit instruments, MB Seats and windscreen!

There is so much left from the basic Kinetic Kit, that I built a complete nose and cockpit section of a Kfir C2 single Seater including the base injection moulded canopy. I wish they would have injection canopy for the TC 2/10 too.

Except from super- and sub sonic drop tanks there is no other armament. This you could buy in other Wingman Kits. 

There are 4 decal schemes - printed by Cartograf and designed by IsraCast Studio- for 

  • Kfir TC2, FAC 3003, 111 Sq., 1995

  • Kfir TC10, FAC3007, 111 Sq. 2013

  • Kfir TC2, FAE 931, 2113 Sq. 1998

  • Kfir TC2, FAE 930, 2113 Sq. 2000

I choose the dark (FS36118) and light (FS36622) grey Colombian Kfir TC10, Commando Ačro de Combate No.1, Base Ačre “German Olano” in Dalanquere from mid 2013. They had no (!) second 0 in the decals and no exact match in the spare box ….so from 3007 to 3067. The cockpit ladder is modified from an old F-105 ladder.

This is my first Wingman Kit and it is truly a superb multi-media all-in-one Kit of the Kfir TC2/10. Highly recommended for modellers with a level of experience in resin conversions.

A little apologies for the photos. My “bigger” Nikon quit and so I`ve to use the smaller version…

Gerd Wilcken

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Photos and text © by Gerd Wilcken