Testors 1/48 F-19 Stealth Fighter

TESTORS (ITALERI) 1:48 F-19 STEALTH FIGHTER
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Michael Johnson (rec.models.scale)

Potted History

I remember as a young teenager during 1982 getting a weekly magazine called “War in Peace” This series had a fantastic article or two on the rumours of a new fighter Lockheed’s famous “Skunkworks” were developing. In one issue there was a fantastic poster of an artists impression of the F-19 Stealth fighter. When Testors released a kit based on what minor information was being leaked and what aviation “experts” thought it could look like, the US Senate went into an uproar!

This therefore is the kit……

The Kit

Testors-Italeri 1:48 F-19 Stealth Fighter

The kit comes in a side opening box with a pull out tray style box. The box top has a pic of the finished model in an all black “stealthy” scheme. Opening the box reveals two black sprues, a clear sprue with two different canopy types, instruction booklet and a decal sheet.

This kit is very OOP and can only be found thus at swap meets, club sales or eBay (where I got mine)

Instructions

The instruction booklet offers clear and concise instructions on how to paint and assemble the F-19. The last page details the two schemes offered out of the box.

Decals

A busy decal sheet offers the choice of two F-19, either a flat black stealth style finish or an overall gloss gull grey Day fighter scheme. Decals look good on the sheet and are produced by Scale Master.

The Sprues

All the parts for this fanciful “what if” fighter are contained within the two black sprues. The major components feature recessed panel lines and a relatively flash free. All the components suffer from, mould separation lines and injector pin marks. However cleanup of each component, though time consuming, will remove all these minor flaws.

The fuselage is of the “top and bottom” joining variety, which is typical of wide bodied modern aircraft model kits.

The black plastic will certainly hinder seam line removal and associated checking but nothing suggests that it would be a difficult build.

The transparency is bagged with the rest of the kit components and as such suffers from the usual scuffing and scratches.

The “Office”

Detail for the cockpit is pretty good, with detailed side walls, 3 piece bang seat and a detailed instrument panel. Obviously no walkarounds, airshow pics or “in action” references are available for this little fighter so a neat paint job will have to suffice to ensure a good looking office.

Conclusions

I have no doubt that this kit will turn out very well indeed out of the box, given a bit of work and care. Italeri kits can be hot or cold in buildability, but are we model assemblers of model builders?

If you can find one, grab it!

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