Hasegawa 1/72 Northrop T-38A Talon

HASEGAWA 1:72 NORTHROP T-38A TALON
'In The Box Review'

Reviewer: Myself (rec.models.scale)
Addendum supplied by Randy Geithman.

Kit: Kit No. 00012:400 - T-38A Talon - 1:72

Aircraft: The T-38 Talon is effectively to the F-5 Freedom Fighter what the T-33 was to the F-80 Shooting Star - ie: a trainer version of the fighter aircraft. While it provides a profile that looks like a two-seat variant of the F-5 family it is actually almost an entirely different aircraft. The T-38A became the principal jet trainer for the USAF from 1961 and served this role for a quarter of a century before being phased out. It enabled the USAF pilots to train in a supersonic aircraft and to this day boasts the best accident record of any USAF supersonic aircraft ever.

Hasegawa/Minicraft boxing of presumably identical moldings

Parts: This is a small kit, with the three sprues provided lying side by side, were smaller in area than one of the MiG-31 sprues from the Zhengdefu kit (reviewed elsewhere on this site). Of course the box size gives this away immediately. There are approximately 45 light grey injection molded parts that all come in one plastic bag together, along with the one-piece long canopy part (the only clear bit in the kit), and the decal sheet. From my recollection this is not one of Hasegawa's best kits in terms of detail and is one of their older ones. This is reflected by the raised panel line surface detail which is not spectacular and the abundance of ejector pin marks on many parts. There are mold imperfections and slight flash on many of the smaller pieces. The kit does remind one of an Airfix offering - except the crisp quality of Hasegawa parts and the fact everything is neatly attached to sprues.

Instructions: This comes in the standard Hasegawa offering of a fold out sheet. To punctuate the relative quickness of what the project has to offer there are just three assembly steps. The instruction sheet provides some small inset diagrams pointing to parts that need removal (such as ventral antenna mast) and undercarriage sideview profile. There is a short blurb on the history of the aircraft - shorter than mine above! - plus the usual fanfare you find on Hasegawa instructions:- sprue diagram, four-view diagrams for colour schemes/markings and gunze sangyo paint call out.

Versions: The kit offers two colour options from the kit - a USAF trainer variant in the standard overall white scheme plus orange nose and rear panels; and a USAF Thunderbirds option. Apart from the obvious omission of stores and other external components, from my recollection there were subtle differences between the trainer and displayer, so best check your references before undertaking the project. Note, that with the Thunderbirds version, you must paint the livery yourself.

Decals: This is a fairly small decal sheet offering only the bare essentials for the modeller. The only stencilling provided is a couple of those fuel tank markers, rescue decals, "danger" triangles and a few wing walks. The decal film is glossy and typical of Hasegawa releases so should go on well with a gloss backing and another to seal it in. They are not the best Hasegawa decals I have seen, printed in 1994 the smallest USAF insignia are blurry and the red bar is off centre in both decals, and sticks out one end on one of them. As far as the Thunderbirds version is concerned, apart from the stencilling, instrument panel decal and insignia common to both colour options, all you get is the 2 surrounded by stars for the tail fin. You will have to paint the Thunderbird colour scheme yourself. In any event, I would recommend thinking about using some spare USAF insignia at the very least!

Accuracy: In spite of being lead to believe this kit was reasonable in accuracy, Randy dispelled this with his addendum below. Apparently based on the F-5B and therefore inaccurate on many accounts - see below.

Detail: Surface detail is adequate but nothing more. There is no cockpit detail to speak of, you simply get bucket seats that are put onto "pins" in the fuselage halves. Pilot figures are provided to fill up the cockpit interior and the decal sheet has instrumentation for the dashboard console. There is no detail whatsoever in the wheel wells.

Options: Very little. Canopy is one-piece, only aircraft options are basically wheels up and wheels down! The belly airbrakes are, however, separate, so can be displayed open. One of the sprues is essentially made up of stores options, including wingtip tanks (which should be left off) and a choice of a pair of medium or large underwing drop tanks, plus a centreline fuselage tank as well.

Impressions: This is one of those earlier Hasegawa kits that should go together pretty well but it won't live up to the state of the art reputation that precedes them. In fact you will probably spend more time detailing the kit (eg: cockpit) and removing and fixing the ejector pin marks than you will building the actual main assembly components!

This is a pretty small kit. The fuselage breakdown includes the full tailfin on one half and the whole fuselage profile, including nose on both halves. As already stated there are just pins inside the fuselage halves to put your two cockpit seats on. The interior is very sparse and very poor. The undercarriage components are also included on this sprue and are small and fragile.

Another sprue part contains the exhausts (which are simply shaped pieces of plastic and flash on the inside), gear doors, intakes and wing/tailplane sections. Both the wings and tailplanes are one-piece with a centre panel section that fits into the underside of the aircraft.

The final sprue as already mentioned contains mainly the stores options for the kit.

I did not go about test fitting the parts but I am sure it will go together okay, with a bit of modeller effort needed in removing the aforementioned mold imperfections, flash, marks etc. The detail of this kit is certainly not one of its strong points. In all fairness, I would still recommend this kit, but a bit of work will be needed to spruce it up!

ADDENDUM - Supplied by Randy Geithman:

I'll be the bearer of bad tidings and pass on that the Hasegawa "T-38" is not. Unfortunately it is a mere reboxing of their F-5B kit. I'm working on this kit right now.

To convert an F-5B to a T-38, you must:

Leave off the tip tanks. (Hasegawa doesn't tell you to put them on.)
Cut off the leading edge root extension. (I think the instructions indicate this too.)
Fill in the lines for the leading edge slats; T-38s don't have them.
Modify the intakes: the Talon's are smaller and sort of oval in cross section, rather than having the prominent flat splitter plates.
Section the rear fuselage; the T-38 has smaller engines and is not as deep from about the wheelwell area aft.
Add a small curved plate connecting the tops of the exhaust nozzles.
Replace the single large speedbrake with two smaller ones, with space between them.

- I believe there are other detail differences as well. Oddly enough the Hasegawa kit, otherwise an F-5B, has the T-38 airbrakes.

Of course, it's all a matter of "what looks right to you". I've seen enough F-5s and T-38s that the different intakes and more slender fuselage are really obvious to me . . . didn't feel up to fixing them this time, so I converted the speedbrake back to F-5 style (carved out the separating bit, and made a new airbrake from plastic card) and am finishing mine as a Norwegian F-5B.

Related Reviews:-

Fujimi/Testors 1/48 Northrop T-38 Talon

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