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Dragon 1/144 J-20 PLA Stealth Fighter

By Matt Bittner

Introduction

It wasn't long ago the world was given views into the latest aircraft coming from China, the J-20 Stealth Fighter. It wasn't long after that the first model - another one in 1/144 from Fox One - was out in the world. Now we have a more mainstream manufacturer's take on the aircraft, still when no official dimensions exist.

The Kit

Dragon's 1/144 J-20 consists of 30 pieces of injected, grey plastic and one clear, injected canopy. Decals are for only the first prototype, "2001", are nicely printed and in register.

dragon_4625-parts1.jpg
There is no instruction sheet - the construction sequence is written on the back of the box while finishing/decaling instructions are printed small on one side. This shouldn't take long to assemble - glue the lower fuselage half to the upper one-piece fuselage; glue the lower nose to the upper one-piece fuselage; glue the rudimentary cockpit tub into the cockpit; glue on the intake "wedges"; glue on the tail pieces; and finally glue on the canards. Turn the model over and lue on the bulges on the wings and you now have a J-20 in 1/144 that's ready to paint. It appears the exhausts are molded decent enough that you can paint those separate and install at the end.

Once the painting is finished, then you can proceed - and finish the model - by gluing on the nose-probe and all landing gear. Voila! One 1/144 J-20 ready for display.

While look at on-line pictures of the real thing, I'm not convinced anymore this was finished in black. It appears to be more of a grey than an actual black, so I will probably finish mine thusly.

Conclusion

dragon_4625-parts2.jpg
You can see in the accompanying photo how the Dragon compares to the Fox One. With no published dimensions, it's difficult to say which kit is correct. So, you're left on your own. The advantage to the Fox One is it's even a quicker build than the Dragon, with even less parts. The major advantage to Dragon's kit is it can be built gear-down.

All-in-all the Dragon J-20 is a great kit, one that will help bust you out of AMS, if you're stuck.

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