ITALERI 1:72 IAI KFIR C.2/C.7

Reviewer: Myself  (braithy@bigpond.com)

There's a lot of history regarding the development of the Israeli Kfir, too much to go into here.  Suffice to say the first production model of the Kfir ("lion cub"), the C.1, was simply a development of the Nesher, which itself was a simplified and copied version of the French Mirage III.  With a modest success rating the C.2 was developed and included the distinctive canard wings behind the engine intakes for better field performance and agility plus the dogtooth on the wing.  It soon showed the potential of its capabilities in middle eastern skirmishes.  The C.7 is the definitive model with upgraded avionics of the C.2 and a more powerful engine.  All existing C.2 aircraft were converted to the C.7 model resulting in a formidable STOL capable attack fighter, and as such there is little differences between the two versions.  The US Navy and Marine Corps leased some C.2's in the early 80's for evaluation and use in the aggressor squadrons, designated F-21A, and often seen in late 80's movies (eg: Flight of Black Angel, The Final Flight, Iron Eagle III & IV, + many others) posing as adverseries and MiGs.

Interesting scheme depicted on the boxart (above) which is not reproduced in the kit as such (refer to the bottom of the box for the colour details) but one which I was tempted to try out and there appears to be no reason why this scheme could not be replicated.  In the end I decided to be a little more traditional using two-tone grey.  In the box the parts are wrapped in cellophane and there are two sprues in a Ghost Grey colour.  All the panel lines are engraved and are nicely done, a fair amount of scribing has gone into the kit.  Detail is quite reasonable and crisp for a model in this scale.

The instructions are in a fold-out sheet - roughly the size of three A5 sheets aligned together.  A very short history on the aircraft is provided, a diagram of the sprues and numbered parts, just four assembly steps, a diagram for decal placement and a couple of photos.  The painting schemes available are actually on the bottom of the box in colour.

Wheel well detail is reasonable but nothing to jump and down about (either way).  The cockpit features a tub unit which also includes the nose wheel well bay, with a nicely replicated seat, control stick and instrument panel (raised detail).  Rudder pedals and some small sidepanel detail is molded onto the tub unit.

I slapped this kit together in the space of about 10 minutes (discounting breaks for painting parts), it was very simple - the construction that is.  Everything went together easily and there really is nothing to report on as far as the construction was concerned.  A couple of smaller pieces were encumbered by the slightest of flash that required a touch up.  The only thing I had trouble with was one of the missile pylons, it didn't sit flush against the wing as it should but was easily fixed by slicing off one of the pins and butt glueing with super glue for extra strength.  The nose gear doors were also not 100% perfect.  All the aerials, tacan probe and even the nose probe were already attached to the fuselage so this is a job which the modeller is not required to undertake, hence a quicker build - and one job which I must add is something I don't miss!

The problem itself was not with the construction, but with the result.  There are gaps everywhere that require filling and sanding and this whole process took longer than putting the kit together, tenfold!  It was really very messy, the nose gear doors ended up being filled with putty to hide the gaps and to align it properly.  The worst culprit was the wing section.  You have one underwing piece with two upper pieces going over the top and overlapping the bottom piece around the flaps and leading edges.  A very nasty gap here that needed quite a bit of attention. The outcome was not very flattering and is noticeable even when the whole kit has been finished.  Keep the underside hidden!

In the end the majority of it scrubbed up quite well and once painted looked fine.  The underwing sections, as stated above, are noticeable which is an annoyance.  Given that there was quite a bit of filling/sanding a a few panel lines were spoiled - a shame.  And while I'm pretty adept at filling and sanding for the less initiated, it will most likely require two or more attempts for the best result.  Don't be too zealous in the first application, just try to plug the gaps first then use more filling later to help smooth out the appearance.

The kit says that either the C.2 or C.7 can be produced, which technically I guess one would agree with because the latter is simply conversion types of the former.  But there are a few little differences which aren't harped on in the kit and a few probes absent.  I think that one can only really get a reasonably accurate C.7 out of this kit.

I chose to do the two tone grey low-vis version because this is how I most resemble the C.7 in my thoughts.  This features a Ghost grey underside and around the perimeters on the upper.  Patches of Gull Grey are then applied, with a small black nose cone.  The result is very nice and the job awaits decalling.  Decals supplied by Italeri are quite good, and will set on the model nicely without any hint of carrier film.  My only criticism is that they are a bit too eager to move around on the surface and this makes it hard to try and dab off any excess water and decal setting solution.  But overall the decals weren't too bad, but be attentive because the instruction sheet showing decal placement is a bit cryptic and one needs to correspond their version to the bottom of the box.  For instance, the instruction sheet shows topview decal placement, split down the middle - one side for "845" (Low vis two-tone grey scheme) and the other for "534" (traditional green, sand & tan and large yellow/black triangles).

Accuracy of the kit is so-so, that is if you want to be picky.  It captures the features and lines of the Kfir well and measures up to scale also quite accurately.  The kit claims that it will produce either C.2 or C.7 but doesn't elaborate on the differences in the construction.  The C.7 is essentially an updated avionics version of the C.2 and simply has a couple of larger fairings and a couple of more or repositioned probes.  The kit really doesn't do justice as a C.2, it is much closer to the C.7.  The Canards are not quite correct and are a bit narrow.  The wings also at the 'tips' (if you could define this on a delta) are not captured correctly being a touch too rounded.  Mine also curved slightly down with one winger slightly more pronounced than the other but this could be something in my kit or something that perhaps resulted from all that filling and sanding underneath.  An underwing fairing is missing, the dogstooth is crudely overscaled and a number of necessary probes are missing from the kit (but that's to be expected in this scale and could be added using strectched sprue).  Other than that it is quite good.

Overall it was a pretty simple slap together, not many parts, kit to make with everything fitting easily.  The real problem factor was the filling and sanding underneath, and results in a somewhat messy outcome.  If people aren't going to be picking up the model and examining underneath the wings and you can put up with the few flaws, then the kit is recommended.

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