Hasegawa 1:48 Scale Typhoon MK.IB Tear Drop Canopy Model Kit

back in the days when Hasegawa airplane kits of allied aircraft were as good, sometimes better than Tamiya, this is the sort of kit they produced. great detail too.

Its a pity that the Japanese model manufacturer's manage to produce kit's of soome of our best aircraft, deom the last war to a far better standard than we do! This also applies to the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, De Haviland Mosquito and many others. The quality of moulding and assembly is far superior.

This is my fifth Hasegawa kit in 1/48 scale and I've come to expect a high standard of fit and detail from the manufacturer, so I was expecting an easy build with this model. It's worth noting that the basis of this kit is used for two different versions of the Typhoon and the kit has been remarketed by Italeri so the this review applies to both Hasegawa and Italeri boxings. Initial impressions are good, the detail level is high (although not to the standard of Hasegawa's excellent 1/48 Ki-84) and the moulding is of a decent enough quality to ensure a tidy dry fit. Mostly. First thing you notice is the cutout of the fuselage to provision for either the teardrop canopy or the "car door" Mk 1a. It's a somewhat clunky solution as you'll discover when you built the kit and find that the cockpit section does not close together without a 0.5mm gap which requires careful filling. Moreover, although the wing snaps into place around the radiator cowling very neatly, there's a large gap between the upper wing halves and the fuselage, which is difficult to fill without losing detail. It's frustrating considering that every other Hasegawa kit I've built almost falls together straight out of the box. The kit comes with two decal options and the usual armament if that's your thing. There's no pilot figure, nor is there any photo etch or moulding for seatbelts etc. The instructions also let the side down somewhat, as you'll find when you assemble the cockpit frame and instrument panels, which need to be positioned at an angle to the dashboard, but this isn't clear from the instructions. It would also be helpful if the painting diagrams were printed at 1:1 scale for the kit, to allow you to create your own camouflage masking, as Tamiya seem to be doing of late. I need to make special mention of the seller who shipped this kit to me all the way from Japan and wrere never less than excellent. To summarise, this is a reasonably good kit which is compromised by some frustrating fit issues and mediocre instructions. You'll need more filler and patience than you'd normally expect with a Hasegawa kit, but the end result is worth the perseverance.

This review is for the Italeri boxing of this kit, so my comments on the decals may not apply to the original Hasgewa version. The general fit of parts is good, except for the fuselage side walls which don't meet in the centre and need filling. The instructions relating to the cockpit are not totally clear. Otherwise this is a well engineered kit, although the level of detail is not up to some modern kits. The decals were poor - thick and glossy - which made getting them to lie flat very difficult. The invasion stripes didn't work at all and I had to paint these. Most surprising given that the decals are by Cartograf who are normally excellent.

waited weeks and weeks for this model.. and when it came to placing the rocket launches, on the wings it became a night mare as the holes are not marked out on the planes wings,, badly made kit,, AVOID

Great kit, great service

It seems and feels cheap in comparison to other manufacturers

Very detailed, would have liked a pilot but that is a minor detail.