The ‘Fit’
Now this looks very promising, a neat accurate fit.
You can clearly see how much open space is left for the engines, panels, bays. This is very cleverly engineered and although some may not like the idea of exposing your innards, I love it.
Instructions and colour guide
The instructions are in booklet form, slightly smaller than A4 with a glossy front cover image matching the box art. There are 24 pages including the fold out colour charts.
Inside the exploded view format prevails.
A quick glance through the instructions make them appear pretty straightforward and clear, in 22 steps (although steps 19 & 20 are missing) but this is just a numbering issue.
I’m not convinced I’ll follow the steps as shown, an example would be where the instructions would have you assemble the forward fuselage completely, including canopy and undercarriage and the rear fuselage completely, before putting them together. That won’t work for me I’m afraid…
The painting charts for the three examples are foldouts on the front and rear covers.
All three are very nicely done illustrations with colour callouts for Gunze paints.
The instructions for weapons assembly are spread through the last three pages with a callout of stores locations on the last page, however as I mentioned most are French weapons apart from the BL755 Cluster munitions, Matra rocket pods and the Sidewinder 9L’s.
My advice here would be to go looking for a stores fit from another kit or aftermarket supplier.
I would certainly recommend either Flightpath or Odds & Ordnance if you want accurate UK weapons.
What is a nice touch from Kitty Hawk is the colour chart for the weapons, again very well illustrated. There are even decals for scribbled writing on the bombs, a great touch for a Gulf War version.