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RichB

Academy 1/48 ROKAF T-50

Academy 1/48 ROKAF T-50

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History

The T-50 Golden Eagle is a South Korean supersonic advanced trainer developed by a consortium of Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin beginning in the late 1990s. The T-50 is South Korea’s first indigenous supersonic aircraft and one of the world’s few supersonic trainers. It made its maiden flight in 2002 and the first of 50 aircraft entered active service with the Republic of Korea Air Force in 2005.

The T-50 advanced trainer program has expanded to include the T-50B (aerobatics optimized), TA-50 (light attack/fighter lead-in), and FA-50 (multi-role fighter). The T-50B’s began service with the ROKAF’s Black Eagles aerobatics team in 2009. In 2011, the first squadron of TA-50’s became operational. The maiden flight of the FA-50 Fighting Eagle, with comparable capabilities to the KF-16, also took place in 2011. Deliveries of the FA-50 began in 2013 and will continue until 2017. KAI and Lockheed are developing dedicated reconnaissance and electronic warfare variants, designated as RA-50 and EA-50 respectively.

The T-50 family has seen some success with foreign orders. Deliveries of the Indonesian T-50I began in 2013 with the last of sixteen aircraft delivered in January 2014. Iraq has announced a contract for twenty-four FA-50’s, designated T-50IQ, with delivery set for 2015 through 2017. The Philippines have also selected the FA-50, designated T-50PH, signing a contract for twelve aircraft to meet their light attack and lead-in fighter training requirement. Delivery is also set for the 2016-2017 period. Additional export orders are being pursued in countries in South-East Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the United States T-X program.
The Kit
This is a complete new mold from Academy. The airframe sprues are found in four plastic bags, molded in a ‘true white’ plastic that almost glows. The decal sheet and clear sprue are each in their individual bags.

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The parts are well molded with crisp raised and engraved details. There are some ejector marks to be found in areas like the wheel wells and intake ducting, but they are minimal and very shallow. As is common with many Academy kits, many details are molded as separate items. This can make construction a bit more complex (some say over engineered) but does provide increased fidelity, so take your time through those steps to achieve excellent results.
Sprue A

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Sprue B
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Sprue C
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Sprue D
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Sprue E
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Clear Sprue
(I managed to separate the canopy from the sprue while setting up for pictures)
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Upper and Lower Fuselage
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Instructions
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Construction follows the usual convention, beginning with the cockpit. Detail paint callouts are cross referenced to GSI Creos Mr. Color and Aqueous, Life Color, Humbrol and both Model Master Enamel and Acryl systems. There are no harnesses provided for the multi-part Mk. 16K ejection seats but there are two nicely detailed crew figures that can occupy the office. For those that prefer an unoccupied cockpit, Wolfpack Design makes a set of resin Mk. 16K resin seats with harnesses for this kit. The cockpit tub has raised details on the consoles with separate throttles and control sticks. The nose wheel well is built up and attached to the underside of the tub. The instrument panels are molded in clear with decals provided for the flat panel displays in the ‘On’ mode. The displays will not be seen this way on the ground unless the aircraft is powered, so you have the option. The canopy has the proper ‘blown’ contour which means there is a slight raised seam line to polish out. Interior canopy frame details are provided (excellent for an open canopy display) along with two crew boarding ladders.

The full length intake is split horizontally and runs from the intakes to the barely visible compressor face. There will be a slight seam to clean up but careful assembly should minimize the work needed to remove it. The roof of the main landing gear well is modeled onto the lower half of the intake.


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The forward fuselage is provided as vertically split halves, the aft fuselage as horizontally split with the upper half including the wings. Although not mentioned in the instructions, I would be tempted to put a little weight in the nose to ensure it is not a tail sitter. The assembled intake duct is installed in the lower half of the aft fuselage along with the fore and aft bulkheads and main landing gear struts. The well and struts are well detailed and with careful painting and a detail wash they will look very good.

When installing the landing gear, the modeller gets a unique choice of three options. First, you could model the aircraft in-flight and omit the struts and close the doors (they will require modification to be installed closed). The second choice is to model the aircraft on the ground with the weighted landing gear option. The third choice (and something new) is to install the fully extended, un-weighted struts to depict another in-flight option.

The flaperons, horizontal stabilators and optional open or closed speed brakes are provided as separate items. The exhaust is complete with internal ribbed ducting, flame holder and closed nozzle with nice internal and external detail. As this is a trainer, stores are limited to a centreline fuel tank and optional ‘Smokewinders’ for the wingtip stations.

The only colour option is the trainer white/orange scheme. All markings, including the orange ID markings and black anti-glare panel are provided as decals. Those preferring to paint these bits could use the decals to create painting masks. The decals are printed by Cartograph and are up to their usual high standard. Mix and match serial numbers are provided that should allow just about any of the T-50’s built to be portrayed. It appears nothing was left out in the way of markings including walkways, airframe stencils and landing gear placards. All this should allow you to spend several enjoyable sessions applying decals. It should be noted that the red hue to the decal for the lower radome is correct, differing from the rest of the orange marking on the aircraft.


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Conclusion

At first blush it could be thought that Academy developed this kit solely for their domestic market. Academy has produced an excellent kit of a unique subject with design elements from other aircraft that most modellers will recognize. (It does look like the lovechild of an F-16 and F/A-18.) The bright white, orange and red will brighten up any display case filled with the usual sea of grey and green camouflage. The second boxing of this kit provides the equally attractive T-50B in the ‘Black Eagles’ display team livery of black, white and gold. We may also be able to look forward to release of the operational versions as they come into service in the years to come.
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RichB
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