Building the Kinetic DJ

Continuing this thread from "scale models".

Started on the tail of the Kinetic DJ this morning. I'm building it along with 3 Tamiya CJ's so I'll use the Tamiya as a reference (maybe not the best idea).

The Tamiya kits as a rule are 1) Open box, 2) place a few drops of glue in box 3) shake box, 4) open box 5) remove finished model!

Disclaimer: This model should not be built until you have a few Hasegawa and Tamiya kits under your belt, or at least have their instructions available as a reference.

The Kinetic kit will return you to "old school" modeling. The tail pieces have many injector marks on them that have to be sanded/ground down (yes, the Dremel tool actually came out of its case). The vertical fin halves after gluing have a step along the leading edge seam. The dorsal has the same look from above as the Academy 1/32 kit (see pics). The vents F8 & F9 on the dorsal magically appear on the instructions without any mention of installing them. After assembly, the fit to the top of the fuselage was better that I expected, there is more gap on the Tamiya kit if you just use the poly-caps.
The detail lines/rivets are also more pronounced on the tail as mentioned before. I'll let you know how they look after weathering.

OK, so you have to tell yourself over and over, "This is not a Tamiya Kit".
You actually have to build, not just assemble it! After all the talk before its release, I didn't have high expectations. Having an new alternative, especially a new station wagon, is a nice change. OK, the kits not a Tamiya (said it again didn't I) but I still have one on backorder and I'm NOT going to cancel it! Stay tuned and thanks for reading through all this rambling-now go build you ownl!

Ok tail base shape....yikes...
Thanks for doing this, though. I don't have the benefit of having it in hand, and won't for a while, so this is good info.

Hoi Proudpop,

Looking forward to more installments of this build review/comparison.

later
Ruud

Disclaimer: I'm going to attempt to build this kit OOB (out of the box)

Started on the cockpit. You have to install the rear seat side panels, then attach the armrest on the right wall of both pits, its a small part, cut it correctly and don't lose it! Then we come to the "ejection seats" I assembled them as per the instructions, I think! The back seat support is supposed to fit inside the rails, I think!
There was a hugh injector pin on the right seat half that has to be removed for the seat to "fit" in, BUT when the seat was fitted in and the glue dried, there was a gap between the seat cushion and the seat side (I filled it with Testor's clear parts cement). Once dried, the seat would NOT slide down into the tub! The back support made the rails too far apart. Before I start grinding, I have a few extra Hasegawa seats that I may try to install instead. I think I screwed the seats up too much! I'll try and test fit the Hasegawa and Tamiya seats tonight, we will see what happens. I can't be kit-bashing already!

Why not resin seats?

Check out the seat comparison. The Kinetic seat doesn't even look to scale. Not sure where I'm going with seats-resin is another option. I'm still trying my best to OOB it. Don't know about the seats though! Zoom in to get a better look.

Which seat is which?

check the picture description it says L-R Tamiya, Kinetic, Hasegawa.

Didn't notice that. The Kinetic seat looks squat and out of scale.

Hoi,

Looks a bit dwarfish... no offense to the dwarfs.

later
Ruud

I was gonna say Elven, but the Tolkien definition, Elves are as big as humans, so I'd go with Hobbitian. :-p

Lets look at the upper/lower fuselage.

Upper:
I attached the forward to the aft "just like" the Tamiya kit. Don't forget to remove to alignment pins from the front connector seam, they are not on the rear. The gap appeared after I removed the tape, glad I have some "Tamiya" putty. The rear panels are too thick and shaped wrong. I over worked the lower.

Lower:
The Ventrals appear to be at the correct angle, I don't know what all the fuss was about!

One little thing- The Panther on the right side should be a mirror image of the left side, they are both the same on the decal sheet. The paw should be forward on both sides. Maybe I'm to picky!

Ok, so more observations here. It's clear that the rear fuse sides have absolutely NO twist in them, like they should. Thus, no inherent anhedral for the stabs. The gap in the fuse parts is pretty big. And the ventral fins have about TWICE as much angle as they should. The angle should only be 15 degrees, that looks more like 30.

Here's a direct comparison.

It looks like there is some twist, or am I just looking at the wrong area?

The Ventrals do have more angle!

Hey, I was a RU-21H crewchief, I know the angles on that beast!

Ahhh, swell looking C-90 err...C-12! You sure it was the 12? I thought all the C-90 variants were C-6s.

Anyway, I hope you don't mind, I took your pics. They show perfectly what I'm talking about. I added the lines and text: