Scale aviation modeller international

F28-2000 & -4000 Fellowship

F-RSIN 1/144 F28-2000 & -4000 Fellowship by David Matthews Smith

F

okker’s F28 short-haul jet

liner has served with many

airlines, governments, and

armed forces around the globe.

The F28 has previously been

represented by two resin kits, but

these are not currently available,

making F-RSIN’s recently released

1/144 scale injection moulded

kits particularly welcome.

My first review related to the

short fuselage, short wingspan

F28-1000 version, while this

review focuses on the F28-4000

variant (and identical -2000

boxing, which simply requires

the wing tips to be shortened).

Swapping wings and fuselages

from a -1000 kit and a -4000 kit

will produce a -2000 version and

a -3000 without any wastage.

I must start by emphasising

F-RSIN’s standard box labelling,

which is bold and clear – “...

for the enthusiastic modeller”.

These kits are for modellers – not

”assemblers” who expect parts

to fall together. F-RSIN have the

courage and passion to provide

models of airliners that the

mainstream model manufacturers

are less willing to produce.

Modellers need to be mindful of this

simple fact of modelling life when

working with a relatively short-run

kit – and be prepared for a little

extra work to clean up small parts

and perhaps add extra details such

as aerials, etc – rather than face

the alternative of no model at all.

THE KIT

The single sprue of

reasonably soft, grey

plastic provides a classic

breakdown of parts,

including fuselage halves,

wing halves, and engine

halves with separate

fan disks and nozzles,

plus basic undercarriage

components, amounting

to 44 parts in all. Overall,

the kit captures the

general outline and

shapes of key features,

producing a convincing

representation of the F28.

There are no clear parts

or window or windscreen

cut outs, but windows and

windscreens are included

with all decal options.

No locating pins are

provided on the fuselage

halves, but these short

components are flat with no twist

or warping, allowing the halves

to be joined accurately without

any bother. Locating pins on the

engine pylons ensure positive

location on the rear fuselage, while

robust tabs are provided to locate

the wings, tailplanes and fin.

Relatively fine and convincing

panel lines are engraved on the

fuselage halves, but those on the

wings are less consistent, almost

disappearing in places on the

underside of the wings (although

many modellers would argue

that panel lines are inappropriate

on a 1/144 scale kit anyway).

Fine surface blemishes are

slightly heavier on the -4000

moulding than the -1000 kits I

purchased, particularly on the

engine nacelles, tailplanes, and

the right fuselage half engine

mounting location, but some fine

surface filler and a rub with very

fine emery paper should deal with

these, while a coat of primer or

fine surface filler will remedy

the finer surface irregularities.

On both of my -4000 kits, I

found that the last millimetre or

two of the right upper wing tip half

was not fully formed. This is not a

problem for the British Airways/

TAT -2000 version, as the wing tips

need to be shortened by 5.2mm

anyway. For the long span -4000,

the defective wing tip needs to be

reinstated using filler and/or plastic

welded to the tip and sanded to

shape. Given that this very small

issue is difficult to illustrate in even

a close-up photo, many modellers

may choose to simply resolve the

issue with a swipe of sandpaper to

make the two wing tips match.

Like the -1000 version (and

most F-RSIN kits) moderate flash is

present around smaller

parts, requiring patience

(and in my case, access

to some relaxing music)

to make the necessary

task of cleaning up the

smaller parts more

tolerable. Plastic sheet

or brass will be required

to add the distinctive

V-shaped VHF aerial

behind the cockpit,

and the HF towel rail

aerials on the belly

ahead of the wings.

The instruction sheet

is relatively simple,

but identifying several

smaller items on the

sprue is difficult, along

with establishing where

to position them on

the model. However,

F-RSIN have already

provided me with further

details regarding these

parts, which I shall

address in the F28-4000 build

review, already in progress.

The -4000 sprue is marketed

as seven boxing/decal choices,

including Air France (“bar code”

scheme), Air Anglia, Air UK,

Aerolineas Argentinas, NLM

CityHopper, SAS, and USAir (natural

metal and red cheatline). The

British Airways/TAT F28-2000

boxing consists of the -4000 sprue,

with instructions to trim the wing

tips to create the -2000 version.

Most of the decal options are

laser-printed (and pleasingly crisp),

but the British Airways scheme is

silk screened, and the USAir version

has a silk screened “details” sheet,

plus a laser-printed sheet of cheat

lines, tail logos and registrations.

CONCLUSION

This is a welcome addition to the

field of 1/144 airliners. Modellers

familiar with F-RSIN kits will be

aware of the need for extra patience

in preparing and building this kit.

The 1-2 mm shortfall at one wing

tip, and the surface blemishes, are

fixable – perhaps these should be

viewed as a reminder of the quaint,

bygone days (?) when kits often

required rectification work, before we

became spoiled with computer-aided

design and manufacturing, which

has raised the expectations of some

modellers to unrealistic heights.

Provided modellers

acknowledge F-RSIN’s standard

“...for the enthusiastic modeller”

box labelling and are prepared to

commit a reasonable level of care

and patience, plus a willingness

to provide additional details to

taste, a pleasing model of this

popular airliner can be produced.

This review kit was willingly

funded by this particular

”enthusiastic modeller” and

fan of the F28 Fellowship.

56 • MARCH 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

FIRST LOOK!

052-57-FirstLooks-0318.indd 56 09/02/2018 14:28