Hasegawa

1/20 Falke Antigravity Armored Raider Pkf.85 Series MK01

Kit Number: 64001

Reviewed by  John Yager, IPMS# 40097

MSRP: $84.95 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com After trying to find some background information on the Falke on the Internet, I came up with the following. Back in the 1980’s, SF-3D was a popular Japanese boxed war game, similar to the old Avalon Hill games. Nitto made models from the game. Apparently rights to the SF-3D were held by several people/entities including Japan Hobby magazine, which often features build-ups of the Nitto kits and SF-3D scratch builds. The kits were reissued briefly by Nitto in the late 1990’s after a long absence, but then Nitto folded. In recent months, Hasegawa has picked up the SF-3D license and have done their own kits. Even though I model aircraft usually, I was attracted to the Falke because it is a neat and unusual looking craft. Looking at the model, the body reminded me of the engine booms of a P-38 and the scale of 1/20 was large enough to include a lot of detail – which the kit most certainly does have! Composed of 114 very detailed parts and molded in a sort of RLM 02 color, construction starts with the interior, which has 7 pieces. The instructions say to paint interior parts an RLM 66 black gray. All paints in the instructions refer to either Hobby color or Mr. Color paints. My personal preference is Model Master paints and they were used in all painting on this model. The sidewalls on the cockpit are textured like padding so I substituted a leather color. The good thing about building science fiction models (in my opinion) is that colors are open for personal preference. A pilot figure and a standing figure are provided but if you want to put the pilot figure in the cockpit you must paint it and put it in the cockpit seat before the upper and lower fuselage halves are glued together. This is due to the cockpit opening not being large enough to accommodate placing it later. The next items assembled are parts for the underside of the fuselage lower half and the engine and its exhaust. Since this is supposed to be an antigravity machine, I’m assuming the engine is for forward propulsion of the craft. According to the instructions again, it is called out to be RLM 66 but I used a flat silver with the exhaust being painted a metallic black. Next comes the instrument panel and other interior parts. The instrument panel has recessed areas for instrument decals and has a few switch knobs, which I picked out with various colors: red, yellow and silver. The cockpit opening has a door, which can be displayed either open or closed. The hinge for this option is now glued in place. Next the top and bottom fuselage halves are glued together after placing the cockpit in place with the pilot figure in place and the completed engine is inserted. Other pieces are placed in recessed areas on the fuselage halves at this time also. It’s at this point that I really appreciated the fit of the parts on this kit. They fit with watchmaker precision! Final assembly after the fuselage upper and lower parts are together consists of closing the front ends of the body "nacelles" with parts that look like propeller spinner hubs and adding detail parts to the exterior. The bottom of the fuselage also has some detail parts to add to the engine. After all glued joints are dry, masking the engine and painting of the exterior can begin. The kit offers 8 paint schemes, all of which are very interesting. I chose the overall dark green scheme, which is called "Bomber Cat". There are numerous small decals for the exterior, which indicate service areas and warnings. The "Bomber Cat" has a decal showing a black cat with an arched back on a yellow field. The instructions say to attach a whip antenna to a small base on the side of the model. After drilling a very small hole in the antenna base, I added a whisker "borrowed" from my cat, Zorro for an antenna. I thought the cat markings would be in tribute to Zorro’s contribution. Overall this is an excellent model and well worth every penny of its price. After completion, the model makes for a very striking and unique display. Parts practically snap together. In fact some of them are actually retained without being glued. Alignment with pins and grooves are accurate and molding is fantastic on all parts. I cannot say enough good things about this kit and it was a welcome break from my usual model building fare of regular aircraft. Thanks to the IPMS Reviewer Corps and Dragon Models USA for providing this kit for review.