KIT #:	10802
PRICE:	150 yuan RMB at Mingwang in Beijing
DECALS:	Two options for each version
REVIEWER:	Richard F
NOTES:	Two kits in the box

HISTORY

One sign of a serious modern air force is the quality of its support aircraft - especially tankers and AEW or AWACS planes. Having hundreds of fast-jets is one thing, but they suck down fuel. Without air to air refuelling they struggle to carry a heavy load very far; with it they can patrol for hours or penetrate far into enemy territory. Fastjets also reveal their position if they use their radar too much, and even the most modern fighter radars are relatively short-ranged. With its hugely more powerful radar and onboard systems, AWACs support, managed effectively, makes those fighters much more capable.

The US is the obvious example of this theory. For the roughly 160 strategic bombers and 1,700 front line fighters it has on strength, it has about 460 tankers available and 30 AWACs E-3 planes. US forces would also work with the 17 E-3s owned by NATO and several more flown by France and the UK, plus their tankers. By comparison, the Russian military nominally has about 515 bombers and 643 fighters. Serving those, it has about 20 AWACs type planes, and just 25 tankers.

The Japanese Air Self Defence Force has only 288 fighters, roughly, but in support of them it has 17 AWACs planes, nearly as many as Russia which has more than twice the number of fighters. And the JASDF is about on par with Russia for tankers, at roughly one for every 50 combat aircraft (the USAF ratio is one for every four).

That’s why this new Hasegawa twin pack is quite interesting. It includes the two military versions of the Boeing 767 airliner that are in service with Japan. The first kit is a KC767 tanker, and the second is an E767 AWACs plane. Japan has four of each at the moment (the rest of its AWACs planes are E-2s).

This is a hybrid. The wings and other airliner parts are from the older Hasegawa 767 airliner kits, and have finely raised detail. The fuselages are new, and feature nicely engraved detail. There are separate sprues for the radome structure on the E767 and for the tanking components of the KC767. The fuselage are solid, with no side windows, but they have an opening and clear part for the cockpit window. The engines are the older style with two halves, rather than the newer Hasegawa style where the intake is a single piece.

Apart from the aircraft you get a small sprue with the refueling boom and associated parts. The Japanese KC767 cannot refuel probe-drogue style but Hasegawa has another tanker twin pack (see the preview on MM) and that one includes parts for the Italian and Colombian version of the KC767 which has both boom and probe/drogue refueling components). 

You also get a sprue providing the big radar antenna, with nicely engraved panel lines. 

Decals are well done as they seem to be on all recent hasegawa releases. Both the options are pretty boring, it must be said, but that's true of most real tankers and AWACs planes in the modern era. The two aircraft are overall grey and the markings seem to let you build any of the four E767s and any of the four tankers.

Neat kits of interesting types which you can actually fit on your shelf in this scale. Recommended.

Kits courtesy of my wallet and my 16km bike ride across Beijing to find Mingwang hidden inside an apartment complex with no sign.