The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon (NATO reporting name: Firebird), is a medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft using a delta wing and canard design. It is produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF). The J-10 is mainly designed for air-to-air combat, but can also perform strike missions.

The J-10C is considered to be a 4.5-generation fighter jet. It has a maximum speed of Mach 1.8. So far, the only export customer for this aircraft has been Pakistan. They used them in the short conflict with India a short time ago and claimed several Indian aircraft including one or more of their Rafales.

If you have built any recent Trumpeter kits, you know how nicely they are molded. You also know that from time to time they make a shape error. From what I can tell, this kit does not have any of those, but then again, I don't compare parts against plans. This is not a small kit as the aircraft is larger than an F-16 and more in line with an F-15 in terms of size.

A fairly nice cockpit is provided with raised detail on the instrument panel and side consoles as well as decals for these areas if you so desire. The ejection seat is nicely done and a fair amount of the photo etch provided is used on this seat as well as other parts of the interior. A full intake is provided to the first compressor stage. The nose gear well fits to the bottom of this. The kit has inserts for the upper and lower fuselage speed brake wells that will need to be installed.

Then the fuselage halves can be closed and the rest of the external intake as well as the instrument anti-glare panel attached. The instructions show the radome attached at this time, but I'd leave it off until later as it will make it easier to paint and one might need nose weight. I'd also leave off the speed brakes and actuating rod until after painting if you are going to pose them deployed. Main gear wells are then constructed and those are attached to the lower wing/fuselage piece.

This part is then glued to the rest of the fuselage and the upper wings can be attached. Slats can be posed extended or retracted though that option doesn't seem to apply to the flaps and ailerons. Exhaust can be built with the burner cans either fully open or closed. Same goes for the canopy  with the instructions providing sparate steps for each. Next sequence of steps are for the landing gear and doors.

Next are a lot of small vents, scoops, probes, the gun and various antennas. The last steps are things under wings. This includes a couple of pods, a pair of short range air to air missiles and four longer range ones along with their racks. A centerline and two wing tanks are also provided. Then to top things off, the weapons pylons, weapons and pods are glued in place. The sprues include a bunch of iron bombs, but those are not for this kit.

Instructions are well done with multiple paint brands provided. Basically all the markings options are several shades of grey with those looking very much like what current Super Hornets carry. The sheet offers not only a lot of stencils and data stuff for the weapons, but both full color and low visibility codes and insignia. The builder doesn't have to stick with the serials as a goodly number of alternate numbers are provided. Basically, if you have a photo, you can model the plane. Generally Trumpeter decals are quite thin so keep this in mind when building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu_J-10

May 2025

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