Nichimo | Fuji FA-200

Reviewed by Flip Hendrickx

Being a pilot myself (general aviation), I 'am always on the look out for general aviation model kits. I have a whole bunch of them… Cessnas, Pipers, Beechcraft, most of them in 1/72 or 1/48 scale. About 20 years ago I ran into these really big Nichimo kits: The Fuji FA-200, Cessna 172 and the Hughes 500 chopper. All in 1/20 scale and very detailed.

Of course I had to have them all but unfortunately, at that time they where way to expensive for me. Nichimo stopped producing these kits a couple of years ago, but you'll occasionally find them on eBay or at meetings (the Fuji is the rarest of the 3 but I was lucky to pick one up at a sale for about $80).

I now have both the Cessna and the Fuji and as soon as I have finished up on the 3 kits I'm still working on (Mig21UM, Hornet and my big Me 262) I will start working on them. Today I will review the Fuji; the Cessna will be reviewed later on.

The Airplane

The Fuji was the first, all Japanese, general aviation airplane and was manufactured by Fuji Heavy industries (Former Nakajima Company). Of all-metal construction, the FA-200 prototype was flown for the first time on 12 August 1965, and subsequently went into production at Fuji's Utsunomiya factory.It is used for initial flight training and basic aerobatics or as a traveling tool and a good number of them can be found all over the world.

The Kit

This kit was first released somewhere in the late seventies, early eighties. I tried to look up the exact year but could not find it. There is little to be found on the net about these neat kits and I never came across a built one. Too bad, because these kits are really nice and build into a great static model. I bet a lot of people still have one of these in their attic. A message to them: GET THEM OUT AND BUILD THEM

Enough about this…But first of all, let's have a look in the box.

There are 7 frames. Each section of the airplane has its own color. The fuselage parts are molded in white, the interior parts are red and black, and the engine parts are grey. There are also a couple of figures included, but those are not too realistic. Apart from the plastic parts, there are also metal and rubber parts, springs for the full functioning landing gear and even two light bulbs for the landing light. (There is a possibility to install an electric motor as well, but that motor was not included in the kit.)All the parts are all neatly packed under a blister. The fuselage and wing parts are packed separately.

The manual is a 12 page booklet and contains text, pictures and detailed drawings. Very nice! There is a large decal sheet, but it's old and yellowed. I decided not to use it when I'm going to build this kit. Instead I will make new decals on my ALPS printer.

Fuselage Parts and Wing Parts

The fuselage comes in 5 parts. The panel lines are recessed and look a bit too deep and wide, but this can be fixed. Also the fuselage and wings are covered with rivets (as is the real thing) but they are a bit overdone. Again, nothing that can't be fixed with a piece of wet and dry sandpaper.The fuselage measures up correctly against the plans that I had from this model. There is a little bit of flash but no sink marks in visible places.

Interior Parts

The interior is very detailed, but some of the parts are a little crude. The seatbelts for instance are way to thick and have to be replaced with new ones made of lead foil or tape. The instrument panel is very nice. Each instrument is supplied as a decal. Seats and carpets in red.

Other interior parts in black (not the set of plastic tires, nice case you don't want to use the rubber ones).

Engine Parts

The engine is one of the highlights of this kit. It is an extremely well done rendition of the Lycoming horizontal opposed 4 stroke engine that is used in a lot of general aviation airplanes. Plastic, rubber and metal parts are used for the engine.Each cylinder assembly has 16 metal radiator fins that have to be stacked together.

Here you see the end result (picture scanned from manual)

Conclusion

A very nice and large kit of an unusual subject. As I said, this kit will build into a great looking model. If you come across one, and you are interested in general aviation, pick one up… you will not regret it! Now, If only Nichimo had come up with a 1/20 Piper Super cub…anyone else maybe?