"Beware the J-20 and J-31 Stealth Fighters" Topic

"Throughout its history, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has lagged behind the aerial programs of other world powers such as the United States. Now, the PRC has set its sights on producing indigenously designed "fifth generation" fighter jets comparable to the US F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II. Many U.S. officials and pilots suspect that the Chinese have been using hacked U.S. technology to aid their indigenous development programs. The PRC is also leveraging additive manufacturing technology (better known as 3D-printing) in order to increase speed and efficiency in manufacturing aircrafts and compete with the U.S. The J-20 Black Eagle could be fully operational by 2018, and a second model, the J-31 Gyrfalcon, by 2020. If true, China's new generation of fighters could have a substantial impact on its ability to either defend what it considers to be sovereign airspace, or to mount an aerial offensive in a wartime scenario, particularly against Taiwan (ROC)…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

Wish someone would produce the J-20 in 1/600th, as well as that nice little J-10 too.

For the J-31, I suspect I can use the F-22, and just give it a different paintjob and insignia, at least until someone produces an actual J-31.

The Chinese fighter is a little smaller than the F-22, so the F-35 might be a better option to modify into a J-31, by adding a second exhaust nozzle, and clipping its wings, but no one makes the F-35 in metal currently, either.

I guess I'll just have to pit some of those F-22s against some of those great looking Sukhoi fighters, most of the time, and throw in the occasional Chinese stealth fighter into the mix to make things interesting.

Mako11, Oddzial Osmy just released the J-10 this month in 1:600 scale. And the J-20 is available on Shapeways. So your wishes are answered!!

Here's the J-31:
link

The J-20 is also available on the same store.

Between metal and Shapeways, just about everything's available now for modern China, except for a few helicopters I think (the main attack ones are available) and their MKK version of the Su-30.

The newer planes look more alike than when I grew up in the '80s. These planes are harder for me to tell apart from the F-22 and F-35.

Thanks for the tip on the OO J-10, and the others.

Sorry, I just prefer metal, so don't really want any of the Shapeways printed stuff. Still a bit too rough in terms of texture, IMHO.

Would love a nice Sukhoi MKK in metal as well, since so many nations are now fielding those.

Yea, the J-31 certainly looks like a cross between the F-22 and F-35, and if the comparison drawing I've seen is correct, is about the same size as the F-35 too. No doubt, visual ID'ing in close aerial combat will be quite challenging, especially when moving at high speeds and Gs. No doubt, IFF systems, and GCI/AWACS control will really come into their own if a war ever breaks out.

In a recent Facebook post Marcin mentioned that more Chinese are in the pipeline. So watch this space as they say.

Fatman

That is excellent news. Thanks for the update.