J-20... The New Generation Fighter III

so the chipped paint is indeed a PS

and she looks huge in that pic, that J-7 does not help!

Is that f y j s?

Originally Posted by latenlazy

Is that f y j s?

Yepp ...

I see a very nice shot of the engines there. It's looking a lot like the AL-31s

Originally Posted by latenlazy

Unless they're already done shaking the crap out of it (after all sometimes static frame tests are completed before flight tests start). Then it would be sitting around in retirement somewhere...

They need to stress the airframe for 30-40 years worth of flying. That usually take a hell of a long time, so while it is possible that they have done with the airframe stress testing already, that seems unlikely, especially since it is Chinese practice to have the second unit as the static test airframe, so it would have been built at the same time, if not after the prototype.

Plus, static test airframes are covered with weights and rarely painted at all during testing, so for them to also have had time to remove all the weights and give her a new coat of paint, all this early in the programme? Seems improbably to me.

Originally Posted by paintgun

so the chipped paint is indeed a PS

and she looks huge in that pic, that J-7 does not help!

Or, they re-applied the paint since we last saw her.

Considering we only saw chipping on one side and not both, it is more likely that the chipping was a result of an accident ("you drove the forklift truck into what?!") or something wrong with a batch of paint.

This is all still early days in the testing programme, no need to get all bent out of shape over some superficial problems just yet. If we see this on production aircraft, it's time to be concerned, but they have plenty of time to sort the problem out before then.

Originally Posted by plawolf

They need to stress the airframe for 30-40 years worth of flying. That usually take a hell of a long time, so while it is possible that they have done with the airframe stress testing already, that seems unlikely, especially since it is Chinese practice to have the second unit as the static test airframe, so it would have been built at the same time, if not after the prototype.

Plus, static test airframes are covered with weights and rarely painted at all during testing, so for them to also have had time to remove all the weights and give her a new coat of paint, all this early in the programme? Seems improbably to me.

I was operating with the assumption that the white colour was the base colour without paint, but you do have a point about the length of time.

Originally Posted by paintgun

my take is its the usual J-20 we see

lighting and ambience can produce all kinds of colors and effects, and cold colors + sky ambience explains that picture

static airframe will probably never see the daylight, like wolfie said, why would they bring her out anyway, to give it fresh air?

isn't this and old pic anyway?

I agree with wolfie though. If lighting and ambience can produce that kind of effect, we would have seen quite a number of pictures with the same effect already. Besides, judging by the rest of the picture, no special picture effect was used. Other than that, it could possibly be photoshopped but it doesn't look like it is so.

Is that a Chinese engine?

Originally Posted by vesicles

Is that a Chinese engine?

Regarding these details I think it IS more an AL-31FN than a WS-10A !!!

Deino

Pics taken by a spoter today at factory 132's airport in Chengdu

J-10A























J-20

Originally Posted by Quickie

I agree with wolfie though. If lighting and ambience can produce that kind of effect, we would have seen quite a number of pictures with the same effect already. Besides, judging by the rest of the picture, no special picture effect was used. Other than that, it could possibly be photoshopped but it doesn't look like it is so.

the color temperature in that pic is very cold, i'm used to distinguishing colors

the picture was not tempered with in any condition, maybe just the setting of the (crappy) camera, or lost information in jpeg compression, causing it to change hue

we have seen J-20 appeared in various hues, dark greenish, neutral black, neutral gray, warmish grey, reddish gray, and this blueish gray, it's all effect of ambient light, photos taken under different condition and time of day

------

about engine, yes it's veering more and more towards AL-31

J-20: Flight Testing! - YouTube

Credit to multirole at Keypub. My criticism is that the model isn't accurate. Amongst the inaccuracies are that it doesn't incorporate the LERXes and the anhedral-dihedral arrangement of the wing and canard, but dayum if this is indicative of the real thing.

Originally Posted by latenlazy

J-20: Flight Testing! - YouTube

Credit to multirole at Keypub. My criticism is that the model isn't accurate. Amongst the inaccuracies are that it doesn't incorporate the LERXes and the anhedral-dihedral arrangement of the wing and canard, but dayum if this is indicative of the real thing.

Are scaled powered models supposed perform similarly to the real sized thing? o_O