1/72 - Eurofighter/Typhoon (new tool) by Revell - released

[PaulR]

Being a bit keen on the Typhoon, I picked this kit up as soon as it was out.  I do think that Revell missed the opportunity to make this a Tranche three machine with the CFT lumps at the rear fuselage, and why they didn't include a full set of pylons (the centreline pylon with the laser designator pod, and the two outboard pylons as discussed earlier) is curious to say the least. That may be in a future boxing. They also missed off  the four antennas under the nose, but that may be to make it easier to build. That said, it may be worth considering why Revell did this. Having bought multiple editions of the previous mould, the deterioration was marked - especially in the all -important clear parts, which went from crystal clear in the original editions to virtually opaque in recent  versions. Everything else I could work around, but this was enough to put me off buying any more. It may be it was easier to do a new tooling than to refurb the earlier one. I'll be using these new ones for 'wheels down'models, and the Hasegawa ones for inflight models - the rather poor undercarriage doors and lack of open afterburner nozzles (necessary for planes on the ground) put me off doing these 'landed'. Of course, irrespective of kits, what I should really like is a full set of markings for 1435 flight Typhoons, with the fuselage bars and nose badges, and 1/72 PAVEWAY IVs!

[Procopius]

4 minutes ago, PaulR said:

1/72 PAVEWAY IVs!

 

Olimp does some if you don't mind paying for resin.

[charlie_c67]

Or the Airfix Harrier kit... 

[Kevin Callahan]

I had wondered if this new tool had anything to do with the serious deterioration in the old molds. Looking forward to getting my hands on one to see the differences myself. 

[Phantome]

2 hours ago, Kevin Callahan said:

I had wondered if this new tool had anything to do with the serious deterioration in the old molds. Looking forward to getting my hands on one to see the differences myself. 

 

Which would be rather shameful being that the old kit is quite new at least in the sense that it should not be in such bad shape by now.

[PaulR]

2 hours ago, Phantome said:

 

Which would be rather shameful being that the old kit is quite new at least in the sense that it should not be in such bad shape by now.

I wondered about that too. It's a very popular subject, and it has been in continuous production for well over a decade, so perhaps it is just accelerated wear and tear. I did hear that the production of the kit had been outsourced from Germany to elsewhere - maybe the subcontractors didn't take good care of the moulds? Anyway...

[Phantome]

I see Made In Poland on a lot of Revell kits. I would not be surprised if they have more than one mold-maker given that no other company has such disparity in surface quality (from fine lines and rivets to trenches with no rivets).

[gavingav1]

Lots of revell kits are in bad shape and it seems to be the canopies that suffer the most, just seems to be no maintenance going on, the 72nd me-262 now has an unusable canopy, the he-177 in the last gift set boxing had alot of flash and marks on the canopy,  and the last issue of the 72nd p-47 and p-51 in the 8th airforce gift set was more flash than kit , really puts me off buying anything revell, they are selling substandard products at the moment .

[MiG-Mech]

Another german in-box review with comparison with old Revell and Hasegawa kit.
http://www.modellversium.de/kit/artikel.php?id=11634

[Giorgio N]

Most Revell moulds seem to suffer from deterioration quite early on in their life. Either whoever produces for Revell cares little about the moulds (unlikely) or they use relatively soft (and therefore cheaper) moulds.

It's true that the Typhoon and other Revell kits have been in continuous production for a while but so have some Hasegawa and Tamiya kits, yet these don't suffer as badly. Some recent Hase 1/72 Tomcat boxings are now showing some sign of deterioration but weìre talking 25+ years old moulds