mirageiv Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Hi folks. I have a few 1/72 Revell F-16As, great kits but the canopies are bugging me a bit. They are all quite distorted, marked and generally just not so great, nor do they have a proper bubble shape. In the past I have tried the usual polish/sanding/dipping etc...whilst they improve somewhat they are still a million miles off being properly clear. Probably these kits are starting to show their age, even my best one looks like a very poor Hasegawa canopy. I understand Tamiya released a new Block 50 kit these past few years, pics online (I don't have the kit) show the canopy to be very nice. I am wondering if anybody has the two kits and has randomly tried to see if the Tamiya canopy will fit the Revell kit? If they could be interchangeable (IIRC Revell got their kit accurate and I assume Tamiya's is accurate) I was thinking of ordering a few clear sprues as 'spare parts' from Tamiya spare/replacement part service. I've no idea what ordering 4-5 of Tamiya's clear sprues would set me back, but if reasonable and if they fit the Revell kit, it could be a worthwhile thing to do from my point of view as I prefer F-16 canopies closed. I suppose I could wait and see if Tamiya do earlier versions in this scale to get kits with decent canopies but given the trend of their F-16 releases in 1/48-1/32, I would not bet on seeing a new A/B/MLU boxing any time soon. If anyone has tried this I'd love to know if there is any merit in it. Thanks in advance for any help and replies, David. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fewr9fkr9595 Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 I could try this for you mate but won't be home to get hands on the stash till next weekend at the earliest. Defo the weekend of the 18/19th. So if no one has helped by then give me a poke to remind me mate. Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted November 6, 2017 Author Share Posted November 6, 2017 That would be fantastic Tony! Thank you. I'm in no rush as these will not get built for a while, just wondering and planning ahead. Will give it a poke then Cheers, David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 22 hours ago, mirageiv said: I suppose I could wait and see if Tamiya do earlier versions in this scale to get kits with decent canopies but given the trend of their F-16 releases in 1/48-1/32, I would not bet on seeing a new A/B/MLU boxing any time soon. I'm starting to doubt we'll see ANY other boxing of the Tamiya Viper in 1/72... it's been 3 years now and Tamiya has a shoddy record of releasing all variants in 1/72 scale. Which is a shame, because we could really use a good Block 40/42 in that scale. I don't understand why they don't do this, given the obvious benefits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted November 7, 2017 Author Share Posted November 7, 2017 (edited) On 11/6/2017 at 6:48 PM, Phantome said: I'm starting to doubt we'll see ANY other boxing of the Tamiya Viper in 1/72... it's been 3 years now and Tamiya has a shoddy record of releasing all variants in 1/72 scale. Which is a shame, because we could really use a good Block 40/42 in that scale. I don't understand why they don't do this, given the obvious benefits I don't understand either why they delay further marks of F-16s, not just in 1/72 but all three main scales. Where is the 1/48 F-16D? I think it has been in the works for years now. Nevermind earlier A/B/MLU models. Lets be honest, they could own the whole F-16 market if they really wanted to, albeit at likely higher prices. Surely they have sunk enough money into F-16 research that they should only need some proportionally much smaller further investment to release other Blocks/versions and fully realise their initial investment in F-16 design they made 10+ years ago. It just seems a bit of a wasted opportunity atm but I'm sure there are solid reasons behind it. Edited November 7, 2017 by mirageiv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 On 11/7/2017 at 8:00 PM, mirageiv said: I don't understand either why they delay further marks of F-16s, not just in 1/72 but all three main scales. Where is the 1/48 F-16D? I think it has been in the works for years now. Nevermind earlier A/B/MLU models. Lets be honest, they could own the whole F-16 market if they really wanted to, albeit at likely higher prices. Surely they have sunk enough money into F-16 research that they should only need some proportionally much smaller further investment to release other Blocks/versions and fully realise their initial investment in F-16 design they made 10+ years ago. It just seems a bit of a wasted opportunity atm but I'm sure there are solid reasons behind it. Or they're just stupid and don't have smart enough marketing people? Think of all the wasted opportunities Revell has had in this regard as well. Occam's Razor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fewr9fkr9595 Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 @mirageiv here you go mate - very good as it turns out. Perfect at the front. Just a tiny gap around the hinge. The little hump will need adding to the revell kit at the end of the rear part. Hope this helps mate 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted November 12, 2017 Author Share Posted November 12, 2017 Tony that is brilliant, thanks very much for your effort to do this. I agree, it almost fits better than some of my Revell kit canopies and for sure has much better clarity! I will go have a look at Tamiya parts service and hopefully get a few for canopy closed models. Cheers! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted November 12, 2017 Author Share Posted November 12, 2017 On 11/9/2017 at 12:31 PM, Phantome said: Or they're just stupid and don't have smart enough marketing people? Think of all the wasted opportunities Revell has had in this regard as well. Occam's Razor. I understand your point, there is a lot to it for another discussion however. Revell are a worse offender imho as they are European with all those advantages etc... Just a few pages of looking on forums like these at RFI/WIP/GB threads is a case in point of 'why' for a lot of releases, WWII simply rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted November 27, 2017 Share Posted November 27, 2017 Btw, I just got my hands on the original Revell F-16 boxing, the Block 50/52 that has a really cool box art of two Spangdahlem birds with HARMS. It's amazing just how well molded this version is. The canopy is impeccable. None of the molding scratches on the wings or fins (where the static dischargers are). Not sure if this was an oddity of the Tiger Meet kit, but also didn't have one of the ventral fin holes blocked by a slab of plastic. Unbelievable that all this passed quality control in later boxings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Hi, all, I have used the Rob Taurus vacs. They are just a bit short, but opened it doesn't show. Fernando Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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