tempestfan

Must mean I'm getting old... Also must mean they are 99 this year - which should be good enough of a reason to produce a spectacular jubilee scheme next year. On a Grob Tutor ?

Would Sky Grey imply the use of Dark Sea Grey/Light Slate Grey on the lower wings etc. in the shadow compensating scheme ?

I think it is a very deliberate marketing decision - as long as no one knows for sure which boxings will follow, I bet many will buy this boxing just to have one. And I'd be absolutely not surprised if "regular" German and RAF boxings will follow, possibly with some more ordnance. My bet is Revell has a close eye on the speed of the first run going off the shelves. If it sells quick, the follow-on boxings may come earlier than next year and unannounced. Wasn't there an all-black "Saint" a couple of years ago ? That would be a sight...

Well, someone had posted the link on the Airfix Collecting Forum, and for once I both remembered that fact and the location where it was posted. Credits for finding that page are due to Sean/frogman.

Exactly my view ! The cluttered layout will make it easy to miss out a painting flag or two if one is using them.

Didn't the original reworked Airfix Bucc S.2 (# 3055) released late 1989 also contain a choice of radar and TV Martels and Sea Eagle (by way of differing nose caps), or was it Martels only ?

...(mainly Smer), to Mexico (Lodela, many seem to have been bought by Revell GmbH) and Argentina.

I think the Fujimi SHar (also reboxed by Revell in the late 80s) also has Sea Eagles.

I know - Aurora kits of the 50s were not necessarily the best 3D masters to use. And while the approach to kit design and probably the obtainability of references was certainly very different from today, I don't think it being a 50s kit is an "excuse" - look at e.g. the Frog Sea Hawk or Gannet which are not much younger than BT-K. IIRC the four small Hawk aircraft (plus a couple more in other ranges) were originally released as "Twentyniners", so they were designed to a price budget. Comparison with their 1/48 T-33 whichis about 10 ys. older shows what they were able to do with the right budget.

What is indeed a bit odd is that the weapons fit included with the kit has a "struck step 93" annotation - one would expect that a machine in standard operational colours is an option, though the instructions don't show one. Most of the markings required are probably on the sheet anyway (looks like the Federal flags for the fin and probably the standard-size wing badges are missing), so Revell could have made this a no-cost option.

Revell kit # was 4640 - I say was because apparently Revell phased out the kits at the end of 2010 and dumped their stock to chain stores as usual in this case.

As a possible area of ops I'd suggest the Aegean islands - wasn't this one of the areas behind the Floatfire idea ?

Re replication of the fabric covered ailerons, one German modeller successfully used a technique in the 80s whereby he portrayed the rib tapes on fabric by repeated application of white acrylic paint with a drafting pen. I never got around to testing that methd, but his results were convincing & very subtle. I think he used the acrylic primarily to avoid it being affected by the thinner in the enamel of the top coat(s).

I can't help with any building experiences, but I think Alf Granger did a set of drawings for one of the Boulton Pauls in a Wingspan issue, probably between no 50 and 70 (it was in one of the earliest issues I bought, and I started with 48 or so), but you probably have that set.

Both have been mentioned, but not together - Tamiya did both a D and F boxing, that kit (D IIRC) was also reboxed by Revell during the 80s. As also has been stated before, the NB(?)-52/X-15 was first released by Monogram in their "Young Astronauts" series in 1987 or 88, so Revell's is a re-release. The X-15 was also available separately, and both the combo and the X-15 single appear to be highly sought after and hence expensive.

IIRC the Academy kit retailed for close to DM 40 in Germany when originally released, which equates to roughly 20 €. I'd say there are kits far more heavily affected by inflation than the Aca Hunter. Besides, I myself did not consider me particularly lucky after finding out that the cockpit and especially seat are heavily underscale in the Aca kit, and I think there was a serious problem with the fin shape (too much sweepbak ?) as well. In short, that kit still awaits my continued attention more than 15 years on. Dave, as you refer to a choice of two seats - I do not spot a second one on the sprues, nor do I recall it from my (also stalled) build from 16 years ago, so only a "painting/decalling" option ?

If you are looking for worse kits, pride of place must go to Airfix's BT-K - honours to whom it deserves Not far behind must be Revell's H-611.

You're doing a great job to an old kit. However, the Hunting Cat issue is not as old, 1980 may be the year when the 104 mould was originally released (but I thought it arrived a couple of years earlier). I bought my Hunting Cat just before Christmas 1991, and I think it was fresh then. Revell Germany used to do some large scale "specials" at bargain prices in the 90s, mostly sold (in Germany) via toy store chains. Others included a JaBoG 33 "Kolibri" 104, a Belgian Tigermeet F-16 and Mirage 5BA "Mephisto". There were also f-104 issues as an Italian "Ferrari" (overall red, could make for an relaxing next airbrush exercise for you) and Greek "Olympos". The 104 has not featured in Revell's (German) "catalogue" line up since the mid 80s or so IIRC, but only been released as a special ever since. Not quite sure, but Revell re-released the Mono 1/48 104G as an S in the "Monogram Europe" range some 20 ys. ago, and I think the instructions contained a sketch depicting the S's additional strakes, to be cut from plasticard not provided. Not much help of course now that you have them on. On a final note, the shorter tail is for the C, as Revell also did a C boxing initially.

Neither is the surface detail original. The initial issues came with thin wings and just fine raised lines to indicate the rib positions. This was altered to the mountains'n'valleys depiction some time in the early to mid 60s (along with most other Airfix biplanes). The pilots, however, appear to have been changed much later, I think my mid 70s Type 5 boxing still has the originals.

This could become one kit I actually buy and attempt to build sftb. Looking at the instructions, I think Revell would do us a great favour if they donated us with one or two sheet(s) more to give a bit more space for each step. While I don't doubt it will work out the way it is, the visual appeal is very overcrowded, especially as many drawings reach out to the step separation lines and then have still various symbols, numbers and paint flags squeezed in. This heightens the risk for missing out something here & there.

To be fair to them, if the complete batch of clear parts looks more or less like this, their spares coming from the same batch can't be better, so they're probably very honest when saying it's all they can do. If I were them, however, I'd point out that they are waiting for a newly-moulded non-defective batch of spares, of which they'll send one to you as soon as they arrive, and ask for your patience. I bet they are waiting as it appears they must have an enormous (relatively) amount of enquiries for those parts. And if their contracts with their supplier don't feature a clause providing for cost-free rectification in instances like that, I'd consider changing their lawyer...

Scale Models Int. had an instalment on the Lysander in their RAF Museum series, including drawings and possibly a cutaway. No idea when exactly that appeared, 1973ish ? 4+ has/had a booklet containing a host of pics, drawings and scale drawings. You should be able to obtain it slightly cheaper than what is being asked for here...

Apologies for mis-assigning the A-10 to Ben - as Revell didn't rebox it (back then in the late 80s) and the Takaras appear to have never been officially imported to Germany, I have never seen one. Faller had some 23 aircraft subjects in all, I believe. Fitting roughly into the cold war bracket are: Do 27 Sikorsky H-34 YF-84F F-104 F-4 Vertol 107 Matador Viscount Cv 440 Noratlas Caravelle Piper Cub (in Geiger and Burda boxings) HKS-3 (?) Glider Klemm 107 V-1/V-2 set if you stretch it a bit

Have you checked the German "Vom Original zum Modell" publication ? It's been some years since I had a look in mine, but the Do 17 volume is one of the better ones in the series, and IIRC it contains a number of reprints of manufacturer's dimensioned drawings (which may not work as scale ddrawings but give some additional dimensions and/or details).

We could class those as "Starfix".