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Eurofighter Typhoon Black Jack (03820) 1:48 Carrera Revell The Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon started out as the EAP programme in the 1970s engineered entirely by BAe, but was later joined by a number of international partners due to a supposedly common requirement, with the constituent partners changing over time to finalise with Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy remaining, while France went their own way with the Aerodynamics data to create the Rafale, which coincidentally has a similar general arrangement. Delays and cost overruns seem to be a frustratingly common factor in modern military procurement, and the Typhoon suffered many, resulting in the Germans taking delivery of the first airframe in 2003, Italy in 2005 and the UK in 2007. Airframes of all users have since taken part in operations in many operations as their operators become au fait with the type’s capabilities and more weapons come on-stream. After the British Typhoons were initially ordered without guns, then with guns but without ammo, which was again overturned in due course, they were grounded in 2011 due to a lack of spares, which required the RAF to cannibalise grounded airframes to keep flying. The two-seat variant is used for training and conversion, although it is fully capable of going to war if needs required it, having all the systems in place to make it capable. The single-seater Tiffie is a great airshow crowd pleaser due to its agility at all speeds, and the impressive tearing roar of its twin EF2000 jet engines that propel it forwards with an impressive 20,000lbf of power per engine with reheat engaged. The original tranche 1 airframes have been retired now, replaced by the more capable FGR.4 airframes with advanced avionics and a plan to replace the MFDs in the instrument panel with a new Large Area Display in 2024, putting a LAD in every cockpit! The Kit This is a reboxing of Revell’s 2000 tooling of this delta-wing 4.5 generation fighter, which they have reboxed more than a few times over the years. This boxing has the recent Black Jack display scheme that debuted in September 2021 with a large roundel on the tail and stylised Union Jack segments on the main planes and canards. It’s a somewhat polarising scheme as discussed on a thread here on Britmodeller, but I’m one of those that quite likes it, so there. The detail is good for the most part, with a few areas such as the intakes that aren’t particularly easy to put together and paint well, coupled with intakes that are probably a little bit too short. The interior of the trunking was highly secret at the time however, so you can’t really blame Revell for that. The kit arrives in Revell’s deep end-opening box, and inside are seven sprues in light greenish-grey styrene, two small sprues of clear parts, a large decal sheet, and colour instruction booklet with profiles on the rear pages. Construction begins with the Martin Baker ejection seat, which is made from six parts, and has a detailed painting guide, called out in letter codes that match a table in the front of the booklet that gives Revell colours. The seat is inserted on pegs in the rear of the cockpit tub, which has moulded-in side consoles to which the HOTAS controllers are added, throttle on the left console, two-part control column in the centre. The instrument panel is a single well-detailed part with three MFDs taking up the majority of room, noted as having “Decal 2” applied to the screens. This doesn’t appear to be correct however, as decal 2 is actually part of the canard Union Jack. The correct numbers are 79, 80 and 81, which have simple screen designs and buttons around the edge. A circular HUD lens pops on top of the panel, which is glued into the front of the cockpit to complete it. To prepare the fuselage for closure, the canards are attached on their pivots by small cups, requiring careful gluing to leave them mobile if you wish. A short exhaust for the APU slips in the hole in the port side to give it some depth too. As the fuselage halves are brought together, the cockpit is trapped between them, and a small hourglass-shaped bulkhead is inserted under the tail, remembering to install 30g of nose weight to prevent your model from being a tail-sitter. The fuselage has a huge open space where the wings and engines will later fit, with this large assembly being next to be built up. The main gear bays are central under the fuselage, and are built up together from forward and rear bulkheads that are held apart by a ribbed roof section and a pair of thick trunks. The intake trunking is also made from twin top and bottom sections, a central splitter, and a blanking plate at the rear which is bereft of any detail. The two assemblies are dropped into the lower wing from the inside, bearing in mind that the intakes also create the nose gear bay, which will also need painting white. Before the lower wing can be installed, the top splitter plate and two side inserts must be glued into the fuselage along with the nose cone, which doubles as your second chance to install nose weight if you forgot the first time. With the lower wing in place, the upper wings are glued on, with detail for the outer section of the main bays moulded-in, which will need painting too. Various lumps, bumps and actuator fairings are fixed under the fuselage, and two variable inlet ramps are fitted to the front of the intakes to complete that area. The wingtip sponsons are prepared with various protrusions, one of which is the light, ready for installation later, then the spine and rear deck that covers the 2nd cockpit aperture are installed on the fuselage top. The twin exhausts are made up with a choice of open or closed petals, and these have afterburner details moulded into the front of the trunking parts, which you can see on the sprue pics. The landing gear legs are next up, starting with the nose leg, which is made of two sections and a two-part wheel, to be inserted into the bay with the opened bay door on a strut, or if you’re posing her in the air, the same door is laid flat over the bay. The main gear legs are chunkier and have separate oleo-scissors and a complex retraction jack, finished off with a two part-wheel. They’re handed of course, and each have two handed bay doors that either glue to the edges of the bays or closing over the bays for in-flight. The exhausts and a host of small sensors, exhausts and running lights are dotted around the rear and elsewhere, then a choice of open or closed air-brake is provided on the spine, using just the exterior part to close it over, or adding an internal detail part and jack if you intend to pose it open. Moving forward, the cockpit is covered over by the fixed windscreen, and the canopy opener, which has a detail insert inside, using a jack part to hold it at the correct angle. It’s worth noting here that the canopy is of the modern ‘blown’ type, which requires the mould to be made of three parts, leaving a fine seamline down the outside of the canopy, which you can choose to either leave, or sand away then polish back to clarity with fine sanding sticks. The open canopy is probably safer left off until later though, as there’s still a lot of work to do, some of it on the underside. Remaining near the cockpit for the time-being however, there are two strakes fitted into slots in the sides of the cockpit, and a choice of opened refuelling probe that has a chunky actuator and captive bay door, or if you intend to model it retracted, the bay door inserts in the aperture. Flipping the model over, four more strakes are inserted into holes under the nose, just aft of the nose cone. The Typhoon is quite a bomb-truck, and is covered in pylons underneath, adding these, the wingtip sponsons and actuators, then creating the weapons that a Tiffie can carry when the need arises. The options are as follows: 2 x 1,000L Fuel Tank 4 x Meteor A2A Missile 2 x AIM-9L Sidewinder A2A Missile 2 x Storm Shadow Cruise Missile 2 x GBU-24B Paveway III Laser-Guided Bomb 2 x AIM-132 ASRAAM A2A Missile (AIM-132) Whether any of these weapons would be carried by the aircraft other than the fuel tanks, is up to you to check with your references. A page in the instructions shows the painting and markings that should be applied to each one. Markings This is a special boxing, so there’s only one option on the extensive sheet, but it’s a bright one. The Black Jack scheme was created in advance of the 2021 season, building upon the black scheme previously worn by that aircraft, and using a highly stylised British flag on both sides of the wings and canards, plus a large roundel on the tail. It was only applied to one aircraft, so from the box you can build this aircraft: Typhoon FGR.4 ZJ914, flown by Flt. Lt. James Sainty of 29 Sqn., RAF Coningsby, July 2021 Decals are by Zanchetti of Italy, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A little flash has crept in here and there, including the wings and canopy, but that’s the work of moments to deal with. The kit is just as good as it was on initial release, with the intake oddities complicating matters slightly, but not enough to make it an issue. Add the handsome decal sheet into the mix, and we have a winner… providing you like the scheme of course. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or