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This is my latest completion, the Revell 1/48 Republic F-84G Thunderjet, built as an aircraft from the 88th Air Regiment, Yugoslavian Air Force, Batajnica in 1962. Largely OOB, I’ve used a Quick Boost resin ejection seat and some Hi-Decal Line decals. Although the decals turned out to be awful to use, so some of the markings are painted. Paint is mostly MRP lacquers and Tamiya Acrylics, and weathering was done with oil paints. This was a short-lived experimental scheme, so I’ve kept the weathering to a minimum as I doubt the aircraft would have had much time to get “well used” before it was repainted to the standard scheme. The WIP is here: James

Taking advantage of the start of the year being relatively free of group builds, this is another kit that’s been starting at me from the stash for a bit, Revell’s F-84G Thunderjet: I picked this one up from @modelling minion for a very nice price, so I thought I’d treat it to a couple of additions in the form of some Hi-Decal markings for a Yugoslavian aircraft and a Quick Boost bang seat: This is my first experience of building a Pro Modeller tooling (though I also have their Ta 154 in the stash) and I’m really enjoying it. The surface detail isn’t up to the same standards as the latest Tamiya or Eduard kits (but it is a 25 year old tooling), but more than acceptable, and it all fits together beautifully. So far I’ve got the cockpit tub assembled and painted in interior green: The bang seat has also had a coat of that: As has the equipment tray that will fit under the canopy: Detail painting is next on the cards for all of those. I had some trepidation about the drop-in panels on the nose, as I’ve had them leave big gaps that need lots of filling & sanding on other kits. I needn’t have worried, these dropped in perfectly and will only require the tiniest bits of filler in one or two local spots that have shown up under primer: And yes, I will sand off the dust that was caught under the primer. The last bit of progress (other than a multitude of smaller parts that have been primed that I’ll spare you the photos of) is the assembly of the wings. Slightly unusually, the smaller gear doors are moulded as part of the side panel of the bay. The nose gear doors are similarly moulded as part of the bay as well. Not a big issue, I’ll just need to do some careful masking at paint time: James

As is normally the case, I've always got a backlog of 1/72 completed AFV's waiting to have paint added to them. Some times it's therapeutic just to build something up completely. Then just put it aside! 😆 So this was sitting around built up & primed during the summer waiting to be completed. It just needed a dusting off & just took a few sessions to get from that to this. I thought this time why not go with the single colour option (in the kit decal options) instead of the three colour camo & go with a United Nations subject. I already had a copy of a "Concord puplications - German Wheeled Fighting Vehicles" (1999) & the decal option in the kit matched one of the photos in this book. By sheer coincidence there's a few other German army vehicles that Revell have kitted with registrations that match images in this book. This is the Thyssen Henschel Transportpanzer Tpz 1 Fuchs (Fox) in 1/72 by Revell. 3D printed tank crew from Peddinghaus. Ambulance version German peace keeping force United Nations - Somalia 1994. Primed with Ammo one shot black. White is Vallejo Model Color. AK black pin wash & some other weathering from the Ammo Mig range. VMS gloss then their VMS XXL Matt. Thanks for looking! martin

Hi All, Very pleased to introduce my second build for the GB - the fascinating hybrid aircraft White Knight Two with its spacecraft payload, Spaceship Two. Devised by Virgin Galactic to be the world's first viable tourist spacecraft, Spaceship Two was developed from the imaginatively-titled Spaceship One to be the first commercial spacecraft, before it became trendy among billionaires to start their own space programmes. The Revell kit is a very neat little 1/144 package which enables the aircraft to be completed in a variety of poses and combinations. It's a simple build with some excellent decals. It's quite petite in this scale, a tad over 6 in /15cm long and about 25cm in span. It's an innovative Burt Rutan design, and twin boom enough to convince @Wez so you can draw your own conclusions I've started already so more photos will be inbound soon Cheers, Alan

Allright, finnished s build yesterday First Timer Modelship So now continue with the Maritime theme, Modelkit, well picture needs no presentation, got it second hand on eBay, part sealed in bags. Will use AM this time wich i do not do often at all, so this time go all in with AM, all isnignias and markings will be painted, also some scratch. Yes....here it is and here goes. First things first reset the workplace. Nice boxart. Some reference books and all AM that ill use. And the build officially have started

On display in the Revell stand at the Nurnberg Toy Fair 2020. Revell is to release a new tool 1/48th Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird kit in 2021 (or later as Revell is not famous for the respect of such deadlines). Source: http://www.greenmats.club/forums/topic/6758-revell-1-sr-71-засветился-в-нюрнберге/ Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2805402012855804&set=pb.100001580974587.-2207520000..&type=3&theater V.P.

Revell: "(...) We have an announcement on Friday so keep your eyes on the socials(...)" Source: https://www.facebook.com/Revell/posts/pfbid02uB1eZuFKkf2Uu3D4HqcnQkPXHdg7WX9ttS5DQgj9zwqsp29j7xEWHKFC9PSifoxCl UPDATE Release expected in 2025 - 1/32 - ref. ? - Hawker Hunter T.7/T.7A Source: https://blog.revell.de/2024/modellbau/scale-modelworld-reveal-hawker-hunter-t-7-t-7a-in-132/ Maybe in connection with the Revell still future new tool 1/32nd Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 ? thread To be followed V.P.

Revell-USA is to release in first quarter 2014 a 1/48th Lockheed Ventura Mk.II RAF "Promodeller" kit - ref. 85-5533 Source: https://www.facebook.com/RevellUSA/photos_stream#!/photo.php?fbid=671343499564587&set=pb.105923262773283.-2207520000.1383675581.&type=3&theater V.P.

Revell is to release in October 2016 a new tool 1/32nd Messerschmitt Me.262B-1 Schwalbe kit - ref.04995 Single seaters should follow at an unspecified point of time. Design is reported executed by famous modeller Radu Brînzan. Source: http://www.plastik-modellbau.org/blog/revell-neuheiten-2016/2016/ V.P.

Hi folks. Here is my recently completed Reno racer #76 from 1968 using the Revell/Classic Plane A-26 Invader kit in 1/72. Built mainly OOB with military parts removed and a couple of cockpit details added. This boxing doesn't come with the Revell decal sheet, so the i/p decal was cobbled together from other decals. The scheme instructions were not very clear on painting the props and had to repainted after seeing a nice image. Painted with AK and Tamiya paints. Build log here: Thanks for looking. Stuart

Source: https://blog.revell.de/2024/modellbau/scale-modelworld-reveal-hawker-hunter-t-7-t-7a-in-132/ V.P.

Another one is finished and ready to be displayed at the SMW in Telford. It is Revell`s excellent kit of the Puma with some small improvements. I replaced the homing antennae at the nose with 0,3mm Ni. silver rods, the main rotor steering rods with thin sprue and the ILS localizer antennae at the tail with bent lead wire (0,3mm). The whole build was fun, especially the perfectly researched decals by DACO (included in the kit). You just have to cut small pieces. Thanks for looking!

Someone gave to me an already started kit of a Sikorsky CH-53G in 1:144. I was about to bin it, when I found some pictures of an airframe, of which all usable parts had been removed. As the German Air Force is planning to replace their CH-53 with new CH-47 in a couple of years, we will probably see more of these airframes. Obviously there is a rule, that the registration of these airframes have to be painted over. As many parts of the kit were not used, it was a rather quick build. The original was only for inspiration, the model is not an exact copy of it. Hope you like it! Different camera, different lights = different colours!

Finnair have currently eighteen Airbus A350 in their fleet. The company were among the first airlines to order the plane and they received the first one in October, 2015. Although I prefer to build classic airliners from the 1960's and 70's I decided to make a model of this elegant bird this time. The kit is from Revell and I must say that its quality, details and fit were excellent. Since Revell still make their airliner kits with window holes I filled them with Milliput .The only place where a bit of file and sanding was needed was the attachment of the wings with the lower part of the fuselage. I built the model in flight mode for the simple reason that my shelf was too small for such a big airplane. Since nowadays the Finnair planes are almost all-white I wanted to make the model a bit more colourful and interesting looking. Finnair have at various occasions painted some of their planes with the pictures of Santa Claus and reindeers or the motifs designed by the famous Finnish fashion house "Marimekko" The rear part of this Airbus A350 registered OH-LWL was painted with the blue "Marimekko kivi" or stone motifs and I decided to print myself decals of them for my model. I sprayed a white decal sheet with dark blue Tamiya TS-15 and with the templates made by a fellow modeller I cut out the stone pieces. The Finnair decals I ordered are by F-DCAL and the cockpit windscreen by Authentic Airliner Decals. I sprayed the white fuselage with Tamiya's Fine surface primer which I then covered with Tamiya's clear gloss spray. The wings and winglets of the Airbus are very light grey, almost white and I painted them with Revell's enamel colour 371. I finished the job by sealing the decals with the AK Intermediate gauzy agent. The Airbus A350 is really huge in comparation with the DC-9-10 I took this picture of the first Finnair Airbus A350 arriving at Helsinki International Airport on October 7, 2015.

Hello fellow modellers, welcome to my first WIP! The kit I’m working on is a Revell 1/32 Mirage III: This was a surprise Christmas present from my wife, I hadn’t built a single model for over 30 years! So, I was to build this shiny Mirage, but to be honest it didn’t quite appeal to me. Of course, its livery is splendid… …but I never saw this particular jet ‘in the wild’. The decal set offered two alternatives, an Australian version… …and a French Mirage IIIRD: In 1984 I visited Gilze-Rijen airbase to witness the NATO Tactical Air Meet, which was an impressive event with masses of different aircraft types and numbers, like Canadian Starfighters, RAF Jaguars and Phantoms, USAFE F-4s and F-15s, Belgian F-16s and Mirages, German F-4s, and French Jaguars and... Mirage IIIRDs! One of these Mirages was Mirage IIIRD 368/33-TQ: To keep the memory of this exercise alive I decided to build this particular reconnaissance jet. I joined britmodeller.com in January 2021, but I never intended to start a WIP because I was quite intimidated by the high skills and superb results by most of you lot. However, @The Spadgent appeared to build a similar kit, check... ...and he and @81-er encouraged me to show some of my progress, too. So, here I go! First an overview of my desk, with the supplies spread out to give you an idea: Documentation (the upper photo was taken during TAM 1984 too, by a good friend of mine): Aftermarket stuff: And what I've done so far. The manual warns for the danger of tail sitting for the E and O version, but to be safe I added a redundant nut to avoid this for the RD version too. The 'inside job': My box with preliminary stuff: And for the final result, I decided to add the pilot as well. Meet Jean-Claude: He is supervising my progress: That's it for now. I hope I can entertain you with upcoming posts, and feel free to comment! Cheers, Rob

So here goes my next big project, the Revell (Matchbox) 1/72 Victor K2. Some may ask why i will torture myself with this clunky old kit when Airfix soon are re-releasing theire great kit of this iconic tanker? The answer is that i got this kit at a good price just before Airfix announced the re release, and these old kits just appeal to me for some reason. Most work will be done on rescribing the panel lines as well as some work on the intake shape. My plan is to scratch build some FOD covers so i don’t have to worry about the complex internals of the intakes. I will use the kit decals and add some resin wheels and metal pitot and refueling probe. Today i rescribed one of the fuselarge halves. The heavy raised panel lines on the kit worked to my advantage as i simply ran my mr. Scriber along the panel lines with no need for tape or ruler. Any good advise on this kit are most welcome 🙂

Hello all, This is my entry with a kit re-acquired from my son for whom it was bought as a Christmas gift at least 10 years ago just before he decided that he didn't like model making as much as Dad does!......ok got that of my chest.....he'll be back!!...guaranteed!!! Anyway the obligatory: Typical Revell box modified iaw standard modelling practice, I'm sure this keeps me under the 25% rule. I've chosen 'Grogs the Shot' from the two choices in the kit. Decals look good. General plastic contents; some nicely molded parts (the clear parts do look quite nice) and some outright poor renditions of others such as the wheels/tyres so some replacement details are ready and waiting and some more on the way. I will be addressing the outer wing dihedral using the, take your life in your hand as well as a razor saw to the top wing section approach a 'la Brett Green. I'll also see about a minor adjustment to the engine air intake shape/profile but haven't decided on which way to go yet. Hopefully I will be able to display it along with the Airfix RAF Bomber resupply set or at least some of it using the same display base as I did for my B17 build. Still a week to go... Cheers, Mark.

Evening all. With my Hurricane racer nearing its end game, I hopefully will have time to get this build across the finish line, this being an A-26B Invader Racer in 1/72 using the Revell kit boxed by Classic Plane with custom decals to include Race 76/N3328G in the 1968 Reno Races. It will be built OOB but will be demilitarised. Fist the compulsories: The box. Large bag of plastic. Instructions and decals. Stuart

Although the 2019 box claims this is 'new' only the decals were updated, the mouldings being 1998 vintage and cast in thin off-white plastic. Parts count is quite low at 170 which is a good thing as they seem to have been numbered and strewn across the four huge, flimsy sprues at random. having said that they are well detailed and fit together without too much fuss, and result in a nice big model (60x39cm); it's had to go on the wall next to my 1/48 Tamiya Lanc as i don't have a shelf big enough for it. Thanks for looking, J.A.

Hi everyone, and here we go, another GB entry. Looks like it will be a busy late summer. The subject: My stash does not have too many post-WW2 aircraft, so I was even happier to find one that matches the topic of this GB. Plus, how can you qualify more if the model name features the name of the GB! The DHC-6 Twin Otter has been in production since 1965 (with a break between 1988 and 2008), an incredibly long time, accounting for the versatility and robustness of the aircraft. It is in use almost everywhere in the world, for short range commercial flights, rescue missions and personnel transport in different militaries. The kit: The Revell kit is originally a Matchbox one and from the Eighties. The detail is not eactly overwhelming and the casting quality is so-so. The Revell kit comes with markings for Canadian Air Force and West Coast Air. The project: Most likely, I will keep the build relatively simple. Instead of the kit decals, I have got myself a decal set by Iliad, covering a variety of aircraft in both military and civilian use. I will go for HB-LRR which has been in use with the International Red Cross for a while and comes in overall white, some black areas and red crosses, of course. Cheers Thomas

Bristol Beaufighter Mk.VI (03767) 1:48 Carrera Revell The Beaufighter was originally developed as a fighter variant of the Beaufort, aiming to utilise as many components from the light bomber as possible to speed development, construction and minimise tooling costs. It didn't quite work out that simply, as it needed additional power that could only be provided by the new Hercules engines that was in development, as even a Merlin engine would leave it apparently underpowered as they later found out, seemingly counter-intuitively. This meant a mid-wing mount had to be created so that the props had sufficient ground clearance, and a skinnier fuselage was used to reduce weight and drag. It was still relatively quick to reach production, and although it wasn't as amazing as the Mosquito, it became a good multi-role aircraft once it had matured sufficiently, able to assume roles for which it was never intended. The initial Mk.I wasn’t fast by any stretch of the imagination, and some were converted to Nightfighter specification to gauge their performance against the incoming enemy bombers that were attacking London and the rest of England every night by that time. After a few quieter sorties, the 1F began to show promise, downing several bombers, the first of which was a Do.17 ‘Flying Pencil’. It was able to carry the bulky early radar equipment without serious penalties, so was a natural for the task where speed wasn’t quite so crucial in the dark. A Mk.IIF was created to use Merlin engines when the Hercules power-plants were required to power the Stirling Bomber, followed by some evolutionary dead-ends that consumed several variant designations, resulting in the next production variant being the Mk.VI, which can generally be picked out by its elevators (but not always), which were fitted to the tail with a distinct dihedral. Radar could be carried in a fairing fixed onto the nose, which resembled a thimble, and predictably became known as the Thimble Radome. The Kit It seems unbelievable that the first new-tool Beaufighter from Revell’s auspices was back in 2018, when I’d have said it was a couple of years ago at most. The copyright on the underside of the cockpit floor dates back to 2016 however, which causes some confusion. Scalemates are seldom wrong with their dates however. The kit arrives in one of Revell’s new top-opening boxes with a captive lid that opens to the rear, which is an improvement on the end-opening boxes that were eminently crushable in the stash, but can be a little frustrating when perched on your bench and the lid keeps flopping closed. I’m probably being picky though, and it’s late as I write this. Inside the box are sixteen sprues of various sizes in a dark grey styrene that seems to sparkle slightly, four mini-sprues of clear parts that have been tooled so that they can be moulded individually, a decal sheet, instruction booklet that is printed in colour on matt paper, with decal option profiles on the rear pages, plus of course the ever-present safety sheet that is usually first in the recycling bin. Detail is good with a full-length interior that gives at least some content within, with options such as the thimble nose, open or closed observer’s blister, extended flaps, open or closed access hatch under the nose, a choice of open of closed cooling gills on the engines, a choice of deployed or retracted landing gear, and optional dihedral-free elevators. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is shoe-horned into the very front of the internal floor, with a portion of the forward spar at the rear, cockpit bracing structure and a three-sided wrap-around console in front, onto which the instrument panel is fixed, applying a decal to improve the detail. Rudder pedals are moulded into the panel, and a control column drops into a slot in the centre of the floor, with the seat that has moulded-in belts placed hard up against the spar. The rear spar forms an open-topped box, and this is a full height bulkhead, with moulded-in doors into the rear compartment, and two ammo cannister behind that feed the belly cannons, bracketing the two spar sections with wing-root fairings, one on each side. Behind that is the base for the radar operator's chair, which also has lap belts moulded-in, another framework bulkhead that has a central equipment rack in it, and another decal. To the rear is an (almost) empty space with an emergency hatch for the observer in the floor, and the tail-wheel well at the rear, which is moulded into the floor as a curved recess, and can accept the tail wheel in either deployed or stowed positions by using a two-part strut on a two-part wheel, retracting it forward into the well, or leaving it extended. The fuselage can then be closed around the assembly after applying the doors to the outside of the hatch. The nose cone is separate, and you have a choice of two, the original sleek nose that gives the Beau such a sleek line, or the thimble-nose fairing for one decal option. The canopy is fitted next, and has an apron in front of the windscreen moulded-in to make fitting and blending it in easier, plus a separate top hatch for the pilot's emergency exit. The gun-sight is also clear, and needs partially painting before installation, which would look more realistic if you add some clear green to the edges of the glazing to simulate thickness. The rear crew member's dome can be fitted open or closed, with no weapon mount installed, cutting slots for the attachment lugs from the starboard lip of the opening. The lower wing is full span, and includes a short length of the lower fuselage and nose to give it a strong join. Two small holes must be opened in the leading edge of the starboard wing before proceeding, after which the gear bays are constructed in the lower half of the "power egg" from two liners plus walls, front bulkhead and roof section, one assembly per wing. Behind them the flap bay is completed by the addition of a stringer that spans the gap between upper and lower surfaces, fixing a landing light bay behind the opening in the port leading-edge before fitting the upper wing surface. The flush clear landing light cover is added after installing two lenses, the supercharger intakes and clear wingtip lights can be added along with the inner and outer sections of the flaps, which can be posed open or closed, by adjusting the leading-edge tabs that are present, a scrap diagram showing the correct angle for deployment. The ailerons are each two parts and these fit on pins and can be left loose or glued into a more realistic pose that is either flush or offset, however you see fit (within reason). Before mating the fuselage to the wings, the lower hatch is installed in either open or closed positions by cutting a peg off at the top for the open option. Engines are next, and these are depicted fully with two banks of pistons and plenty of nice detail. The intake trunk spider at the rear and the collector vanes in front are provided, although a wiring loom will be needed to complete the look if you wish. The three cowling sections are all built around the front ring along with an exhaust fairing that brings the total to four sections, and then you have a choice of adding open or closed cooling gills at the rear, by using one or other of the sets provided, then inserting hedgehog flame hiders into the trough in the cowling, which have glare shields over them to protect the pilot's night vision. Two-part intake horns are fitted to the top of the engine cowlings, and the tiny rear tip of the nacelle under the wing finishes off that section. The tail of the Beau is noticeably cranked upward with quite a large dihedral for one decal option, the other having flat fins, both made from single two-part elevator panels running across the full width with trim actuators added below, and two-part flying surfaces appropriate to the type fitted to the rear. The tail fin isn't moulded into the fuselage, but this fillet-less version fits into a slot on the top of the elevator assembly, and has a two-layer rudder allowing you to pose it deflected if you wish. The main landing gear can be left off totally if you are posing your model in flight, with the single piece gear bay doors dropped into the opening in the bottom of the nacelles. If you are building the landing gear down, you will need to construct the H-shaped legs in stages, sandwiching the two-part wheels between the legs as you go, and this completed assembly is attached to a small section of the wing spar that doubles as part of the bay for ease and strength of attachment. This is glued into the front of the bay, with another set of retraction jacks fitted diagonally from the bay rear into the lower section of the leg. The single bay door part is split lengthways with a blade or fine saw and added after retraction mechanisms, half to each side of the bay to show off the internal detail, then the prop is fixed to the front with a moulded-in spinner. Then it's a case of fitting a pitot under the wing, aerial on the fuselage, and twin D/F loops in a clear dome for one option to complete the model, adding some wire/thread to link the aerial to the tail fin if you're feeling like it. Markings There are two decal options in this boxing, which will inform your decision on which parts options to use throughout the build, and they wear very substantially camouflage schemes to each other. From the box you can build one of the following: Beaufighter Mk.VIf A.I. BT289, No.46 Sqn., RAF Gambut, Tunisia, 1944 Beaufighter Mk.Vic, A19-120, NO.30 Sqn., Royal Australian Air Force Kiriwina, Papua New Guinea, late 1943 <ul style="list-style-type:upper-alpha"> Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Another new variant of the Beaufighter in 1:48 from Revell is no bad thing, and the detail is comparable to the original release, with configuration choices and two decal options from different areas of action to choose from. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

My next entry in to this GB will be an A340. I have had the decals for an Armée de l'Air aircraft for some time so I thought it was time to get it built. The Revell kit I am using is the 1/144 Air Canada A340-300 boxing so it will need converting. The conversion involves cutting two sections out of the fuselage for and aft of the wing as you can see in the picture above. I marked out the cuts and sections that will be removed First cuts done on the left hand fuselage section The off cuts are used to reinforce the seams when it is all put back together Both sides done, the new halves are not glued yet. I am just using each side to support each other so I get a straight fuselage. The cutting and reassembly took about an hour.

Leopard 2A6M+ (03342) 1:35 Carrera Revell The Leopard 2 is the successor to the earlier Leopard Main Battle Tank (MBT), and was developed in the 70s, entering service just before the turn of the decade. The initial design had a vertical faced turret front, while later editions had improved angled armour applied to the turret front that gives the tank a more aggressive look and provides much better protection from an increased likelihood of deflecting incoming rounds away. It has all the technical features of a modern MBT, including stabilised main gun for firing on the move, thermal imaging, and advanced composite armour, making it a world-class contender as one of the best tanks on the market. The original Leopard 2 variant entered service in 1979, but has been through several upgrades through its service life and the current production variant is the highly advanced 2A7+, with the 2A8 waiting in the wings. The 2A6 is still a powerful battlefield resource however, and likely to be so for some considerable time. It sports the Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun with the barrel extended over the A5, which results in a higher muzzle velocity that improves its penetration power over its predecessor, allowing it to reach targets at a greater range and hit harder. It also has an armoured ammunition storage space in the turret that is engineered to blow outward in the event of a detonation of munitions, which again improves the crew survivability further. For close-in defence they are fitted with an MG3 machine gun, and the armour is installed to give it an arrow-head front profile to the turret, as well as several more subtle upgrades that follow on from the 2A5. Sales of the Leopard 2 have been good overseas because of its reputation, and Canada, Turkey, Spain and many Nordic countries use it as well as many other smaller operators. The 2A6M is a mine-protected variant for use in asymmetric combat and in the likelihood that IEDs or mines have been planted to destroy the heavy armour before it can roll over their lightly protected positions. These were upgraded in the mid-2010s to the 2A7 standard, but due to monetary constraints only fifty vehicles were converted, only using the + designation until the completion of the programme in 2017. The upgrades involved new comms systems that include a field telephone on the rear bulkhead, replacement of the potentially dangerous Halon fire extinguishing system with a more environmentally friendly chemical system, as well as new sights for the commander and gunner, bringing them up to modern standards. The Kit This is a new boxing of Revell's 2012 tooling of this type, as evidenced by the raised copyright lettering on the inside of the floor pan. It arrives in an end-opening box, with a painting of the Leopard wearing European camouflage while another big cat, the Eurocopter Tiger flies behind it. Inside are eight sprues in grey styrene, in a welcome move away from the green Revell used to use in their AFV kits. There are also four sprues of flexible black plastic, plus four runs of track in the same material, and a clear sheet of acetate (not pictured – it’s invisible) that is marked as "window sheet" on the instructions. A short length of wire (not pictured) is taped to the instruction booklet, and the ends are quite sharp, so avoid stabbing yourself like I once did some years back. The decal sheet is hidden away in the centre of the booklet, and is protected by a sheet of thin greaseproof paper, as is the clear acetate. The kit is clearly a modern heritage, and has some nice detail on the outer hull, including patches of anti-slip coating on the main surfaces. The large circular cooling fans on the rear decking are particularly nicely done as separate parts, and should look well once painted. The odd splitting of the track could cause some issues however, as each track is made up from two halves that must be glued together before they can be fitted to the tank, but won’t react to normal styrene glue, so would be best done with super glue or epoxy glue, which would require the joint to remain relatively straight, so positioning them in the middle of the top and bottom track runs would be beneficial. Construction begins with the hull, which is built up from separate sides, held in alignment by two perforated bulkheads that sit in slots in the floor plan. An insert is added to the right rear side, completing the lower hull by fixing the rear bulkhead in place. The upper hull is mated with the lower, fitting a hatch on the right side, and one of the two circular cooling vents on the engine deck. Suspension details such as bump-stops, swing-arms with stub axles detail the hull sides, after which seven road wheel pairs are slipped over the axles on each side, and four return rollers per side. The idler wheels are smaller than the road wheels, and the drive sprockets are built from two separate toothed parts each. An appliqué armour panel is added to the underside of the tank, which improves its mine resistance, although unusually it doesn’t have an angled keel to deflect the blast like most other anti-mine packages. As mentioned earlier, the tracks are of the rubber-band type with nice detail, and if you can live with the curving of the links around the drive sprockets and idler wheels they should suffice. Each length is made from two sections, which have a generous four-link overlap and two pins on each link to strengthen the join. You are instructed to glue them with ordinary plastic adhesive, and you are recommended to clamp them together and wait until they are properly cured before handling them, but you’ll be in for a long wait, as I tested liquid glue and it had no melting effect. The pins are flush to the track pads on the outer face, so filling or hiding them under the fenders and against the ground would be advisable once you have attached them to the vehicle. The rear bulkhead of the vehicle has a large radiator grille running along the full width, which is a little shallow, but with some black paint in the recesses, should suffice for most modellers. A couple of turnbuckles are glued to the lower edge, and under the ends hang the two flexible mudguards that are made from the same plastic as the tracks, and the field telephone box with handle in the centre. Two other panels are fixed to either side, one with a bracket that receives the convoy light shield, applying a decal or painting the white cross by hand if you prefer. Three towing shackles and the rear light clusters finish the rear of the vehicle for now, installing the flexible towing cables with styrene eyes later. A set of pioneer tools are added to the rear deck, gluing barrel cleaning rods to the front deck, and the afore-mentioned towing ropes are fitted. If you're not happy with a mould-line running down your tow-ropes, now would be the time to replace it with some braided wire or cord, using the kit parts as a length template. Moving to the glacis plate, spare track links on a palette with the front hazard lights are installed, along with the usual shackles and headlights, followed by the driver’s hatch, which has detail inserts fixed front and rear. The fenders are integral to the top hull, and only the side-skirts need to be added. These are made from two basic parts on each side with tapering forward sections, and overlaying thicker appliqué armour over the front two road wheel stations and idler, plus the rear sections that locate on a long guiding tab moulded into the back of the parts. The turret is a complex shape, and the base is made up from three parts, onto which the main gun is built up with a block in place of the breech. The barrel is supplied in two halves, split vertically lengthwise, and it has some nice moulded-in detail, so take care aligning the parts and again when cleaning up the seam. The barrel is tipped with a hollow muzzle, but this is a little shallow, so might be better drilled out once the glue is dry. The mantlet section that raises with the gun is built up around the base of the barrel in three parts, and this is then added to the lower turret, being locked in place by a pair of trunnions that permit the barrel to raise and lower. The top of the turret is a large part with only one two-layer panel in the rear right added along with the sighting system's lenses that are installed from inside. This is mated to the bottom of the turret, after which the side panels and bustle are added to complete the main part of the turret's construction. The angled panels that bolster the armour of the turret's arrow-head front are installed next, and here there are were some quite significant sink-marks in previous boxings that seem to have been almost totally eradicated in this boxing. A bustle stowage box is created from a four-sided part with separate roof, glued to the rear of the turret, then the roof of the turret is festooned with various small parts, including antenna bases, armoured surrounds over the vision blocks, the new sight in front of the commander’s cupola, which utilises two parts cut from the clear sheet for its lenses front and rear. Another sighting turret is installed behind and to the left of the commander’s cupola, and the TV sensor box at the front is outfitted with its doors, which you can pose open by cutting the part in half and gluing it to the outer edges of the box. Lifting eyes and two crew access hatches are made and installed in open or closed positions, fixing the gunner's MG3 to the edge of his hatch. Triangular mesh baskets are made from four parts each and installed on the angled rear corners of the bustle, and these styrene parts would be prime candidates for replacement by aftermarket mesh to give a more realistic appearance. The smoke grenade launchers are fitted to each side of the turret just forward of the baskets, and these are made up from individual barrels attached to a rail with supports moulded in. To create the aerials, the instructions tell you to cut and heat up one end of two 75mm lengths of wire before plunging them into the aerial mounts that were added earlier in the build. Whether super-glue would be a less hazardous option is up to you. Just be careful you don't stab or burn yourself at any stage. It hurts. The turret can then be added to the hull by twisting it into place to lock the bayonet lugs under the turret-ring flange. A pair of rear-view mirrors are added to the front of the tank, and the last part of the build is to decide whether to lock the barrel to the rear for transport, or leave it free with the transport-lock stowed between the two large fan grilles, one of which has been left off until this point, possibly to ensure that the base of the travel-lock that is moulded into the grille is correctly lined up. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, both of which are painted in NATO green, brown and black camouflage. You can build one of the following from the box: PzBtl 104, Pfreimd, 2018 PzBtl 414, Bergen-Lohheide, 2019 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Leopard 2 is an impressive and capable tank, and this kit should build up into a good rendition of it with a little care and attention to detail. Whether you want to replace the tracks or not depends on your priorities and budget, but the flexible tracks included are well-detailed for their type. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

I finally pulled my Revell 1/48th Tornado IDS to the top of the build pile. I've watch hours of you tube build videos, read nearly every thread here on Britmodeller, and looked at hundreds of photos of Tornado IDS online. I'm building this as a JaboG 33 jet from Buchel AB in the Norm 83 green and black camo. A friend of mine flew Tornados there in the early 90s. I started gluing parts together based on some of the lessons learned from previous builders. Here's how she sits today, after 3 days of cleaning up flash, mold nubs, sprue gates, and anything else that was preventing a good parts fit. I'm building it with everything closed and up - slats in, flaps up, speed brakes closed, probably a closed canopy. I haven't even touched the cockpit yet. Question on step 25 of the instructions - What is the correct angle for part 31, the horizontal intake ramp, for a parked jet? From the very few pictures that show this, I can't tell if the forward part of the intake is the same color as the exterior paint on the intake or is it a light gray? (For Norm 83 specifically.) Also, I saw some photos of RAF and Italian jets where there is a black coating/stripe on the first few inches of the interior surface. This was referenced as "spraymat" anti-ice coating. The Norm 83 jets are so dark, the intakes in photos are just black holes with no way to determine interior colors. This leads me to think the answer to the previous question is that the forward section of the intakes is the exterior color. However, would the spraymat be there? I'm letting the glue dry for a couple of days while I start on the cockpit. Then I'll clean up the wings and start fitting the rest of the assemblies together next week hopefully.

Having completed the 'Stripey Eurofighter Typhoon', I thought I would make a start on this Revell C-17 as my second build. Once again, some parts are off their sprues, but everything is bagged up and unstarted. This will be an OOB build but I am not sure which of the two options on offer to choose. The choices on the decal sheet are 'Spirit of Berlin' or Spirit of the Wright Brothers, I will make that decision later. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr We are away for a few days next week but I hope to make a start before we leave. Regards. John