TEMPESTMK5 Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Good morning I would like to know if this kit https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1119683-revell-03897-spitfire-mk-vb is worth buying or not .. Thank you for your advice Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Not from what I've seen by the way of photos and comments. That's a bit second hand as comments go, but I haven't seen it personally. If you really need a Mk.Vb think that the AZ looks to be the best around at the moment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 I’m no professor of Spitology or anything, but I agree with Graham. I’ve seen both kits in the flesh. The AZ looks superior in both accuracy and detail, and from what I’ve seen on the webs builds well. IMHO it’s one of AZ’s best efforts. I’d love to see Airfix’s current Spitfire I/II/VA family tree sprout a VB branch, but I don’t think the AZ will disappoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Haven't read a single informed review of this kit that was more than tepid about it. Accordingly haven't bought one so can't offer more informed insights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 Thank you all for your comments .. I already have the AZ Spit in my stash and I will leave the Revell one in the shop .. Cheers Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 You need some aftermarket or bits from the spares box to make it look decent, namely a canopy, propeller and wheels. The basic shape is sound, though. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Oh yes, the cannon blisters are an odd shape. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Lacks the gull wing feature to the underside, prop blades a bit suspect. Looks OK built if you are not a rivet counter, or extreme accuracy type of modeller. I have built a couple in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 Thank you both for your help .. Best regards Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 2 hours ago, Paul J said: Lacks the gull wing feature to the underside, prop blades a bit suspect. Looks OK built if you are not a rivet counter, or extreme accuracy type of modeller. But that sounds like the old tool kit (mid 90s), not the recent new tool. The upper wing cannon bulges on the latter just look - odd... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 1 minute ago, tempestfan said: But that sounds like the old tool kit (mid 90s), not the recent new tool. Yes, the mid-90s kit is even worse. I started off building one borrowing bits from the ancient Airfix Spitfire. I got so far and then decided I was better off building the Airfix kit instead: ancient it may be but the basic shapes are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 (edited) On 7/10/2018 at 7:33 AM, Paul J said: Lacks the gull wing feature to the underside, prop blades a bit suspect. Looks OK built if you are not a rivet counter, or extreme accuracy type of modeller. I have built a couple in the past. What PaulJ and Johnd have described is correct, in my view also. That being said, it does have some very nice detail parts, and can be found pretty cheaply. If you've got a decent spares bin and have some old Airfix Spit Mk 1's and/or Vb's about, you could replace the Revell kit's flat section with the gull wing section from either Airfix ki and correcting the prop and cannon blisters, but I would agree with my colleagues that you're better off just getting the AZ kit and building it. Mike Whoops! I meant to say that the older Mk Vb release had no gull wing section- the newer release does, but it's really not much better than the original release; I would put it up there with their recent F4U-1A and F4U-4, which were both very disappointing. (I bet @Corsairfoxfouruncle is still in mourning over those two duds!) Mike Edited July 14, 2018 by 72modeler added text 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 I have abstained from buying the new tool kit, but the pics in the IPMS Deutschland review suggest there in fact is the gullwing effect- to me, it even looks a bit exaggerated. So Mike, do you refer to the new tool? If so, the pics have fooled me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMA131Marine Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 The new Revell Spitfire Vb kit, and the earlier Mk.II with which it shares some parts, does have the gull-wing effect. The earlier Mk.Vb from the mid-90's is completely flat in that area. The cockpit on the earlier kit is also mostly fictitious. I remember when that kit came out and was sorely disappointed at the time that a company with the resources of Revell could make such a boneheaded mistake. The new Vb is an improvement, in most respects, apart from the prop, spinner and canopy. It could have been a lot better, especially since research material on the Spitfire is not exactly hard to come by. Maybe Eduard will do us a favour and produce a series of Spit Mk.V's and Seafire Mk.I/II/III variants. I think the current Airfix Mk.I/II is the best early Spit available, but they pushed things a bit too far by releasing it as Va because it still comes with a wing with fabric covered ailerons that had by then been replaced with metal-covered units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 Good evening all I thank you very much for your help .. Best regards Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
304th BRAT Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 The spare ailerons from Eduards mk8 Spit are a perfect fit for the Airfix mk5a. Just needs some careful cutting to remove the fabric one's 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Didn't know the new, new tooling was a new kit .Thought it was the same as the one that was made in that chocolate coloured plastic with AE-A decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killingholme Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 I've built one- almost. The basic airframe goes together OK. It's a difficult kit to describe, but it just instinctively feels like a swing-and-a-miss on Revell's part. The prop, radiator, oil cooler are all really poorly-shaped: you don't need to be a Spitfire expert to spot them. There's a rather crude ferry tank included (including pre-moulded holes you will have to fill if you don't want to fit it!!), but no Trop filter. The surface detail is nice, but the gun blisters just look odd. The cockpit is OK, but the canopy is a bad fit and so thick that you can't possibly pose it opened. It's kind of an "85%- there" kit, and it really disappointed me. I just can't think of any reason to recommend buying one over an KP, or even AZ kit. Happy to put some photos up if anyone thinks it'll be useful. (only have a phone camera though, so don't expect much!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMA131Marine Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Paul J said: Didn't know the new, new tooling was a new kit .Thought it was the same as the one that was made in that chocolate coloured plastic with AE-A decals. Scalemates is a great resource for figuring out kit origins: https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION[]=Kits&q=spitfire&fkTYPENAME[]="Full kits"&fkSCALE[]="1:72"&fkCOMPNAME[]="Revell"&fkORIGIN[]="1"&fkORIGIN[]="2" Reviews: http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/FirstLook/Revell/Rev_Spitfire_MkVb/Rev_Supermarine_Spitfire_MkVb.html http://www.modellversium.de/kit/artikel.php?id=12431 Edited July 10, 2018 by VMA131Marine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MigModeller Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 (edited) "Revell 03897 1/72 Spitfire Vb Dear Sirs Is this a new moulding? Or is this an old moullding with raised panel lines? Thank you in anticipation Yours faithfully" "Many thanks for your mail and the inlcuded question. We can tell you, that this is a conversion to an existing 1/72 kit, which we did in 1996. This means automatically, that the kit includes recessed panel lines. We hope, we could serve you. Kindly with all the best regards yours Revell GmbH from Germany" Part of research for Spitfire Mk.Vb Fighter Free French Air Force. No. 340 Squadron in July 1942. Edited July 10, 2018 by MigModeller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 5 hours ago, tempestfan said: I have abstained from buying the new tool kit, but the pics in the IPMS Deutschland review suggest there in fact is the gullwing effect- to me, it even looks a bit exaggerated. So Mike, do you refer to the new tool? If so, the pics have fooled me. I forgot that they released a revised Mk Vb, so I guess it would be a big improvement over the original release; I didn't like some of the things about the revised kit when I saw the sprue shots , much like Killinghome has described, but that's just me. Unless we get a state of the art Vb, Vc, Seafire II, III, I plan to use other kits to get accurate models of those variants. (This would be sooo much easier if Eduard would start working backwards and forwards from their Mk VII, VIII, and IX kits.) Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 11 hours ago, MigModeller said: "Revell 03897 1/72 Spitfire Vb Dear Sirs Is this a new moulding? Or is this an old moullding with raised panel lines? Thank you in anticipation Yours faithfully" "Many thanks for your mail and the inlcuded question. We can tell you, that this is a conversion to an existing 1/72 kit, which we did in 1996. This means automatically, that the kit includes recessed panel lines. We hope, we could serve you. Kindly with all the best regards yours Revell GmbH from Germany" Part of research for Spitfire Mk.Vb Fighter Free French Air Force. No. 340 Squadron in July 1942. Would be interesting to know how they define „conversion“ - the parts breakdown is significantly different, and with all its shortcomings, I‘d say the surface details of the older one were more crisp. The older one appears to owe a lot to the 1979 1/48 Spit II, just like the then-companion G-10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 Nobody has mentioned the near shake-n-bake Tamiya Spit VB which despite some minor accuracy issues looks the part IMHO (some will disagree). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMA131Marine Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 On 7/10/2018 at 5:14 PM, MigModeller said: "Revell 03897 1/72 Spitfire Vb Dear Sirs Is this a new moulding? Or is this an old moullding with raised panel lines? Thank you in anticipation Yours faithfully" "Many thanks for your mail and the inlcuded question. We can tell you, that this is a conversion to an existing 1/72 kit, which we did in 1996. This means automatically, that the kit includes recessed panel lines. We hope, we could serve you. Kindly with all the best regards yours Revell GmbH from Germany" Part of research for Spitfire Mk.Vb Fighter Free French Air Force. No. 340 Squadron in July 1942. This response from Revell customer service is stunning in its inaccuracy. The new Spit Vb has not a single part in common with the 1996 version. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 36 minutes ago, Phantome said: Nobody has mentioned the near shake-n-bake Tamiya Spit VB which despite some minor accuracy issues looks the part IMHO (some will disagree). You're right, I disagree! 🙂 The Tamiya kit is awful. It has shape problems to the point that it doesn't have the "look and feel" of the original and these can't be corrected. The Hobby Boss one is better. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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