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Best 1/72nd Typhoon FGR4.?


keithjs

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Just wondering what you all think as to being the best kit available to build an upto date RAF aircraft please? Am I right in assuming the latest Revell offering in Luftwaffe markings is a good basis? How's the Hasegawa one too? Thanks in advance..

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Thank you all. I also found a thread from a year ago when someone asked the same question so that was useful too. Didn't know about the Freightdog parts tho. Much appreciated.

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If you want a kit that is easy to build but has some minor inaccuracies (particularly the seat) then Hasegawa is the way forward. Hasegawa also has all the weapons pylons and most of the weapons that an RAF Typhoon can carry, except for Paveway IV. Problem is it is very expensive in the UK and only has the exhaust nozzles in the closed position, which is only correct for an aircraft under power or in flight.

 

The Revell kit has a better seat and an option to have the exhaust nozzles open (position when parked) or closed, but is a pain to build and lacks some of the pylons and weapons that are in the Hasegawa kit. It's also between 1/2 and 1/3 of the price of the Revell kit.

 

I have both and have built both, and rate them fairly equally.

 

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I'd agree with the comments above in general. However, I'd be very interested to know which of the Revell or Hasegawa has the correct canopy dimensions. There was a review of the 1/32 Revell kit that reckoned that the windscreen was about 3mm too long, and the main canopy too short by the same amount. I've spent a lot of time trying to scale off side-on pictures, and have a nagging suspicion that they may be right, and that would apply to all of their models from 1/32 to 1/48 and 1/72. That said I think the Hasegawa windscreen may be too short. 

From what I can see, the rearmost corner of the windscreen lines up fractionally behind the canards on the real thing; Revell has it behind the canards, but Hasegawa has the rearmost edge of the windscreen finishing level with the canard rear edge. What would be really handy would be the length of the windscreen of the real thing but I have been unable to find that out. Anyone got that measurement that they could pass on without being arrested?;)

Best, R

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I have to agree with Bobski with regards to ease of build. The Revell kit may have good details but it is quite a pain to build and has some fit problems. Mine also had warped tail fins.  The Hasegawa one seems to have been better thought out and some boxings also come with in-flight stands. I'd choose the Hase kit over the Revell one even if it was more expensive. But that's just me.

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I may have steered you wrong in reference to the Freightdog set. My eyes were seeing "Typhoon" but my brain was thinking "Tornado". It's the Tornado FGR4 set from Freightdog that has the extra radars for the lower front fuselage. I'll have to defer to others here, but I'm not sure there is any exterior difference between Eurofighter single seaters. Maybe the little sensor thing below the front cockpit on the port side, or was that there on later models of the early variant? Perhaps loadout is different on the FGR4 as well. Sorry to have muddied the waters with bad info here. I'll slink back into my dungeon now....

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On 4/15/2019 at 3:57 AM, Kevin Callahan said:

I may have steered you wrong in reference to the Freightdog set. My eyes were seeing "Typhoon" but my brain was thinking "Tornado". It's the Tornado FGR4 set from Freightdog that has the extra radars for the lower front fuselage. I'll have to defer to others here, but I'm not sure there is any exterior difference between Eurofighter single seaters. Maybe the little sensor thing below the front cockpit on the port side, or was that there on later models of the early variant? Perhaps loadout is different on the FGR4 as well. Sorry to have muddied the waters with bad info here. I'll slink back into my dungeon now....

Not a problem, Kevin. I'd sussed it out myself that's what you probably meant....

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Having dabbled with both kits, I would definitely go for the Hasegawa offering. The Revell kit is very nice but like its 1:48 brother (which I have also wrestled with) it is quite difficult to build. Yes, the Hasegawa kit is quite a bit more expensive though if you shop around you never know what comes up....some of the Far Eastern kit dealers have them at a good price and they normally fall within the limits for UK Customs and Excise. Furthermore (and for once) the Hasegawa kit comes with a very comprehensive and nicely detailed weapons fit (I cannot work out why Hasegawa are unable to do this with some of their other kits - with the possible exception of the F/A-18 Super Hornets and Mitsubishi F-2A/B which also have reasonable weapons loads included). True, the Revell offerings also provide some attractive colour schemes out of the box but for fit, I would always go with the Hasegawa kit.

 

HTH

 

Mark   

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Keep your eyes open for boxings of the 04317 Revell kit, which has stencils for an RAF machine. The recent 03952 Luftwaffe kit has markings for a Luftwaffe Richthofen bird only (and the imminent 03884 Ghost Tiger boxing has only the one set of Luftwaffe markings too).

At a pinch, get the 03900 100 Years RAF: Eurofighter Typhoon boxing and source roundels, fin flashes, and squadron markings/commemorative markings from elsewhere. Xtradecal will see you right here. Check your references!

In an ideal world, the new Revell kits would have the missing pylons present in the Hasegawa kit. One for Freightdog, perhaps?

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The Tranche 3 Typhoons have an extra attachment on the rear fuselage side for the projected conformal fuel tanks. I think this applies to aircraft from ZK355 onwards though I stand to be corrected on this. 

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6 hours ago, Tiger331 said:

Having dabbled with both kits, I would definitely go for the Hasegawa offering. The Revell kit is very nice but like its 1:48 brother (which I have also wrestled with) it is quite difficult to build. Yes, the Hasegawa kit is quite a bit more expensive though if you shop around you never know what comes up....some of the Far Eastern kit dealers have them at a good price and they normally fall within the limits for UK Customs and Excise. Furthermore (and for once) the Hasegawa kit comes with a very comprehensive and nicely detailed weapons fit (I cannot work out why Hasegawa are unable to do this with some of their other kits - with the possible exception of the F/A-18 Super Hornets and Mitsubishi F-2A/B which also have reasonable weapons loads included). True, the Revell offerings also provide some attractive colour schemes out of the box but for fit, I would always go with the Hasegawa kit.

 

HTH

 

Mark   

 

Agreed - the Hasegawa kit is much nicer.

 

It can be got a decent price, but you're looking - in the main - at something between about £33 and £40 (quite a few sellers on a certain site do free p&p when they have the kit available). As I may have said before, I treat the box as containing two kits, namely the Typhoon and the European weapons set. This means that you can create a (obviously rather false) sense that you've not done too badly - the weapons set costs £14.99 from Hannants, so if you bag your Hasegawa Typhoon boxing of choice for (say) £35, you can tell yourself that you've done well - £20 on the aircraft, and £15 on the weapons, if that £35 includes free p&p, you can go even further with the delusion and say that you've got the Typhoon for about the same price as the Revell.

 

As I say, deluded, but it comforts my credit card to approach it that way...

 

Being more serious, neither the Revell nor the Hasegawa kit provides the standard air-ground weapon for the RAF Typhoon, namely the Paveway IV. Nor is the previous standard AG weapon, the Paveway II, to be found in either. That said, post the Centurion project, Brimstone and Storm Shadow can be loaded quite happily (as can Meteor), and Hasegawa gives you those options; if going for the QRA fit, then the Hasegawa one provides all that's required.

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Thanks for all the extra replies lately. I'll make sure to have a good around at Modelkraft next week and see what's around. As I'm only going to put fuel tanks on, stores are not a problem.

Edited by keithjs
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  • 2 weeks later...

I have not had the pleasure of building the Hasegawa kit but it looks great in the box and basically comes with a full European Weapons Set. Get it directly from Japan and it should be around £25-30  which is about a tenner less than the UK price.

 

The original Revell kit is one of their poorest efforts. Bad fit, huge wing seams and surface detail is a bit plain (no rivets, lots of flash). It does not look nearly as good as their Tornado. That said, the decal sheet is impressive and probably worth the price of the kit alone if it were aftermarket! Has markings for all initial Typhoon users. I suspect if you have the patience to build it up while resisting the urge to bin it, it looks nice in the end... alas I didn't. :P

 

I cannot comment on Revell's second kit as I have not bought it.

 

Avoid the Italeri... that's all I'm sayin'...

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41 minutes ago, Phantome said:

Get it directly from Japan and it should be around £25-30  which is about a tenner less than the UK price.

Hi

 

If anyone is interested  it is currently available on Amazon UK - Hasegawa 1:72 Eurofighter Typhoon - for £27.89 and free delivery (UK). Reduced from the RRP of £39.99.

 

Rich

 

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Also, worth pointing out the sole annoyance of the Hasegawa kit: it's not designed for an open cockpit. However, I suspect it should not be too difficult to do so with some minimal modifications (the canopy is, thankfully, a two piece, just nothing in place to keep it open)

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