Old vs. New 1/72 Revell Eurofighter kits?

[Fin]

Could someone please explain what the main differences are between the old (i.e. the single seater 04317 kit from 2007) and the new line starting in 2016 with the 03952 kit?

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-04317-eurofighter-typhoon-single-seater--102262

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-03952-eurofighter-typhoon-single-seater--977402

 

Does the new kit have a better fit, is it more or less correct/detailed? The only thing that stands out to me is that all the new kits seem to have decals strictly for celebratory schemes as opposed to the old kit which had a pretty comprehensive decal for many nations (which is a plus to me as I want to make a British machine in air-to-air configuration, but the plastic is more important). Thank you for any help!

[Ralph]

Hallo Fin,

In all honesty between the old and new Revell Eurofighter I'd go for the older kit. It's got a much better selection of weapons, details such as the underside vanes (tiny but very characteristic of a typhoon) and in all honesty there's no visible difference as far as I can see between them in terms of molding. They both share Revells canopy error that affects all of their Typhoon kits regardless of scale, which is to say the windscreen is too long and the canopy too short. In fact the new kit introduces a new canopy error in terms of the rear framing of the canopy, which is noticeably wrong. 

If you can stretch to it, I wouldn't recommend either but to go for the Hasegawa kit.

Hth, Ralph

[Space Ranger]

7 hours ago, Ralph said:

They both share Revells canopy error that affects all of their Typhoon kits regardless of scale, which is to say the windscreen is too long and the canopy too short. In fact the new kit introduces a new canopy error in terms of the rear framing of the canopy, which is noticeably wrong.

Does anyone make a correct canopy for these kits? I have one of each, and for that reason, would prefer not to spend even more money on a Hasegawa kit.

[Ralph]

Unfortunately no. Pavla do a vacuum  but it's just a copy of the kit one. I got around it by shortening windscreen by carefully sanding back the rear end  and then posing the canopy open. This hides the error very well. I am in the middle of finishing an Austrian typhoon in this way, so if I get it done any time soon I'll post pics. Ralph

[Navy Bird]

22 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

Does anyone make a correct canopy for these kits? I have one of each, and for that reason, would prefer not to spend even more money on a Hasegawa kit.

 

Sell the two other kits for beer money on eBay, and then buy the Hasegawa kit. You'll be glad you did.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Fin]

On 8/18/2021 at 9:13 PM, Ralph said:

If you can stretch to it, I wouldn't recommend either but to go for the Hasegawa kit

Thank you for your reply! Since you`ve touched the subject, how are the decals in this kit? I`ve never used Hasegawa`s decals up to now and I know many people prefer to avoid them. I`m trying to figure out if, in case I buy the Hasegawa kit as you recommend, I`d still need the old Revel kit for the decals. From what I`ve read, the Hasegawa Eurofighter has the minuses of a simplistic seat and engines in in-flight position only, but for those there are resin aftermarkets available.

[Ralph]

2 hours ago, Fin said:

Thank you for your reply! Since you`ve touched the subject, how are the decals in this kit? I`ve never used Hasegawa`s decals up to now and I know many people prefer to avoid them. I`m trying to figure out if, in case I buy the Hasegawa kit as you recommend, I`d still need the old Revel kit for the decals. From what I`ve read, the Hasegawa Eurofighter has the minuses of a simplistic seat and engines in in-flight position only, but for those there are resin aftermarkets available.

Hallo Fin 

The first thing I did with the Hase decals was to dump them and use the Revell decals! You can also get lots of aftermarket decals, particularly Xtradecal for RAF machines. As you note, the Hase kit needs the seat replacing (the Revel seats are excellent by the by) and I use the Pavla seats if memory serves. Reskit do excellent open exhausts if you want to it on the ground; if you are able to get hold of an original issue kit (they have red writing on the lower  left hand part of the box lid) then Hasegawa supplies a rather spiffing stand for displaying it in flight. Given that they also give you an up to date pilot (complete with the ' lumpy' helmet) it almost seems rude not to! Oh...and a final clinching thing....Hasegawa gves you all the pylons you need for an up to date airframe  including the centre line pylon needed for a Litening designator pod. Basically it's the way forward,!

Edited August 21, 2021 by Ralph

[hajt]

Hello

 

I was under the impression, that the newer kits would be the Tranch(e) 3 including the extra pylons that were missing from the original kit.

 

 

[Ralph]

13 hours ago, hajt said:

Hello

 

I was under the impression, that the newer kits would be the Tranch(e) 3 including the extra pylons that were missing from the original kit.

 

 

The newer Revell kit does have the shoulder pylons  associated with LGBs, but not the centre line pylon associated with laser designator pod carriage.  The Hase kit does have brimstone missiles and the associated adapter; source  aftermarket Litening Laser Designator Pod and Paveway IV LGB and you can do an operational Operation Shader a/c.

HTH, Ralph 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Ralph

[Fin]

22 hours ago, Ralph said:

Hallo Fin 

The first thing I did with the Hase decals was to dump them and use the Revell decals! You can also get lots of aftermarket decals, particularly Xtradecal for RAF machines. As you note, the Hase kit needs the seat replacing (the Revel seats are excellent by the by) and I use the Pavla seats if memory serves. Reskit do excellent open exhausts if you want to it on the ground; if you are able to get hold of an original issue kit (they have red writing on the lower  left hand part of the box lid) then Hasegawa supplies a rather spiffing stand for displaying it in flight. Given that they also give you an up to date pilot (complete with the ' lumpy' helmet) it almost seems rude not to! Oh...and a final clinching thing....Hasegawa gves you all the pylons you need for an up to date airframe  including the centre line pylon needed for a Litening designator pod. Basically it's the way forward,!

Thank you for that very useful summary! I`ve just bought open exhausts from ResKit for an F-16 F100-PW F-16 and I`m impressed by their details. I`d use theirs for the Eurofighter too. Unfortunately, I don`t know where to find Xtradecal items in mainland Europe. Post Brexit I`ve had only poor experiences with shipments from the UK. Do you judge the Hasegawa interior (seat aside) to be adequate without further aftermarkets?

 

Looking at the photos online I`m getting the impression that the old Revell kit is also short on missiles (only two ASRAAMs and four AMRAAMs) and pylons (not including the second from the tip on each wing) for an Air superiority configuration too.

[Ralph]

Hallo Finn,

The Hase cockpit is perfectly adequate in my opinion with the addition of a decent ejection seat. As far as ASRAAMs are concerned, you do get 4 in the Hase kit, but only two in the older Revel. It's really only QRA a/c that tend to carry four, so that's not really an issue. By the by, the Stirm Shadow missiles in the old Revel kit are much better than those in the Hase...there's something odd about the nose of the Hase Storm Shadows. I am going to use my Revel missiles on an in-flight Hase kit to model the first combat launch by a Typhoon during Op Shader.

That's a drag about ordering in from the UK at the moment...perhaps Ebay might have some?

Edit:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154573275333?epid=1436718143&hash=item23fd4900c5:g:d~AAAOSwDpBhG9Pv

Depending in where you are in Europe, Hannants are beginning to address issues in that regard.

Best  Ralph 

P.s. as well as buying the Typhoon exhaust,  I too have bought the F-16 PW 100 as well- very nice!

Edited August 22, 2021 by Ralph

[FZ6]

I think the newer Revell kit only comes with closed exhausts compared to optional ones on the older kit. The fit is a bit better on the newer kit. I can't remember if the Hasegawa kit comes with the opened exhausts. If I remember correctly as well, due to Revell only offering special schemes in the newer boxing. At least the one I bought, the older kit has a more extensive decal sheet with more options.

 

Avoid the Olimp resin exhausts as they are far too big and look like they are designed without offering them up to a kit!

 

Hope this helps,

 

Mark