Carrera Revell NATO Tigermeet 60th Anniversary Gift Set (05671) 1/72 Revell

[Julien]

NATO Tigermeet 60th Anniversary Gift Set (05671)

1/72 Revell

 

 

NATO Tigers has historically been active since RAF 74 Sqn reformed in the early 1960s and they were in touch with the then USAF 79TFS at RAF Woodbridge. This initial meeting of Squadrons would lead to the first Tiger Meet in 1962 with eight Squadrons being invited.  These meets have continued every year all over Europe involving many different Units and Aircraft. They all in some way employ tiger markings, some subtle, and some not so! A full history of Tigermeets can be found here.  This boxing from Revell celebrates Tigermeets 60th Anniversary with both an F-16 and Tornado in a double boxing supplied with paints and glue.  

 

 

F-16

Here Revell have re-released their own tool kit which traces it's history back to 2000.  Up first the cockpit is built up. The 3 part seat is made up and the pilot added of you want to. The cockpit is added into the top fuselage insert. At the front of the fuselage the main engine intake is assembled and joined on, and the main gear bays go in. The fuselage sections can then be assembled,and at the rear the exhaust nozzle is also added. The tailplanes and ventral fins can also go on  at this stage. as well as the arrestor hook. Flipping back the nose the nose cone and front bird slicer IFF antennas go on. Following this we flip straight back to the tail and attach the tail assembly. Work now moves to the undercarriage. The main gear legs and their retraction struts go in, these are followed by the main gear doors and the wheels. At the front the nose gear leg and its retraction strut are added along with the nose well bay door.  To finish off the model a variety of small airframe fittings such as pitot tubes, nav lights blade antennas are added. If the canopy is to be posed open then the strut to open it needs to be fixed in to the frame in the middle of the canopy.  Pylons can be added. A wide array of stores are provided with this kit, however most of them wont be used. Having seen pictures of this aircraft from the Tigermeet they dont carry much to them

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tornado

This is Revell's own kit again, this is a nice kit with recessed panel lines and rivet details that are are beautifully restrained. The undercarriage legs feature hydraulic lines and the landing gear bays are just as nice. Construction begins with the four-part ejector seats. As is the case with the rest of the cockpit, these are excellent and make resin replacements a luxury. Revell provide decals for the instrument panels, but to be honest the raised detail on these parts is so nice that I would imagine many modellers will choose not to use them. The nose cone is one of the two (very) minor issues with this kit, as it doesn’t quite capture the shape of the real thing. It is slightly too pointed, although it looks convincing enough from most angles. As is the case with most kits of variable geometry aircraft, Revell have engineered the kit in such a way as to make the wings and horizontal stabilisers moveable once the kit is complete. Having built my Revell Tornado in this way, I can vouch that the system works well, although the moveable pylons are quite fiddly. Painting the model will certainly be easier with the wings fixed in place. Once the wings and tail planes are in place, the rear fuselage sub-assembly is complete and can be added to the forward fuselage. The rest of the build is fairly straightforward. The multi-part intakes are very nice, but will benefit from some blanking off otherwise it will be possible to see through to the back of the fuselage. Airbrakes can also be posed open or closed and, in keeping with the rest of the kit, are beautifully detailed. The undercarriage is also very nice, although the nose gear leg is a little too long (the second of the two minor issues with the kit) giving the aircraft a slight nose-up attitude. This can be fixed fairly easily though.

 

 

 

 

Decals

A new sheet of decals from Cartograf (so no issues there!) provides a single option for each aircraft. For the F-16 it is 31 Sqn Belgian Air Force, seen at the 2009 Tigermeet designed by Daco. For the Tornado it is for or a Tornado IDS painted in a commemorative scheme designed by Jörg Wingens for the 50th anniversary of AG51 and Tigermeet 2009, these decals designed by Syhart Decal.

 

 

Conclusion

These are both goo tool kits from Revell and despite thier age and many re-releases over the years the moulds seem to be holding up very well, the addition of a Tigermeet boxing is a good one. Again modellers will need to look at picture of the real thing to get it 100% accurate. Overall recommended. 

 

 

 

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[PhantomBigStu]

Would have been nice if Revell had included schemes they hadn’t issued before to make it but more appealing 

[Julien]

3 hours ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Would have been nice if Revell had included schemes they hadn’t issued before to make it but more appealing 

I think the whole point from Revell's point of view is to re-release what they already have, put it in a gift boxing for this time of year.

 

Makes more financial sense that way.

[PhantomBigStu]

18 hours ago, Julien said:

I think the whole point from Revell's point of view is to re-release what they already have, put it in a gift boxing for this time of year.

 

Makes more financial sense that way.

Yeah fair point for the bean counters probably the extra profit from potential sales like mine  isn’t worth the cost increase from getting Syhart to print some new ones.