Revell 1/48 Eurofighter Typhoon
Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 8:01 pm
So a while ago I started this kit as I had just finished the Revell 1/48 FA/18E Super Hornet and fancied doing another modern aircraft. I had read about the fit issues associated with this kit, mainly around the intakes and the main spine. So I purchased Heritage Aviations resin intake replacement. With hindsight I may as well have made the kit parts fit as it would have been less work! But you live and learn and it gave me a chance to practice filling tricky bits.
Lets take a look at where the kit stands just now
The Martin Baker seats are painted. I don't understand why the seatbelt arrangement is different on each seat, but hey ho. I am also not a fan of the molded on seatbelts, especially since the lapbelts are missing. But I am not going to add these as frankly I am not fussed. I tried making PE seatbelts for an ejection seat once and it did not go well, so they are not really an option, so they will just have to stay missing.
The cockpit tubs are painted and installed. I don't think its very obvious in these pictures, but the display glass is black with a heavy layer of Clear Green and then gloss varnish over the to to give a slight green tinge to the screens, which will be turned "off" as the plane will be on the ground.
I added a little touch of detail to the main gear bays. There was already a bit of pipework and ribbing detail there but I added some wiring from strands of picture wire just to add some interest.
The wings
The burner cans. I have some of the AK Extreme metal range and so I intend to use these on the exhausts, so I am looking forward to that.
This is as she stands (the main wing section is just taped on for now until I have completed the filling and sanding on the main fuselage). I didn't have any real fit issues with the spine section, perhaps this is less of an issue on the twin seat version since the spines are different, I don't know. There are two locating lugs on the spine on either side and I removed these as they did seem to be stopping the spine from sitting down properly, but once they were removed only a small swipe of filler was needed.
Now onto the main bugbear, the resin intake section. This required surgery on the plastic kit as it replaces not just the intakes but parts of the fuselage as well. The part itself is nicely cast and holds nice detail but was generally too narrow across the front section to fit in the space on the fuselage, hence lots of filling to actually make up material such that the right width was gained. I think I am more or less there now and the Greenstuff putty has been sanded back and a layer of Mr Surfacer 1000 put over which I will sand back to check overall smoothness. If satisfied then I can scribe in panel lines in the filler where needed and fingers crossed that's that!
Once that's done then I can stick the lower wings on, fill any gaps associated with that, then the top wings, again fill any gaps then the main build is done. I can then start putting the small details onto the fuselage, build up the undercarriage, weapons etc. I will be doing this as an RAF aircraft. The decals in the kit look ok, but some are out of register a bit, which is odd for a newish Revell kit as usually their decals are quite good. I think most I need to use will be ok though.
Thanks for looking, and let me know your thoughts!
Lets take a look at where the kit stands just now
The Martin Baker seats are painted. I don't understand why the seatbelt arrangement is different on each seat, but hey ho. I am also not a fan of the molded on seatbelts, especially since the lapbelts are missing. But I am not going to add these as frankly I am not fussed. I tried making PE seatbelts for an ejection seat once and it did not go well, so they are not really an option, so they will just have to stay missing.
The cockpit tubs are painted and installed. I don't think its very obvious in these pictures, but the display glass is black with a heavy layer of Clear Green and then gloss varnish over the to to give a slight green tinge to the screens, which will be turned "off" as the plane will be on the ground.
I added a little touch of detail to the main gear bays. There was already a bit of pipework and ribbing detail there but I added some wiring from strands of picture wire just to add some interest.
The wings
The burner cans. I have some of the AK Extreme metal range and so I intend to use these on the exhausts, so I am looking forward to that.
This is as she stands (the main wing section is just taped on for now until I have completed the filling and sanding on the main fuselage). I didn't have any real fit issues with the spine section, perhaps this is less of an issue on the twin seat version since the spines are different, I don't know. There are two locating lugs on the spine on either side and I removed these as they did seem to be stopping the spine from sitting down properly, but once they were removed only a small swipe of filler was needed.
Now onto the main bugbear, the resin intake section. This required surgery on the plastic kit as it replaces not just the intakes but parts of the fuselage as well. The part itself is nicely cast and holds nice detail but was generally too narrow across the front section to fit in the space on the fuselage, hence lots of filling to actually make up material such that the right width was gained. I think I am more or less there now and the Greenstuff putty has been sanded back and a layer of Mr Surfacer 1000 put over which I will sand back to check overall smoothness. If satisfied then I can scribe in panel lines in the filler where needed and fingers crossed that's that!
Once that's done then I can stick the lower wings on, fill any gaps associated with that, then the top wings, again fill any gaps then the main build is done. I can then start putting the small details onto the fuselage, build up the undercarriage, weapons etc. I will be doing this as an RAF aircraft. The decals in the kit look ok, but some are out of register a bit, which is odd for a newish Revell kit as usually their decals are quite good. I think most I need to use will be ok though.
Thanks for looking, and let me know your thoughts!
keep up the great work.
Looks like this one is fighting you a bit!