Original kit manufacturer

[MajorTom2004]

Hi all, happy New Year

I opened an a box of an F/A-18 Revell Germany kit (04537) and found the following sprues:







'Clear' parts, which remind me rather of a yoghurt cup than a canopy :



And here you see, my cutting mat has more details than the kit parts :



Obviously, this is a re-box of an older kit.
I tried to find out who was the manufacturer, but had no luck, I checked
- the sprues and the parts
- scalemates
- cybermodeller
- and a lot of other forums
without any hint, what kind of kit this could be.

Does anyone of you have an idea, what original kit manufacturer this was?

Cheers

[Smiffy]

I'd take a guess at it being a rebox of the 80's vintage Monogram F/A-18A. Personally I'd take it back to where you purchased and request a refund as I doubt you'd have much luck getting replacement parts for the canopy from Revell.

[MajorTom2004]

I can't remember where it's from, it was still sealed, so I guess i have little chance to get a refund.
Why not try a mail to the service dept of Revell

[SteelScooter]

This is why you have to be so careful with Revell (and others eg Airfix) and check on Scalemates before you buy anything as they would rebox the equivalent of a chocolate Easter bunny if they could and sell it in a new looking package. Revell make some lovely kits but there are some real dog's eggs floating about in new boxes too.

You might be able to polish the canopies out and maybe build it anyway to practice a fancy livery or something.

[Avgas]

I built a new buy Airfix Sunderland for a friend and the fuselage halves had '1960' on them. Just a 57 year old mould then...

[Stokesy44]

I built a new buy Airfix Sunderland for a friend and the fuselage halves had '1960' on them. Just a 57 year old mould then...

Airfix are a little bit cheeky. Beautiful new box art but the kits can be ancient. Always look for the 'New Tool' reference with them or you could be on an odyssey back to the 70's or even earlier.

[dogsbody]

Caveat emptor!


Chris

[Stokesy44]

Caveat emptor!


Chris

We learn by doing. Once bitten twice shy is probably appropriate.

[schweinhund227]

Just use the kit as a Paint mule ! try dipping the canopy parts in Future or Alclad Aqua clear and see if they will come nice and clear again...

[MajorTom2004]

Well, I don't know yet what to, the kit doesn't seem worth any effort, to be honest....
Yes, I know the scalemate thing. I tried to dig a bit deeper, I found this kit was 'made' for the Swiss market only. There is another 'Swiss' Revell one (04874) which can be mixed up with 'my' kit, the newer one has at least decent reviews.

However, as Stokesy wrote, once bitten...

Thanks for all your thoughts and contributions. I still only have an idea which manufacturer must confess to be guilty of this kit

Cheers

[SteelScooter]

Here is a great example of what we are talking about. Revell's 2016 release 1/48 Stuka JU-87G-1.



https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1013707 ... a-ju-87g-1

Nothing on the box to tell you the kit's history. Turns out the sprues are from 1968. Oh well at least the decals wont be 50 years old.

[sheppsea]

Here is a great example of what we are talking about. Revell's 2016 release 1/48 Stuka JU-87G-1.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1013707 ... a-ju-87g-1

Nothing on the box to tell you the kit's history. Turns out the sprues are from 1968. Oh well at least the decals wont be 50 years old.

So, if I'm reading it right (I sometimes find the relationships between rows on Scalemates's timeline difficult to decipher), the old Revell Stuka is actually based on newer sprues (the 1994 Hasegawa)

[SteelScooter]

Here is a great example of what we are talking about. Revell's 2016 release 1/48 Stuka JU-87G-1.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1013707 ... a-ju-87g-1

Nothing on the box to tell you the kit's history. Turns out the sprues are from 1968. Oh well at least the decals wont be 50 years old.

So, if I'm reading it right (I sometimes find the relationships between rows on Scalemates's timeline difficult to decipher), the old Revell Stuka is actually based on newer sprues (the 1994 Hasegawa)

No you follow the line, in this case up to the Monogram row and all the way to the left to 1968. No way that plastic is Hasegawa This is why it is so frustrating, you go into a model shop to buy a Revell Stuka and you don't know if it is Monogram or Hasegawa or even, God forbid, Revell.

[digger303]

Sometimes if you closely check the copyright or patent date it will give you a clue to how old the kit is.