1/72 Revell Eurofighter Typhoon

[Lancer512]

I thought I'ld give myself a try with the 2007 issue of the Revell Eurofighter Typhoon. The kit was originally released in 2003 as the double seater and was issued as the single seater in 2007 with a different cockpit and canopy. I've heard it is difficult to build, but hey... where is the challenge if every kit would just fall together?

 

 

 

I will be using part of the Eduard Zoom set. As I am not a watchmaker, I will not be using the small parts. It would be nice if Eduard would include a picture or something how the finished product would look like. Especially on the seat, there is a lot of guesswork required to figure out how the photoetch parts should be bent and placed on the parts.

Decals are from the polish company Model Maker, whoch produced a sheet for the 10th anniversary of the Eurofighter in german service.

 

 

 

As expected with a Revell kit that is a new relase since the last 15 years, detail is of the recessed type. However, it is very softly moulded. On this kit, I've there is a lot of flash, which requires sanding of the almost every part. I've got three more kits in my stash, but I haven't checked them if is is just a worn out mold. Revell issued a new tooled kit just recently, and from what I've heard it was because of the old mold being worn. 

 

I started with the cockpit tub and the seat. All detail from the side panels and instruemnt panel was removed, as this will be replaced by the pre-painted photoetch parts.

I've used Tamiya NATO Black and Mr.Hobby RLM 82 for the seat and RLM 75 for the cockpit interior surfaces.

 

 

 

While the paint was drying, I testfitted the fuselage. The first thing I've noticed was, that the vertical tail was bent on both halves. When I joined the two halves, I noticed even more warping of the complete fuselage.

 

 

 

Once the lower fuselage is joined with the upper half, the warpage of the fuselage is gone. Actually, the fit is not too bad, then.

However, after removing all ejector pin marks from the inside of the wings, the upper wing halves now have a large gap on the wing root. This is caused by the warped fuselage pulling itself inwards. It seems like the is some internal structure required, or I'll have to force the fuselage outward while glueing it to the upper wings. This will be interesting, as the only opening to the inside of the fuselage is from the rear. I've also noticed two large sink marks on the elevons of each wing, which require attention.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2017 by Lancer512

[Lancer512]

I glued the photoetch parts to the cockpit. It really makes a difference. The camera is enlarging every flaw, so it looks worse than it actually appears.

 

 

 

In the meantime, I've looked if I could assemble any subassemblies, but there is not much to be assembled on the side beside the wingtip ECM pods, intake and the main wheels. This model will not carry and weapons, so there is nothing to assemble there, either. Just the two fuel tanks.

 

[Lancer512]

The subassemblies had very little flash and the fit was exeptionally good. On the wings, I've applied liquid putty to the sinkmarks on the control surfaces. I've also noticed some sinkmarks in the shape of the wheel bay walls on the upper surface. This was taken care of, too. The intake consists of two parts, resulting in a very pronounced seam. This seam was filled with liquid putty, too. I'll let the putty dry overnight and hopefully, it sands to a seamless and very smooth finish.

 

 

I was also testing the fit of fuselage halves, Intakes and lower wing mated together. I've gotten rid of most of the gap on the wing root that was there before. There is a small step where the flight controls are, which had a very little amount of flash. Once the flash was carved away, fit was much better. The upper wings were also touching the wheel wells on the lower wing. Some sanding took care of that.

I guess I'll install the intake in the reverse sequence from what the instructions say. But more on that later. I am confident that this model will be ready for priming by the end of the week. Joining the main parts is time consuming due to the warpage of the fuselage. With careful test fitting and knowing which glue to use where and when, I guess most of the seams can eliminated.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Lancer512

[stevehnz]

Nice going on this. I've also got one of these reputed to be unbuildable kits, I'll be looking out for tips as to how to reverse the inevitable.

Steve.

[Lancer512]

Thank you, Steve! This is exactly the intention of this build. Don't hesitate to post any questions here, should you have any.

 

The wings were filled, sanded and checked for flaws with Tamiya paint. Any flaws were again filled and sanded...

Well, just the standard procedure.

 

 

 

The instructions call for about 20g of weight just in front of the cockpit. No idea if they were intending to use depleted uranium, as there is no way to fit 20g in front of the instrument panel. I've been able to get a total of about 14g (1/2 oz) lead into the radome and in front and below the cockpit tub. My feeling is that is is way too much. But now it's in there. I was using PVA gue (Gator Grip) to attach the lead weight, as it stays flexible and has a good bond on the metal. Nothing should come loose, there.

 

 

 

The intake is smooth and seamless after sanding with a sanding sponge and a coat of Tamiya paint, which acts as a primer.

 

 

 

The final photoetch parts have been glued to the seat. Still have to do some touch up and drybrushing of the black areas of the seat. The cockpit tub was also installed to the left hand side of the fuselage and adjusted to fit the other half. I guess I will start joining the two halves from the front and slowly working to the rear. Seat and stick will be the last things to be added to the model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stevehnz]

This forum needs a LIKE button, I'd give this a LIKE like a shot. Oh & a smiley face emoticon, it'd get one of them too.

Steve.

[Lancer512]

The upper fuselage has been joined without any noticeable warpage. First, Tamiya Extra Thin was applied to the upper joint in front of the instrument panel and on the forward bulkhead. The parts were held together with clothes pins, as can be seen in the previous picture.

Next, I put the fuselage on the lower wing and made sure that everything is seated correctly. Then I glued the remaining fuselage together in the following sequence, with about two to four hours between each step to allow the glue to fully dry:

 

- Seam on top of central fuseage

- Seam below the cockpit

- Radome

- The spine was installed from the rear towards the front. The last piece of the spine was the closed speedbrake, which required some sanding and scraping to get a proper fit.

- At the very last, I glued the vertical tail together.

 

The center of gravity of the fuselage is now located just a tick in front of the engine inlet lip. I guess the 15 Grams were massively too much, but that is still five Grams short of what the instructions say. I guess half of what the instructions say is about OK with part of ballast in the radome.

Interestingly, there was almost no warpage of the tail once the fuselage was slowly brought into it's intended shape.

 

On the pictures below, the complete intake is also dry fitted into the fuselage. The sink marks on the wing have been filled and sanded and are virtually nonexistent.

 

 

 

 

[JackMan]

Will be watching this. I'm planning to use those exact same decals on my Revell Typhoon too.  Great progress so far

[Lancer512]

Thank you!

 

I had to apply very small amounts of Mr. Surfacer 500 to a few spots on the fuselage seams, which have alredy be sanded on this picture. The speedbrake took a lot of sanding to blend it into the fuselage shape and then there were some gaps visible. This is the third application of Mr. Surfacer to the speedbrake. I've also closed the holes for the PIRATE sensor, which is not used by the German Air Force.

 

I've also drilled open the APU exhaust and used a needle file to bring the round hole into the correct shape. The hole was then closed from the inside with a small piece of styrene.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by Lancer512

[Lancer512]

Did some more sanding on the speedbrake tonight.

 

That all the tools I've used. Okay.. the brush to apply the Mr. Surfacer is missing. But nothing else exept some thin sanding sticks. They work really good on the Mr. Surfacer.

 

 

 

And a close up picture of the blended in speedbrake.

 

 

 

 

[Lancer512]

As I am working myself slowly forward, I've found a rather bad step on the panel that covers the aft cockpit tub, which will be visible under the closed canopy. I'll be doing to canopy in the open position, but still it bothers me. I rather spend some more time with these little jobs instead of always knowing that I could have done it better. The door for the refueling probe door on the right hand side of the windscreen was messed up by myself, as I've put tape over the fresh glue. So that had to be taken care off with Mr. Surfacer, too. As I am now happy with the fuselage, I can start to join the fuselage with the wing.

 

 

 

The lower part of the intake was installed into the fuselage. The instructions say to glue it to the lower wing, but I believe I will have a better fit if I do it this way.

 

 

[Lancer512]

The engiens were installed as the book says. This is the first model where I actually have to install the exhaust nozzles before closing the fuselage.

This took some amount of time to get everything right. Dryfitting is very important, here. Once the afterburner cans were installed at the very last, I dry fitted the fuselage to the wing (again), and noticed that the fuselage is about 0.25 mm (0.010") too narrow aft of the wing. I needed something to push the fuelage outward, so I made a small modification with the left over sprue of the kit, as seen just in front of the afterburner cans. The rods and fillets are only attached to the fuselage, so they can move freely with the fuselage sides. I will fit a piece styrene between the two rods, which hopefully pushes the fuselage outward just enough. Once that is good, I will glue the complete modification to the afterburner cans, which will give it a lot of strength.

 

[Lancer512]

Today, I finally mated the wing to the fuselage.

As envisioned, I was able to make the fuselage with my modification wider. Interestingly, I didn't have to adjust, sand or insert anything else, as the 3/16" square styrene fitted exactly with the required oversize. That made things a lot simpler and I only had to cut it to length. So I simply made a cube, and glued everything to the afterburner cans.

 

 

 

As you can see, the upper fuselage now fits much better. The step is almost gone (yes, it is still there, barely noticeable). It is the same on both sides of the fuselage. I'll try to sand it away later. You can also see the Mr. Surfacer I've applied to get of the aft seam. I will add a second coat, and that should be adequade to sand the seam flush.

 

 

 

This is how the real thing looks like:

 

 

 

Next, was the most difficult area of the model: I had to file and carve away a good amount of plastic to get the wings fit around these boxes on both sides. This area was left untouched without glue while I was attaching the wings to the fuselage. After 6 hours to allow for the glue to dry, I applied Tamiya Extra Thin to the the seams around the boxes. The hot glue melted the sorrounding plastic and closed most of the gaps. The gaps that were still visible, were closed with streched sprue and Extra Thin. The usual coat of Mr. Surfacer followed.

 

 

 

While the Mr. Surfacer was drying, I've installed the upper wing halves and let everything dry. As you can see on the next picture, the seam on the right hand wing (on the left in this picture) is perfect, while on the left hand wing, there is a seam visible. But that is acceptable and can be taken care of. The grey paint on the wings was used for checking flaws after filling the sink holes on the wings. This was lightly sanded away where the seams are.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by Lancer512
Added picture of a real jet

[Silenoz]

Nice build.. and a very good how to... thx

[Lancer512]

I've applied two brush-coats of Mr. Surfacer to the gap on the left wing and sanded everything smooth.

 

 

 

The same was done to the seam on the bottom of the wings. For the leading edge, I've used liquid putty (thinned 3M Acryl Blue) just to see which is better. Don't forget to apply glue to the wheels wells in the wings. Otherwise it will sound as if something is loose or about to break off.

 

 

 

Seam checking time! Every seam was painted with XF-19 to check for visible seams. Now I can still see the gap on the right hand wing root wing. This was the better seam before. Not sure If I am going to fill the right hand gap, or rescribe the left hand seam. Otherwise I am quire happy how everything turned out! Just some minor things to take care of.

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by Lancer512

[Lancer512]

The sanding and filling job took longer than expected. However, I was able to get rid of the step on the aft fuselage. I just took some light filing with a round needle file. I am not going to rescripe anyting there, as the detail is too delicate. And I am not sure about that wing root seam. I can't find it anymore where it should be. So I guess I'll just use a mechanical pencil to simulate the seam after painting

 

 

 

 

I just rescribed some lost detail on the wings and rescribed the speed brake (not shown). There was a difference in height between the lower wings and the leading edges. So I just blended in the leading edges until the grey paint was taken off both parts. All paint has been washed of with Isopropyl alcohol after that. The gaps in the wheel wells were filled with liquid styrene and left overnight to self-level itself.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lancer512]

I am about to get eveything ready for priming.

I've installed the photeoetch parts for the HUD. Before the forward canopy ist attached, I still have to install the glass, which is clear acetate film.

 

 

 

And Revell did it AGAIN! The windshield ist too long! Just compare the two pictures below. For some reason, they are unable to get their canopies correct. I'm not going to bother trying to sand the windshield to the correct shape. Although it wouldn't be noticeable, as I will diplay the model with the canopy open.

Now I have to look for aftermarket canopies for the other four remainig Typhoon kits in my stash. Just checked the clear parts of the new tooled Revell kit, it appears to be the same there, too.

 

 

 

 

The other parts that will be primed. The gear door actuators and the four vanes that go on the bottom just aft of the radome are too small and are still kept safe on the sprue.

 

Edited February 18, 2017 by Lancer512

[JackMan]

Bummer about the windshield. But at least that's a heads-up for the rest of us who have the kit in our stash. Good progress so far

Edited February 18, 2017 by JackMan

[Silenoz]

nice progress and real bummer... isn't it an option to make a wooden negative model and form your own one with some clear packaging? I only did this for 1/144 and it works good:

 

 

 

 

[Kingoalie]

I've been silently following your progress and taking notes for my two-seat Eurofighter build.

 

When compared to the pictures that canopy frame is indeed too far aft, which is unfortunate. Might a work around be to display the canopy open and sand down the windscreen to a more proper length? Does anyone know if the Pavla vac canopy suffers from the same issue?

[Lancer512]

I thought about it, but the kit canopy will be okay on this build, as I've already spoiled the first windshield. I really need to get this model done, otherwise the chance that this model will become a hangar queen is very high. As I am a seasonal modeler, I will do very little to no modeling from April until September.

 

But I can still use the spoiled canopy to make a vacuform mold and practice making canopies, as shown on this russian modeling webite. But I really had a hard time trying to understand what he did, as I don't speak russian and Google Translate only got half of it. However, once I understood what and why he did it like this, I had a really big grin on my face, as I just opened another box of secrets.

Edited February 20, 2017 by Lancer512

[Lancer512]

Okay guys... I've changed my mind. Disregard the first half of the above post. The windshield was attached with Tamiya Extra Thin, which is why I had a mishap with the first canopy. Good I have enough kits in the stash. The second conopy went on the same. Once that was completely dry overnight,I sanded away about 2mm of the windshield. With the canopy open, it is still acceptable. Any gaps on the fuselage joint of the canopy were then sealed with Micro Kirstal Clear, which was then removed with the wet cotton swab method. The Kristal Clear is still white in the picture.

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by Lancer512

[Lancer512]

With the small modification on the windshiled, I went ahead and primed the model. I am now where I wanted to be two days ago.

The canopy was primed with black Stynylrez first, and then the grey colored primer went on.

 

 

[Lancer512]

I am having a hard time finding the correct colors for this model. In fact, this has been a problem for me with the previous build, too.

I've fist had painted the model with Mr. Hobby FS35237, as the real jet is painted in. However, the color appeared too dark, and did not have that distinct blue hue to it.

 

So I went ahead and did some testing. I've ended up with a mix of FS 35237, RLM 78 and white, in equal amounts. The paint jar in the middle is FS35237.

 

Edit: As of now, the model has been stripped of all paint down to the bare plastic. I was not happy with the grey.

 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by Lancer512

[JackMan]

On 2/25/2017 at 9:27 PM, Lancer512 said:

...FS35237, as the real jet is painted in.....I was not happy with the grey.

 

 

Britmodeler forum states that the German Eurofighters were indeed painted in FS35237.  Have you tried other options such as Lifecolor French Blue Grey:

http://www.bnamodelworld.com/bmz_cache/9/9221cd8048e1488b06988623ab86d6f6.image.821x950.jpg

 

Italeri Acrylic Paint Set:

Modern USAF / US Navy Aircraft (not sure if you can buy the FS35237 separately):

http://www.bnamodelworld.com/bmz_cache/4/4b75a2b28a1c8fda91f84a78a1f38300.image.800x237.jpg

 

Ammo Mig:

http://www.bnamodelworld.com/ammo-of-mig-jimenez/a-mig-210

 

Vallejo:

https://www.phk.sk/www-phk-sk/eshop/2-1-Modelarska-chemia/73-3-Acrylove-farby/5/2924-Vallejo-71114-Medium-Grey-US-Blue-Grey-FS35237

 

I believe MM (ModelMaster) makes that color too..if you're into non-acrylic paints.

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by JackMan