How good are Revell's 1/72 F-104G and F-4F?

[SebastianP]

A good friend of mine just let me know that I should expect to receive the 1/72 Luftwaffe 60th anniversary gift set by Revell in the mail some time next week, which is a very pleasant surprise based on just the two kits out of four I know anything about...

 

The gift set contains a Eurofighter Typhoon single seater with an anniversary paint scheme; a Tornado IDS in what looks like standard colors; an F-4F Phantom II also in what looks like a standard color scheme; and an F-104G Starfighter, again in a standard color scheme. 

 

I know the Typhoon kit, I've built four or five of them total (single and twin seaters), and if it has a flaw it's that it needs another pair of missile rails so you can do the British QRA fit.

 

I also know the Tornado kit, having built both the IDS, ECR and GR.1 kits. The IDS kit which is included here is the weakest of the three (it's a ground/anti ship attacker that comes with neither ground attack or anti-ship ordnance, just jamming and buddy tanking pods....) but I have enough appropriate stores in my spares box to arm it up good and proper so I can't really complain. 

 

I would easily have paid the 30 euro pricetag for the anniversary gift set just to get these two alone since my local hobby shop wants 20 euro each for the normal versions, but the box contains four aircraft, not just two... and I know very little about the others.

 

The last (and only) F-4 Phantom I built was a Hasegawa 1/72 F-4J, the "new tool" kit which everyone at the time agreed was the absolute best kit of its subject in its scale. How does the F-4F kit compare to that?

 

And I haven't built an F-104 in nearly thirty years - my last one was I think either a Monogram or Minicraft one in 1/48, which me and a friend built and decaled without painting. I know nothing at all about modelling this jet. How good is the Revell kit, which appears to be a 1995 tooling? I couldn't find any reviews of it whatsoever in English, and I don't read either German or Dutch...

 

Thanks for the help, and happy modelling?

Edited March 8, 2018 by SebastianP

[Hajo L.]

The F-4F is nice, but suffers a bit from a flat canopy. The whole canopy should be more bulgeous, but it still looks good when built. If you open up the canopy, this flaw is not visible at all in my opinion.

 

The F-104G is a very nice kit and I´m looking forward to the re-release of it this year. You only have to be careful when mating the front part of the fuselage with the aft, since you may end up with a prominent gap between those two parts. Otherwise, I´d say you´re having a really nice friend if he sends you this set as a gift! :)

 

 

HAJO

[Hajo L.]

Here is a review of the F-4F at Britmodeller: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/59904-f-4f-phantom-ii-“anniversary”/

 

 

HAJO

[Dutch]

Revell has a twisted history of molding its own and reboxing other manufacturer's kits of F-4 Phantom IIs since the 1960s, including Hasegawa, Monogram, & Italeri.  However, most recently, Revell GMBH has kitted a very nice 1/72 RF-4E (04308) in 1997 and subsequently added new parts as the F-4F (04615) in 2000.  Both kits have been re-released three or four times in special markings since, most recently, last year for the F-4F (64685).  So I would venture that it is a version of this kit.  Here is a review.  Here is another review.

 

The F-104G Starfighter kit is a rebox of Revell GMBH's new mold F-104G from 1995 (04344).  Again, it as also highly regarded. 

 

[SebastianP]

24 minutes ago, Hajo L. said:

Otherwise, I´d say you´re having a really nice friend if he sends you this set as a gift! :)

 

 

HAJO

 

Yeah, he's the kind of friend people dream of having, and wonder how the hell they managed to deserve their friendship. This gift is actually on the low end, last year around this time I got a big red-and-white box in the mail because he decided I needed a Nintendo Switch, and knew I couldn't afford one. I did not *quite* have a heart attack, but it was close...

 

24 minutes ago, Dutch said:

Revell has a twisted history of molding its own and reboxing other manufacturer's kits of F-4 Phantom IIs since the 1960s, including Hasegawa, Monogram, & Italeri.  However, most recently, Revell GMBH has kitted a very nice 1/72 RF-4E (04308) in 1997 and subsequently added new parts as the F-4F (04615) in 2000.  Both kits have been re-released three or four times in special markings since, most recently, last year for the F-4F (64685).  So I would venture that it is a version of this kit.  Here is a review.  Here is another review.

 

The F-104G Starfighter kit is a rebox of Revell GMBH's new mold F-104G from 1995 (04344).  Again, it as also highly regarded. 

 

 

Yeah, I figured it would be the most modern kits. Revell is pretty good at discontinuing permanently kits for which new tooling have been acquired. You just have to pay attention to the copyright dates. The problem has been finding reviews in English, especially of the Starfighter, becaue Scalemates doesn't list a single English review for any boxing of the new-tool Revell F-104. 

[Gene K]

1 hour ago, Hajo L. said:

The F-4F is nice, but suffers a bit from a flat canopy.

 

It also "suffers" from poorly shaped and positioned intakes, the vertical stabilizer top is excessively sloped, and the tanks are too skinny and pointed, for starters.

 

The plastic, engraving, and engineering, however, are superb.

 

Gene K

 

[onosendai]

This is the Charly Revell, slightly lower than the Hase, however a good model imho.