RVHP Gulfstream IV. Any good, or a PITA?

[swimmer25k]

I’m a fan of the G4 and have built one of the RVHP Guardrails.  Is the RVHP G4 a nice build experience or a $150 pile of regret?

 

Thanks

 

Chris

[VADM Fangschleister]

There are a couple of reviews out there of RVHP kits.  They seem more dedicated to actual fidelity than *ahem* Anigrand.   Minor complaints range from an errant bubble in a critical area to the vac-formed clear parts being very thin.  But for an actual modeler with some bit of cleverness, these are not major issues.  Not shake & bake kits by any means and you'll spend as much time with files, sanding sticks and putty/superglue as you will with paint and decals. 

 

For me, if you don't mind indulging me, a "good" kit is almost anything that has the correct shapes and outlines.  To me, that's the hard part.  Granted, surface detail, panel lines, pose-able parts, etc add to the fun but if the basic shape is wrong and needs correcting, that's kind of inexcusable.  I still have Anigrand's Jetstar in a box, 30% complete and another box filled with correctly-shaped tailcones that I made when it was pointed out what a bad copy the model was.  Then Mach 2 re-kitted the exact same problems in injection-molded plastic.

 

Back onto the original subject, the RVHP kits look far superior to the vac kits and other examples of biz-jets I've seen.  Their Lear 35 is also reviewed by Hyperscale, I think and turns out very nicely.  I'm sure the G-IV would be pretty excellent....but be advised, no interiors (generally) save for a couple cockpit seats and rudder pedals molded to the floor, along with a cockpit divider and aft bulkhead.  Fashioning an interior might work if you can carve putty and make seats, etc.  Folding tables isn't that hard and using decals of wood paneling might work inside, if you were to pose the model with the door open. 

 

Also, the metal landing gear has been replaced with resin...but...you may find an existing kit that still has the pot-metal gear.   Probably a crap-shoot on that.  In 1/72, I'm guessing it would be about 9 to 11 inches long? 

 

For the record, I am collecting existing display models in 1/50 scale to make detailed resin or printed kits of biz jets.  It's nowhere near anything one would call "production"....More of a "glimmer" in my eye.  But since the late 50's and the advent of business jet aviation, there are now lots of subjects to model.