Revell 1/72 Hunter FGA9

Guess what would happen if a small independent company ever produced a model of the Blue Pullman? 'Hornby' [sic] would exhume the old Triang version from its grave, dump it on the market at exactly half the price of their rival and then claim they had been planning to release it all along despite endless claims to the contrary over the years. It's amazing how fast funds can be found to finance a new version of an old model once a rival has joined the fray. "Monkey see, monkey do" school of marketing I call it.

(kim)

i think monkey eat monkey is more accurate. big monkeys especially.

It may be that Quickboost don't need to sell a great many castings to make a profit and, if so, they may have sold enough before the announcement of the FGA9 to cover their costs.

I notice that they have now produced a clear resin camera nose to allow the Revell Hunter to be converted to a FR10. This is easier if the FGA9 is used as a basis so it is quite possible that Quickboost were aware of the intention to produce this version. I've ordered the camera nose and the kit as I've fancied a FR10 for years.

Gordon McLaughlin

I have a camera nose from the FAA Models GA11 conversion set. I was going to use a Quickboost rear fuselage to make an FR10 in IV Sqn markings but I was attempting to source some 230 gallon tanks. Apparently they will be available in the Revell FGA9 so that is where the Revell kit really scores.

Not that this has anything to do directly with the kit but I caught some of a TV tour of the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum tonight. I had no idea that they had a Swiss Hunter, J-4061, IIRC. The tour was actually 10 years old and they were talking about making it legally flyable. Of course, they also thought they'd have the P-61 flying by 2000.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Enzo,

You asked about the markings in the FGA9 kit. Apparently, they are 79 Squadron, the Tactical Weapons Unit and a Swiss Mk58.

For an early review of sorts, see here:

> It may be that Quickboost don't need to sell a great many castings to

Thanks Gordon. That shows the decal sheet, which is exactly what I needed to know. It's slightly disappointing in that the RAF roundels included are the lo-vis style. These were only used during the very late part of the Hunter FGA9's career. Far more typical is the red/white/blue Type D roundel. That's not an insurmountable problem but it would have been nice to have suitable roundels for earlier schemes readily available in the kit (although it's hard to imagine where they could fit on the sheet). 79 Sqn certainly used aircraft with Type D roundels.

But that's typical, isn't it? I'm never satisfied! :-D

I agree that the markings are disappointing. The Hunter looks far better in Type D and these are pretty much training schemes anyway. I'm not a great fan of the FGA9 for some reason. The earlier marks seem to represent the classic Hunter period better. I'd love to see Revell issue a F4 but I'm not optimistic.

After reading other postings on the Britmodeller forum, I'm beginning to regret buying the Quickboost camera nose. I don't know if you saw the other Hunter postings but one of the contributors has done a FR10 conversion by modifying the kit nose parts and it looks better than the resin part. I might try it. I intend to use markings for a 2 Sdn aircraft (II(AC) Squadron to give it its Sunday name).

Gord>> Enzo,

An hour's work will convert the F6 to the F4 (and earlier versions). Xtradecal provides everything else that one would need - including some quite controversial colour schemes.

IV(AC) Sqn for me. I served on Happy Four so that will be a theme in my collection.