Stealth aircraft

Jun 12, 2006 5 Replies
J

Having recently finished reading "Skunkworks", I feel inspired to build models of the SR-71 and F-117. Because I am not usually a jet aircraft modeller, my knowledge of the available model kits on these subjects is quite limited.



Of the readily available 1:72 kits (my preferred scale), the SR-71 is represented by Academy, Hasegawa, Italeri and Revell. The choices for the F-117 are Academy, Hasegawa, Italeri, Revell and Tamiya.



I'm assuming there may be some cross-kitting between manufacturers here, so the choice may not be as broad as it appears.



Would anyone like to give their comments on these choices? Please note that value-for-money is my primary interest here. I am not a rivet counter and I do not build for contests, so all I want is a nice representation of these aircraft on my shelf for a modest cost and a fairly hassle-free and enjoyable OOB build.



Thanks in advance.



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For the sake of completeness add Monogram to the list of 1/72 Blackbirds. Don't know how it stacks up quality wise or if it has cycled thru the Revell catalog lately, but they made one and it is relatively easy to find online.

The Mono kit came with some sort of drone IIRC.

WmB

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J

The current-issue Revell kit is the old Monogram mould. It's good for OOB building, certainly the best of the lot for fit and buildability.

And the drone is wrong for an SR-71. You need to give it a nose job to make it into an M-21 to make the drone accurate. Either that or get two kits and hang the drones from a B-52.

Getting back to the F-117 question, the best kit is the Academy. The Testors doesn't have the upturned exhaust and the weapons bay doors are backwards.

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M

By all means avoid the ancient Revell SR-71 kits. Collectibles, yes; builders, no. As WmB says, the new Revell kit is the old Monogram and I liked building it. I also enjoyed Italeri's rendition of the YF-12. They both seemed accurate but whether they were I can't testify.

I built the Testors F-117 but it wasn't overly complicated nor apparently 100% accurate.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

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U

There is a very comprehensive review of the different SR-71 kits at

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In summary, the recent Revell releases of the Monogram kit is the way to go. I built a re-release of the Monogram kit and the only real issue was the poor quality decals. The Revell releases have much better decals.

Cheers Ultan

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J

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

Sounds like the current Revell listing is the way to go for the SR-71.

I notice that it falls into about the middle of the price range - around the same price as the Italeri, a little cheaper than Hasegawa but about twice as expensive as Academy.

I see that Hasegawa have a "Skunkworks" boxing of their F-117.

Cheers all, James.

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