Hi Guys
Anyone out there built the Revell Apache in 1/32. What was the kit like. Are panel lines raised or recessed. Is it worth buying

Hmmmmmm . . . . .


Well, I built one for out local airport about four or five years ago when they held an airshow and expected an Apache from the 82nd Airborne Division's aviation regiment to attend.


It represents a late production trials aircraft, minus many of the protruberances you'd see on any Apache these days. The kit comes with two pretty decent quad racks for Hellfires (a standard fit), two fair Hydra multi-shot rocket pods (also standard) and winglet-tip launcher rails for AIM-9L Sidewinders (not a service fit).

The cockpit is fairly decent, as is the raised rivet surface details, and the rotor head is pretty decent given the vintage of the kit (mid-1980's). Most if not all panel lines are recessed.

I interviewed a training officer/pilot with the 82nd's Apache unit (227th -- I think -- Aviation Battalion or Regiment -- someone feel free to correct me here) to figure some of the high points needing correction in the kit. Here's a short list for starters:

* The kit is missing every single cable cutter (they look like forward-swept blade antennae) from the nose sensor rig, upper canopy and main gear legs

* The Chain Gun turret is missing the protective "cage" from around the breech/receiver/drive assembly

* The dorsal "disco light" infrared jammer aft of the main rotor mast is missing

* The FM radio whip mast on top of the vertical fin is missing (a post Gulf War I addition, he said, because of lack of communication with ground troops when Apaches were hiding behind rises, trees, etc.

* Bumper pogo struts on the upper turbine nacelles are missing - they support the nacelle access panels when they're folded down against the stub wings

* "Holsters" for the clip-on, helmet-mounted monocle sight are mising from the bulkheads behind the pilot (rear) and gunner (front) seats

I'd taken some shots of a South Carolina ArNG post-Gulf Apache at NAS Norfolk back in 1998, and that bird had a chaff-flare dispenser unit mounted on a squat cylindrical mount on the port aft tail boom, forward of the horizontal stabilizer.

Also, to get a half-decent exhaust IR suppressor/exhaust unit, I had to scratchbuild each of the six ports from bent styrene tubing and sheet with brass mesh screens above and below the suppressors -- look at the exhaust units on the rear of the nacelles and you'll see the molded screens. There's supposed to be three narrow exhaust pipies under those screens. The pipe openings look like thin diamonds with rounded top and bottom points. They should have straight vertical sides with rounded tops and bottoms like this: 000


Overall, fit was pretty good and I did little detailing to the cockpit other than careful painting. A lot of the detailing to bring it up to standard does not mean major structural overhaul.

Other folks here could address more accuracy issues than I, since I had to bang mine together in four weeks. I'll try to get the airport manager to loan me the display case keys soon so I can post some photos.

HTH

Cheers for the info, much appreciated