Introduction

Concorde, the first and to date only supersonic airliner to go into regular service, the Russians built Conkordski but I do not believe it ever really got beyond a case of ‘what you can do so can we’, it did however fly before Concorde by a few months. I believe Concorde was one of those airliners that stuck in the memories of anyone who flew upon it and from my side saw it fly on a number of occasions. With all this said anyone who has been on one of the preserved Concorde’s has seen why being fast was at the cost of space and some extent comfort. This new release from Revell of Germany is a release of the Heller and AirFix offering in British Airways livery.

Contents

This product is packaged in a large and deep card tray and lid, I mention this as in these days of internet shopping this package would not hold up to some of the rough handling that we all know the post office can dish out.

Inside the box you will find;
11 white sprues
1 clear sprue
1 black sprue
1 silver sprue
1 vinyl rubber sprue
1 screw
2 metal pins
1decal sheet
An instruction booklet
An advisory notice

Review

First Impressions
When first opening the large box and looking through the contents I was more than a little disappointed in a number of the mouldings. There are some large ejector pin marks that will need attending to as they are in areas of the model that can be seen. There a also a number of shrink marks in some mouldings that will be very difficult to remedy due to being in recessed areas of the model, most notably the compressor fan area of the engines. Lastly the gates between the sprues and the mouldings are quite large and will require a lot of care when removing parts from the sprues without causing damage to the mouldings. One other thing I would have liked to see here is for the mouldings that are white to have been in light grey in order to make painting easier; however in fairness to Revell of Germany I believe this has been done to help out the younger modeller who may not have an airbrush with which to paint this rather large model.

Flight Deck
The flight deck is acceptable for a model of this scale with the limited amount that will be seen through the glazing area. The pilot and co-pilots seats are present as is the flight engineers seating position. The engineers monitoring panel is present with a reasonable level of moulded detail, alternatively the moulded detail could be sanded away and a decal that is supplied used instead. The pilot and co-pilots stations have been addressed in the same manner and for what it is worth I would take the decal route in this scale.

Cockpit Area Fuselage
The cockpit area of the fuselage has been provided as a separate moulding and so this area can be built ready for use when the rest of the model is ready. Looking at the nose section against reference images, the angle of the area looks wrong to me and I believe should slope down more from the rest of fuselage, I cannot say I am 100% correct in this but it is what I believe. The adjustable nose has been made workable on the model and this has been made to adjust both the nose and exterior glazing, depending on what it is you look for in a model this aspect could be a plus or a minus.

Fuselage
Moving onto the rest of the fuselage I was disappointed to see that no glazing for the cabin windows has been supplied with the model and while the windows are small I would have expected them to be included. Giving this some thought if you have some clear resin and heavy grade plastic sheeting you could secure the plastic sheet on the outside of the fuselage and pour in some clear resin from the back, if done carefully that should replicate the glazing. One other alternative which will not be as good would be to place clear plastic inside the fuselage. On the plus point of the fuselage I like the fact that there is plenty of bracing present to keep this large model well supported. The panel lines are recessed which is a good start, but they are a little on the large side. Interestingly the instructions actually show to fill the mating surfaces, which is a surprise.

Wings
Perhaps one of the best aspects of this model is the wings; the detail present on them is very good if a little heavy side. The shape looks good to my eyes, and other than filling should be a straight forward aspect of the model.

Tail
The tail section also looks a straight forward assembly and again the general outline appears correct to me. The only thing to be aware of that I can see is the need to clean up the inner area of the tail as otherwise getting the tail joined together cleanly may be difficult.

Undercarriage
The undercarriage legs look quite good due having a fair level of moulded detail present. This being a large model that if displayed on its undercarriage may put pressure on it there are metal pins to place inside the rear legs for added strength. The wheel wells are not in my good books due to ejector pin marks in the front bay which will be difficult to correct as sanding will be a pain. The tyres supplied with this kit are vinyl rubber which can upset some and please others. The wheels themselves are a little light on detail having no detail at all on the rear face.

The Engines
The engines look to be reasonably accurate to me as regards shape and form, but please remember my only reference is online pictures; I wish I had taken pictures of the example at Yeovilton when I had the opportunity. The first set of compressor fans are included and is where there is an issue as three of the fans have sink marks present, filling these marks is going to be near impossible with the fact that they are well back from the face being their only saving grace. The jet exhausts on the other hand are an area I like with what I believe are reverse thrust units present, that was news to me.

Display Stand
There is a very substantial display stand for the Concorde and I for one am glad of it. My reason for this is I do not like the look of the work needed to bring the undercarriage up to a spec that I would be happy with, another reason is that Concorde has such nice lines that I think showing the aircraft as it would look in flight is a must.

Decals
The decals supplied with this model are for a British Airways aircraft only and I would have liked to see the option of an Air France aircraft included. The decals themselves are a little on the thick side as I can feel them with my fingers while they are on the backing paper. With that said the decals look to be a very thorough job on what is present, the British Airways livery is of course the really important part and it looks to me to be well represented.

Conclusion

This model is not without its issues, issues that will bother the more demanding modeller for the most part. The sink marks are for me the biggest let down as regards production, and the lack of cabin windows is the let down as regards the model itself. On the plus side is the low cost of what is a very big model of an iconic airliner, and also a model that will despite its problems will bring a really big smile to a child’s face who likes models. Built from the box it will I feel look right and for those modellers who want more it will be a good place to start.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell