Revell Tornado ‘Black Panther’ 1:72

Review by: Geoff Coughlin (Feb 2012)

Our thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. 

A bit of inspiration and reference…

The Revell Kit

This is another impressive package from Revell, a re-release of the 1998 kit (from the date stamp on the sprues) plus new decals.

The four main black sprues feature recessed panel lines, looking restrained in this scale plus a look and feel of high quality moulding, with parts crisp and sharp.

The black plastic is a bit of a double-edged sword, on the one hand being hard to work with and difficult to see clearly what you’ve been doing on the build, yet I guess it’s helpful for the base colour of your model, though that benefit is only marginal.

Box and Contents

The Revell box artwork is again impressive enough; an image of a German Luftwaffe Tornado IDS sporting the incredible Black Panther special markings.

Let’s go inside…

The black sprues are packaged well and no damage is apparent. Taking the main components first, they are well tooled, recessed panel line detail and have a quality feel that isn’t too heavy for the scale.

No distortion was apparent and a dry fit of the fuselage promises a decent fit; the initial impression is one of a lot of detail parts that will go to make up an impressively large model in 1:72 scale. The option for raised IFR probe is a nice touch. I haven’t built this kit before, but it looks good from the parts supplied.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images.

Cockpit and Interior

These are definite highlights of the model with bulkheads, seats, floor and rear seating, all of which are well detailed.

The option to open the rear cabin doors and reveal the detailed interior is also a positive feature. Decals are available on the decal sheet to add to the instrument panels in the cockpit, although the raised detail is impressive.

Engine Cans

These will look good under some Alclad2 metallic paint and a good opportunity to add some of their ‘Hot Metal’ colours in the process.

Undercarriage Units

Impressively detailed units are supplied. These will be highly visible on your finished model, as is typical of the type.

Stores

The main items included are the wing drop tanks and a pair of AIM-9Ls, plus other stores as you can see in the close-up images above.

Nose Weight

I’m not sure if you need this, but it will be as well to look for an opportunity to add some somewhere around the forward area to avoid the risk of a tail-sitter.

Clear Parts

The clear parts look clear and the canopy/windscreen is provided as a two-piece moulding. The Miniature Detonating Chord (MDC) is subtly moulded into the main canopy section.

Instructions and Decals

The Revell instructions follow their usual exploded stages format. Location of parts is clear but colour paint coding is for Revell paints only. You’ll have to match your own choice of paints if you go elsewhere for your choice of colour.

The build sequence is pretty standard and logical, but many modellers will part company with the stated order to suit their experience. This may well be the case with the forward to centre-fuselage section join; planning will be the key here.

The decals look to be good quality:

• Tornado IDS 45+51 “50 Years Nato Tiger Meet” AG-51, Cambrai AB (F) June 2011

Stencil detail is also provided and is almost always well worth adding, even in 1:72 scale to add additional interest to your completed model. All the colours are in register and colour density looks impressive and carrier film limited, so I wouldn’t expect any problems with application.

Conclusion

This is a good subject and will provide all helo fans with an opportunity to expand their collection to include an important European type.

The inclusion of different colour schemes on Revell’s decal sheet is attractive and the model itself looks to be well engineered, both at first glance and from the dry/test-fit. Moulding is good and the panel detail perfectly reasonable for current 1:72 scale kits.

Highly recommended for all scale modellers.

Geoff C.