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Any news on the Revell super hornet?


ClumsyDude

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Yes. The test shot trees shown at the last IPMS/USA National Convention had parts for the E, F and G on them. It became obvious Revell would release all three versions. When they actually release them is another matter! :)

Outstanding Dave!

A good friend of ours just asked me to build a two-hole Super Hornet for her brother in law - he just carrier qualified on the bird and she wants me to build it for him at some point!!

Looking fwd to that!

Cheers

Alan

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I have had a closer look at an assembled prototype at the Revell booth during Nuremberg Toy Fair. I am hugely disappointed to say the least. The spine is totally incorrect in shape behind the canopy (way too flat and square) which causes the canopy frame to be incorrect as well, the nozzles look very strange and the space between them is too big. Surface detail did not look very crisp, front wheels look really bad, the diamond shaped grilles in front of the nozzles are WAY too big and the radome looks strange as well (it was undershot, but that's no the problem). LEX have shape issues seen from top and their profile looks very strange where they meet the slats. It doesn't look that bad on the pics, but I was really shocked when I saw the model in person - I spent around 15 minutes at the Revell booth looking at the model. A missed opportunity in my opinion - I am not going to sell my Trumpeter kits. They may be a b*tch to assemble but the overall shape looks better than the Revell kit...

 

 

Sorry for the stupid water marks, but some sneaky guy stole the images from my Facebook page to use them on his blog without my permission...

 

Hello Starfighter,

 

Thanks for this! Makes my portfolio planning a little easier since it now looks like I won't be doing another Superhornet for a long time and if I do, it won't be the Revell kit but rather the hard-to-build but generally accurate Trumpeter kit. 

 

Just like you I am hugely disappointed with Revell, those are some major mistakes and makes the kit a non-starter. A little sad that a producer like Revell that once was able to crank out a top-quality kit like the 1/32 Tornado goes backwards to the horribly rough yet generally accurate 1/32 EF-2000  and now to the rough and badly inaccurate F/A-18E. They should have quit while they were ahead.

 

Cheers,

 

Marcel

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there are 3 editions scheduled

 

e - April

f - september

g - december

 

thats from the revell rep i use for my forum

I don´t think, Revell will release 3 different types of the SH within 9 months... I think the second type (F-18F) will come 2019 and the Growler in 2020.

 

I am with Ben. I have seen the testshot model a few weeks ago and I also were very dispappointed! Mostly by the strange looking spine and end of the canopy. Shape issues like the front wheels or the nozzles can be change easy with ones from the aftermarket.

 

I will defenitely buy one kit at least for the good and nice decal sheet! Also the price (79,99 Euro) is very good and I think it will drop to 60-65 Euro within a few months!

Lets wait and HOPE Revell really changed these errors (but I don´t think...).

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  • 4 weeks later...

I came across Revell's F/A-18E at their booth on Euro Model Expo in Lingen, Germany, this weekend. Since I wasn't particularly interested in the model - I have the Trumpy kit- I haven't been reading up on it. Looking at it, I thought the spine looked a bit off but I don't know enough about Super Hornet spines to cast a judgment. I've read up on this thread before starting this post and read that other people, more knowledgeable on the subject confirmed my first impression. The photos of the model below are mine, taken on March 24th at EME, Lingen. The photos of the real thing I got by downloading from a Google-search on "F/A-18E" and "F/A-18E Vampires". I have no idea who took those, they were freely accessible through Google. I post them for purposes of comparison with the built-up Revell testshot. If owners / copyrightholders want me to take them down; please let me know and I'll do so. If they want their names with the photo's, idem.

 

As a last note, I read on this thread that Revell will / has adjusted the tooling. As the Revell representative confirmed that the model was a built-up testshot, it is possible that this model is the one that was seen at Nürnberg and not a model of the finalized tools. That is something I simply don't know.

 

A question to the "Experten"; let's assume the spine of the finalized kit has the spine as I have photographed, can't we just simply get away with sanding the sharp angles to more rounded curves? The inside of the part would probably need to get some extra material in the inside of the curves as I expect the builder would sand through the part..

 

7_CD1_CA6_C_0_E11_4633_B6_B0_F1_E580_EE9

 

8_AD964_EB_BD40_44_CE_9456_CED2296_A6142

 

CD584894_1_D74_4824_BF64_14768166789_E.j

 

38216_C3_A_4137_41_EB_B942_A450_D76_A23_

Copyright: Ashley Wallace

 

EE5_F64_EA_D748_4_FA8_9_E0_D_85_EF60_EF8

Copyright: Ashley Wallace

 

B9261_F44_B4_B6_49_B8_B106_37488163_B596

 

CD11_F109_15_DF_4162_BA14_FCA632_A21_DEE

 

806_F9468_8_F14_4_C6_D_8598_12250_FDC5_C

 

 

And the spine:

 

A0_F25_E9_E_ACD2_4443_8181_93_E422_F532_

 

C99_A2_F54_5_F89_4437_90_D0_3_ADBFC02541

 

5_D855683_252_B_45_F5_A9_F4_ADA7_B7_F346

 

00_EDFAF6_5_E16_426_C_9834_6_E1_A699_F45

 

A15670_F9_07_A2_48_A1_A435_02145_D793842

 

6756_E1_DF_A689_4928_870_C_59997_A7408_F

 

64_BFF852_F814_4791_A4_BB_E332_DB4_BF2_F

 

 

Cheers,

Erik.

 

 

 

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Hi Erik,

 

thank you for your post. Yes it is the test shot model that was shown at Nürnberg toy fair. The "111" number on the flaps are too big as well... Now I heard the Super Bug will come in august.

Edited by Tomcatfreak
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My experience from working with a few manufactures, is that what you see is primarily what you get shape wise from the built up test shots. Mold tweaks or more likely, “touch-ups†rarely involve significant retooling, as the cost is typically prohibited post R &D. Touch ups typically consist of minor tweaks and additional polishing. In other words, they should have gotten the shape right in the first before cutting tool. Also note that in order to correct the spine/canopy cornering, the mold (being negative) would need to have material added to round the corners and that's a lot more involved that “removing materialâ€.   However, some companies (Great Wall's 48th F-15 with its initial grossly inaccurate forward fuselage comes to mind) do go back and make retooling efforts at great expense, but it's quite rare and Revell really hasn't done this to any significance stretch. Example,  Revell's 2nd Gen 32nd F-4 has some major shape and detail inaccuracies, but when they retooled to make the F-4G, they only “half-way†corrected the nose, yet neglected the canopy, Intakes, wheels, nose struts, etc…

If the spine of Revell's upcoming SH is still way off as it is on the buildup example, then sure; one can take time to sand it down, though trying to keep it symmetrical from side to side is going to be a challenge. But to me, that's beside the point as in this day and age of the hobby, major shape inaccuracies like this are inexcusable. The spine is not the only problem, as the Exhaust Nozzles /Exhaust area, LERX, wheels, are probably going to need corrections and/or replacements. I also know there will be more issues that will be identified once it gets into modeler's hands. However, the price is the one thing that will probably make this a successful run for Revell, though it's just a shame that Revell has significantly missed the mark 3 times now on such a popular modern subject!

 

Thanks for posting the additional Revell SH photos.
Mike V

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A pity we're already relegating this to the spare parts locker, esp. when it might be fixed with some backfilling, sanding and polishing plus new resin nozzles;

on the other hand, Starfighter's right and life here is too short so personally I'd rather have three bottles of quality single malt and wait and see how the F turns out.

 

Tony

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Spare parts locker; who's saying that? We still need to see the final product and even then if it still retains all the shape errors called out, I am sure it's going to have decent sales. As mentioned previously, I don't mind addressing simple shape errors and replacing with more detailed parts, but having to fix major errors that should have been identified during R&D kind of spoils the enthusiasm of a new release like this. I really do hope they fix the problems called out thus far, but I am not betting on it.

 

Mike V

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Maybe Revell have chosen the path of Trumpeter by using a small piece of spine on the two-seater fuselage to model the single seater.

Let's hope that is the case and that this part stretches far enough aft to cover the incorrect shape...

 

The Trumpeter part as seen on Cybermodelers' In-box review of the Echo:

 

tru_3204_parts14.jpg

 

Cheers,

Erik.

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Spare parts locker; who's saying that? ...

 

Mike V

Thierry, in post #36. Though I believe he meant a mélange of the Revell and Trumpy, for one good F/A-18E (and, perhaps, another destined to be covered in a 1/32 tarpaulin).

 

The issues look fixable to me. But then, I subscribe to the "mostly right" school of accuracy. Just always preferred the twin-seat second generation Hornets so an F is more interesting. But the E is growing on me.

 

Tony

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