Intro | Part 1 | PART 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

The Tamiya

The Tamiya Razorback builds up with perfect, ridiculous ease. In truth, it goes together even better than their bubbletop kits, since it dispenses with the separate dorsal sections and gives you two complete fuselage halves from the engine firewall back to the rudder.

The key to the entire Tamiya kit is a central wing spar assembly that does several things at once. First, it aligns the fuselage halves and ensures proper cockpit fit. Second, it ensures that the wings slot in perfectly to the fuselage. Third, the aft spar also forms the back of the landing gear bay.

Outside of the wing spar, little touches abound. The ailerons are molded to the top wing and lead to a razor-thin trailing edge. Really a very elegant approach. The gun fairings are separate and fit well.

Literally the only thing I would have approached differently – the flaps. I’d intended to pose these up and retracted, but there’s the slightest misalignment with the wing and wing root that becomes glaring when the flap is mounted. So…flaps down this time.

And next time, I’ll be attaching the flaps BEFORE gluing the wings to the fuselage.

The Revellogram

The Revellogram Razorback may be lacking in some detail, but it certainly holds its own in terms of main assembly. The fuselage went together without hassle and the wings fit rather well, with tight joins at the upper wing root (where, let’s face it, 90% of eyes that view it will be viewing it from). The underside is a different matter – not terrible but not especially great, either. And the nasty gap in the gear bay reveals the superior design of Tamiya’s wing and wing spar.

The only issue I had was the stabilizers, which fit tight, but misaligned.

I fixed this by hitting the seams with Tenax a second time and holding the stabilizers in the proper position with masking tape. As the Tenax welds cured, everything came out right.

There was one last area that proved a real sticking point on the Revellogram. The canopy. Which is just ridiculously thick.

Sigh. I’ve considered a vacform replacement, but the appropriate canopy’s only available as part of a massive set of other old Monogram and Revell replacement canopies that goes for like $25. No way I’m spending twice what I spent on the kit for one piece of plastic. Hopefully it’ll blend better once paint is in play.

Intro | Part 1 | PART 2 | Part 3 | Part 4