Review by Geoff Coughlin
Our thanks to Revell Germany for the review sample: www.revell.de 
A little bit of inspiration…
check this out… good reference too!
The new Revell Kit…
According to the date stamp on the main fuselage interior this kit dates back to 2001 and I think that must relate to the civilian version of the Eurocopter released at that time. This is the anticipated military version of the light multi-purpose helicopter EC 135.
This is the first time that I’ve looked at this kit in detail and I have to say that it’s very impressive on the sprue trees at least. The recessed detail is finely done and, above all the overall level of detail and finesse in that detail is impressive. You’ll see from this series of images that the main fuselage is split vertically as you’d expect. Despite the flash that you can see that should be easily removed, the surface detail is excellent. The cockpit is well detailed and as you’d expect in this scale instrument panel details are supplied as decals. The seats are particularly well sculpted.
The tail boom is a separate item to which are added the tail rotor and tailplane. Hopefully the fit of the boom to main fuselage section will be good as the join has some complex curves. Helpfully a reminder to add weight is shown on the instruction sheet and hopefully they’ll be sufficient room inside the nose section? There are a surprising number of additions to the fuselage as is the way of modern ‘copters from the delicate winch assembly to the structure beneath the nose glazing (not sure what that is?). The main rotor assembly is straightforward on the Eurocopter as it is concealed beneath a cover and little detail will show.
Instruction sheet…
This is standard Revell in their usual exploded view format running to 43 stages. Revell paint references are provided but helpfully (and unlike Airfix) the manufacturer also gives a colour call out so at least you can find an alternative paint source if required.
Transparencies…
The clear parts are just that – clear. They will need to fit well to avoid any unsightly repair work around the framing so fingers crossed for that.
Decals…
These look pretty good being printed in Italy for Revell. Colour and register both look sharp and the small Swiss crosses for a Swiss Air Force machine that are included will bring a bit of colour to the two-tone grey scheme. The scheme is a good choice though and the box image captures the aircraft well.
Overall…
Looks like an impressive package for such a small kit. The detail offered is exactly what’s needed in this scale and will make for a busy model when complete. Recessed scribed detail is very good too and combined with a half-decent decal sheet this looks like a great kit to add to your collection. We’ve been building a few choppers lately with Les Vs awesome Chinook and a Huey on the way very soon, so we’ll try and get this project into Build Now before too long.
Recommended
Geoff C.