- Kit Ref: 04837
- Price around £26.99 GBP
Review by Geoff Coughlin (Feb 2013)
Our thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit http://www.revell.eu/ or email ukbranch@revell.de
A little bit of inspiration and reference here… and some ‘interesting’ commentary!
Reference:
- SMN Photo Reference Library – full walkaround, inside and out for the Mk.88 (Royal Navy) – provides invaluable external and internal detailed reference
- SMN Bench Buddy walkaround book, again for the Mk.88 but many details are similar and helpful in your build.
We have already fully reviewed the first release of this kit in Mk.88A Sea Lynx configuration and that is well worth taking a look at, mainly because it has some interesting observations from Jamie H, familiar to you in SMN who is a serving Royal Navy Lynx pilot.
Click on each image below to enlarge / reduce the pictures:
The Revell Kit…
As I have already said, we have already done ‘the works’ on the first release so here you’ll find all the photos of the sprues in this latest release, offering close up views of the differences and similarities in each sprue.
You can see for yourself what’s available but let’s concentrate on a few observations about this boxing:
- Grey plastic for some sprues – this is definitely an improvement over the exclusively white plastic on offer in the Mk.88A boxing. It’s not immediately apparent what new parts are included this time – the grey parts are not all new and the main fuselage components are still moulded in white
- Different nose sections and tail rotor design together with new instrument panel and twin sticks are the most obvious new additions. New seating for the rear cabin and separate tail rotor unit that can be posed folded is also included this time
Stores and weapons…
Mk.46 anti-ship/submarine torpedoes and Sea Skua anti-ship missiles are included and these look well shaped and detailed. Their launch rails/assembly will look and add quite a bit of interest to your finished model.
Clear parts…
Separately bagged, the clear parts are exceptionately clear and well moulded and if anything like their Halifax model should fit perfectly – let’s hope so!
Instructions…
The Revell instructions follow their usual exploded stages format and hint at the great level of modelling to be had by the 80-Stage assembly sequence! Location of parts is clear but colour paint coding is for Revell paints only. However, the colour names are provided and this will help you to match your own choice of paints. Directions seem to be clear and although this is quite a detailed kit in terms of parts count, the build seems logical.
Decals…
This is clearly a highlight of this release offering the familiar display scheme of the ‘Black Cats’ aerobatic team from 2008 and a nice alternative – the grey/Day-Glo Red scheme applied to Lynx XZ246 aboard Antarctic Survey Vessel, HMS Endurance in 2001.
Certainly colour saturation and register is good and all markings are accurate and sharp in their detail; the carrier film also looking minimal and that’s great.
Conclusion…
This is a welcome and natural second release from Revell of their new Lynx kit; what’s interesting is the price increase to around £26.99 GBP. The first Mk.88A id still available for around £6.00 less. So I suppose that you are left with the decision on markings and what you prefer? This new boxing does have some additional parts to make a Royal Navy aircraft so I guess that accounts for the price differential. Sure the icing on the cake would have been those rivets moulded in but apart from that you it’s hard to criticise what’s been provided for the money – very fair all said. We will obviously build this new model in the near future and you’ll be able to clearly see how it all goes together, so keep a good look out in What’s New and Build Now for that!
SMN Quick Summary rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | *** |
| Decals | ***** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |