Kit ref: 04901
Price: around £9.50 GBP (Nov 2014)
Review by Geoff Coughlin
Our thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell
A little bit of background
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft’s fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC aircraft. In addition, the Twin Otter has been popular with commercial skydiving operations, and is used by the United States Army Parachute Team and the United States Air Force’s 98th Flying Training Squadron.
The Revell Kit
This isn’t a new-tool de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter but that doesn’t matter, it’s good to see it back! What you get is a decent model, well-tooled that’s fairly current in terms of approach and breakdown although the model does feature raised panel lines and some heavy recessed detail. I’m unclear about this model was first released by Revell but read on to find out more about what’s actually included…
Box and contents
Revell persist with rather flimsy boxes that are doubtless cheap to produce yet somehow manage to protect the contents although prove less useful during construction. Having said that, the artwork is usually impressive enough and the one on this box shows a DHC-6 over familiar territory.
So what’s inside…?
The light grey sprues are packaged well and no damage is apparent. Taking the main components first, they are quite well tooled, raised panel line detail however. No distortion was apparent and a dry fit of the main fuselage sections offers a reasonable fit although some re-scribing will be almost inevitable given all the detailed panel lines around the joins. Some flash is apparent on a number of smaller parts and you can see this in the accompanying photos.
The cockpit is pretty basic with reasonable seats and decals provided on the sheet for the main instrument panels and also the seat harness – these should be perfectly sufficient in this scale.
No floor for the cabin is included so if you choose to open up the rear cabin access doors be prepared for some scratch-building and I think that’s worth considering to add interest to your model.
You can see the manufacturer’s photos of their completed model above and in the Gallery Grids included with my review and I for one think this model looks every bit a DHC-6 Twin Otter.
Undercarriage sprues
The wheels are moulded well enough and a nice option of floats or wheels is included ☺
Clear parts
The clear parts look clear and no defects are apparent.
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 – unhelpful. The build sequence is pretty standard and logical but many modellers will part company with the stated order to suit their experience.
The decals look to be good quality with colourful options for either RCAF or West Coast Air included. 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 great subject should sell well again this time around and be popular with modellers, especially those that have an interest in all things Canadian. The model looks to be well quite well engineered at first glance from the dry/test-fit. Moulding is good and the panel detail ok for current 1:72 scale kits. Decals are excellent.
Recommended for all scale modellers
Geoff C.
SMN Quick summary Star rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | *** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Level of detail | *** |
| Instructions | *** |
| Decals - quality | ***** |
| Decals - options | ***** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |