D-Day Tempest

Sy Bar
With D-Day fast approaching thought I'd build the two 1/72 kits I have and compare them side by side

Sy Bar
The kits are more than a generation apart with the Airfix the youngest (2022) and Revell (1982) the old timer

Sy Bar
The decals for the Revell kit are actually copyrighted 1993. This kits had a full life

Pierre Pierre
thank you for the comparative very interesting

Nicolas
Great comparison. I build the Revell kit in the 90s, so it's great to be reminded to this build and too see how much better the models are nowadays.

Łukasz Gliński
Very cool comparison 👍

Sy Bar
As I'm doing side by side I thought I would tryout a new method of shading panel line ie with a Posca marker instead of my shaky airbrush pre shade. As long as I done apply to main colours too thickly it'll be interesting to see if there is difference in the look of the two paint jobs

Łukasz Gliński
Not sure what paints you spray, but the lacquers tend to interact with the marker leftovers (even covered already by other paint, e.g. acrylic)
Guess how do I know that 😄

Sy Bar
#Gliński interesting info, hopefully it is only a problem with lacquers which I don't use but it'll be fascinating to find out if you can get away with just acrylic as Posca pens are suppose to be acrylic too

Dave Flitton
Watching your efforts

Sy Bar
F/Lt Pierre Clostermann despite the strange elongated face mask (which I just clipped) is fairly detailed for 1/72 he even has his hands on the control column 😁

Ben M
Watching as well!

Sy Bar
The experiments continue, Airfix black basing I'll also paint the ID markings first on the Revel, the Airfix I will do ID markings post camo paint jobs. l

Sy Bar
I forgot to mention something I think Airfix should be highly praised on their method of attaching the canopy to the body. They used a body with an indent which when combined with the clear part ensures a perfect fit.. I've not come across this method before but it's a great method

Sy Bar
First time using AK REAL Colors Lacquer based paint. I like it sprays very well thinned a little more well with Mr Color thinner and no smell, but that could be due to my head cold.

Sy Bar
Well the use of marker pen (Posca) has given mixed results. As #Gliński said they could interact badly with over paints. I have indeed had issue with peeling but only on the white where I added the white on top of marked grey primer, else where when marker was first covered by grey primer (mr surfacer 1500) it seams to be fine. So more tests needed. The white was also Mr Surfacer and while at the time I said I use acrylic paints I've just found AK REAL Color lacquer paints and so far love them.

Pierre Pierre
thanks a lot for the updates.!

Vincent
Great project!

Sy Bar
The decals went down well on both kits. They both have minimal carrier film and registers seam spot on. The Revell star printed in Italy but don't mention the manufacturer we know from Italy, while Airfix keep origin under wraps.
They settled down nicely with micro sol & set although the Airfix require a little more help from a stronger setter.
Must admit not a fan of the separate centre spot used by Revell but your eye knows when it's out as they look like googly eyes.

While I choose not to use the large decals what I did use from both had great coverage

Guy Rump
Looking good. 👍

Sy Bar
The Revell kit had a set of rockets which I thought would help with the inflight look. I choose to add my own pigtails again to add the inflight look.
There are no store for the Airfix only drop tanks which are moulded in clear plastic 🤔
Also note the Revell oob is a wheel down only kit, something I should have thought about before I choose my options hence the wheel door gaps (as kit)

gorby
Very nice result!

Dietmar Bogatzki
Whoooow looks like a 1/32 plane, Sy 👍

Sy Bar
Thanks all for the kind words

Łukasz Gliński
Great finish 👍 The rescribing of the old Revell really paid off 👍 Happy to see the markers were not so much troublesome 👍

J35J
Great work and result! Congrats👍🏻

Nicolas
Congrats, very good result. 👍

Sy Bar
Well that was a fun double build, I e not do such a thing before. The chance to test a few things out gave mixed results, I'm please with the removal of the raise rivets of the older Revell kit and its re scribing made easier with the Airfix to use as a guide.. #Łukasz the use of the Posca markers gave very mixed results, as you warned I did get some areas of paint lift but could work out why as most areas were fine. However I didn't really like the results as they looked too ridged, might have its place. On a point of interest is see AK are releasing brand new markers, which are actual paints of their Real Colors range so they, I assume, will not have any such issue of lift or compatibility. Seams I was a little quick in my use of the Posca pens 🙄

Kit comparisons
I have no idea which kit is more accurate in terms of shape etc I don't get caught up on such rivet counting details, I just enjoy the build and as long as they look the part that's good enough for me.
I had no issues with the fit although the Revell is designed to be on wheels despite having a pilot, which means if you build it wheels up there are gaps in the wheel doors.
The Airfix has a great design for their wheel well doors which means achieving the right sort of angle on them is straightforward, they are also nicely detailed.

Cockpit; the Revell has no detail and the the pilot was deform in the mask area (easily fixed) while the newer Airfix has some detail but the at this scale the visibility into the pit is such they are both visually the same.

Decals; both are good and in register the newer Airfix gives a lot more but I choose not us the many stencils as at this scale they can me more of a pain to apply than their worth. A note was the fact the Airfix require a slightly stronger setting solution than I expected to fully settle, no issue with the Revell

So the venerable 42 year old Revell stand up well to the young 2 year old Airfix, if you are willing to take the time to remove raised detail and rescrub your own panel lines (but then we are modellers and not assemblers 😎)

Painting
I think I prefer to black base rather than use pens to shadow, however the AK markers could be worth looking at.
Painting the ID stripes, as these were applied in the factory I don't think either method has the upper hand but if I do a D-day plane with field applied invasion stripes I'd do them over an underlying camo as that allows you to carefully wear them via light sanding.

Wow that's a lot of waffle in summary it's been great to try things out and be able to compare side by side. On to the next one.

Guy Rump
Great results and a good summary. 👍