Revell 1/72 Fiat G.91 R3

REVELL 1:72 FIAT G.91R3
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Myself (rec.models.scale)
- A Built up review of this kit exists on this site - see the respective fully built kit review index to locate review

Kit Details: Revell #04370 - Fiat G.91 R3

Aircraft History: Today the G.91, or "Gina" as it is affectionately known, can be considered as nothing more than a memory, having been retired from service as part of the reduction in aircraft numbers that accompanied the end of the Cold War. Resembling a very similar appearance to the F-86D Sabre Dog, the Fiat G.91 originated in a NATO multinational (European) requirement for a single tactical fighter/light attack aircraft to replace the disparate fleets of Sabres, Thunderstreaks, Mysteres, Meteors, Sabres, Vampires and so forth that were in service with the various European countries.

The specification was circulated widely among the NATO countries and this resulted in or influenced the design of a number of types, among which included the Gnat, Aon, Etendard and of course Fiat's G.91. Of the eight designs submitted it was the G.91 which was chosen for development and three prototypes were ordered for evaluation. But any chances for a production run that would equip NATO-wide air forces ended right there. Britain was already committed to the Hunter (and this attracted wealthier nations because of its superior performance) and France were only participating if a French design was award - so off they went building the Etendard.

The pre-production aircraft (which were essentially redesigned slightly and given to the Italian air-display team) were followed into service by the production standard G.91R with a new nose and slightly updated avionics and performance. The G.91R was then produced in significant numbers for the Italian, (West) German and Portugal air forces and in the latter's case saw action in Africa.

Kit Parts: Inside a plastic bag there are two sprues of almost 50 new tooling injection molded parts in a medium grey colour. Surface detail is very nice with engraved panel lines and flash free, crisply molded parts. In the same bag is the two part canopy on a separate sprue, one had detached itself so was scratched. I also noticed the pitot tube which is already molded onto the starboard wing tip was also bent. This kit came out in approximately 2000, so is not to be confused with older G.91 kits that might appear in Revell boxes (I am thinking the Matchbox G.91Y).

Instructions: This is provided in the form of a recycled photocopy paper 12 page booklet slightly larger than A5. The first handful of pages are taken up by the obligatory history, modelling information, symbols explanation and an alphabetic labelled painting chart keyes of course to the Revell range (their numbers and names are provided in several languages) followed by a sprue map. Assembly drawings does not start until page 6 and these total 22 in all, which are typically Revell in being generally easy to follow. The last two pages are taken up by four-view decal and marking diagrams for the two examples the kit produces. Shading for the external schemes is provided, and I note that RAL numbers are quoted in addition to the alphabetic label.

Colour Options: Two West German examples in the standard NATO scheme at the time of Light Olive Green and Dark Blue Grey camouflage over a neutral grey type of undersides, one from Le.KG 45, Husum, "Bulls eye 79" October 1979 with the sharks mouth emblem and the other from Le.KG 42 Buchel 1975. I was hoping for an Italian version because the background G.91 on the boxart is in Italian livery but it was not to be (although obviously these would be R.1 versions). I used to think this was Humbrol 163 & 164 but another review on this site suggests Humbrol 108 (now deleted) and 79 - which is likely to be more accurate.

Decals: The reasonable sized decal sheet is printed by Revell and should in theory be quite good in spite of their reputation being hit and miss (as it is a newer decal sheet produced by them). The decals look thin, the colour register is sharp and it is almost possible to read some of the smaller stencils. There's an abundance of stencils provided and a small extra sheet with two additional Luftwaffe crosses which indicates they made an error printing the sheet with only four initially. The sharks teeth have holes in it, presumably so it can fit around the machine guns at the front of the nose - and this will be quite a challenge at the time, so it might be best to fit the guns on after applying the decal. There are some stencils for the pylons which of course would help being put on prior to fitting to the wings.

Cockpit/Wheel Bay Detail: There is plenty of structural and plumbing detail on the interior of wheel wells and the internal sides of the gear doors are also nicely rendered with structural detail. The air brake well also has a lot of interior detail scribed. The internal detail in these wells is probably one of the "busiest" I have seen in this scale.

The cockpit is made up of a floor into which a three part seat and control column will be affixed. Very basic rudder pedals are already molded onto the floor and there is side console detail scribed into the cockpit. There is no sidewall detail on the fuselage interior. The cockpit seat is reasonable in its depiction and also has seat harnesses molded on. The main instrument panel has generic dials and gauges molded onto it, although more convincing than other kits I have bought in the past and a hood which I presume is supposed to be a HUD (and thus this part is grey plastic as opposed to clear).

Optional components: Canopy is two-piece enabling the aircraft to have an open cockpit and the air brakes are also separate components so can be displayed in the open position - although both airbrakes are molded together so will need to be cut down the middle to separate.

On the Sprue Impressions: Revell's new tooling in the late 90's produced some superb kits and this looks the goods on the sprue. I've read a few reviews already of this kit, and whilst it has some accuracy issues, the main concensus is that the kit goes together quite well.

Components are broken down as fairly standard with the tail fins already molded onto the fuselage and only the nose cone to add to the nose. Talking of this component, there are engraved lines to depict the camera ports so these need to either be cut out and replaced with small scratchbuilt clear parts or otherwise painted convincingly. The wings are predominantly mainly the upper wing "half" which includes the rear flaps section, so the underwings are only inserts.

The gear doors and air brakes are all molded in one piece parts to enable us wheels up modellers an easier time to assemble the model (and believe me, fitting multi part gear doors over the years is not a favourite past time of mine!). These parts are of course clearly scored so you know where to cut to separate them into multi parts to have wheels down and/or air brakes deployed.

The cockpit is placed on top of what will be the ceiling for the nose wheel bay. There is no front bulkhead for the cockpit nor is the intake trunk blocked off, so it does appear that you may be able to see through to the cockpit from the intake (just something to keep in mind) although a pile of weight to prevent tail sitting might help stop that. The rear exhaust can is one-piece and affixed inside the fuselage before the halves are put together, and reasonably deep for this scale which will make painting the exhaust fan difficult if anything other than the surrounding black walls.

The gun panels on the forward fuselage are separate components to depict it as the R3 (as R1's had four machine guns) and as mentioned in the decals above, the cannon muzzle is attached separately, so could be left off until after decalling to make both jobs a little easier if you are doing the "sharks mouth" version. Stores provided include a pair of underwing tanks and rocket pods as depicted on the boxart.

Accuracy: This kit got severely dumped on when it came out in 1999/2000 because it was reputed that it was delayed almost two years by inaccuracy and other problems picked up after manufacturing the molds - some of it I think is a bit unfair although partly I also believe due to the high price when it came out. Who really knows for sure. It does appear to me that there are question marks surrounding the wing particularly the sweep and the wingtips which appear too squared off and facing away from the fuselage rather than more parallel to it, and the model is also clearly underscale a few millimetres. The panel lines on the wings do not match up to references very well at all, particularly the shape of the rear flaps. The kit does appear accurate in the lack of providing a pitot tube on the port wing - these were fitted later to G.91R3's and I have a photo of the exact example which is on the boxart and it clearly does not have a pitot tube on port wing. Likewise a different bubbletop canopy was fitted to late model G.91Rs and I can't really tell which is supplied in the kit without building it up. The rear section of the fuselage where the tailfin meets it is also a little inaccurate by omitting rear nav lights and fairing.

Conclusion: I remember buying the old Airfix kit seemingly minutes before Revell announced this new tool example, and I remember feeling like an idiot! I built up the Airfix kit long ago and it was a good build but suffered even more so in the accuracy department. If you can live with the inaccuracies noted above then I can recommend this kit, it is close enough for most modellers and should build up quite well. It looks like a gem on the sprue with Revell's new tooling and it far supersedes the Airfix by a long way. I am more than happy to have this kit to build up one day and only wished I bought it years ago instead of the Airfix one.

Footnote on other G.91 models: Matchbox have a G.91Y which was released in the 80's I believe, and reviewed separately on SMAKR. Given Revell reissue a lot of Matchbox kits it is obviously a bit of a "caveat emptor" [buyer beware] comment to ensure that if you are looking for a new tooling G.91 you pick up the R version as the Y will be a reissued Matchbox kit. There's also a Revell G.91 "Tiger Meet" in its catalogue but I am not sure which mold this is from, presumably the R3?

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