ITALERI 1:72 EF-2000 EUROFIGHTER 'Twin Seater'

 

Reviewer: Peter Noyle  (peternoyle@kw.igs.net)
Kit Review submitted:  30 June 2002

1:72 Scale Italeri EF –2000 Eurofighter Twin Seater

Aircraft:
 The new multi-role EF-2000 fighter Typhoon is being developed by a consortium of German, British, Italian and Spanish companies. Several prototypes have been built and two variants are being developed, a single seat fighter and a two-seat version intended for aircrew training and electronics evaluation. Eurofighter has 'supercruise' capability, it can fly at sustained speeds of over Mach 1 without the use of afterburner. The Typhoon is believed to be the world's most advanced multirole fighter, with the possible exception of the F-22 Raptor.

Kit Parts:
 65 parts contained on two sprues of gray plastic plus one clear sprue carrying the two-part cockpit. Detail is exceptional with neat well defined panel lines and control surfaces however there are two vents on the fuselage, one just behind the foreplanes and the other just rear of the engine intake, neither of which is well defined. The box art shows a dominant yellow ‘tank’ or ‘bomb’ carried under the belly. I could not identify this part in the kit.

Instructions:
 Printed on 10 pages of 8.5 by 11 size in nine languages, folded concertina style. Assembly is detailed in 9 steps of clear line drawings. Drawings provide the locations of the decals for each nation’s prototype. A map of the location of each part is provided on page 2.

Construction:
 I chose the Spanish version, which is the subject depicted on the box. Assembly is straight forward and the only filling that I had to do was to run some white glue into a wing root and a tailplane joint. The cockpit makes up into a well detailed unit and, with some careful painting, needs no after market detail, even if there were any available at this time (spring 2002). I intended to have the cockpit canopy closed so I contented myself with minimal detailing except to add scratch made head up display panels. I was confused about the front seat HUD because the kit part # 5 has an instrument panel where the HUD should be. I placed the HUD behind this protrusion because I had no other information to go on.

I completed the model with the air brake deployed and the in-flight refuelling probe extended. It is unlikely that an aircraft would be parked like this with the canopy closed but I wanted to display these features. None of the armaments have been fitted, my diorama will show an armaments trolley just arriving. I have yet to fit the ‘remove before flight’ tags to the undercarriage etc. I made an error in the positioning of the foreplanes, I positioned them in a horizontal plane and of course they are in a severe anhedral plane.

Just aft of the engine intakes are prominent grills. The fuselage moldings are very shallow and I have yet to decide how to illustrate these, they are much too shallow to use a wash technique. The vent just forward of these grills needs to have ‘vanes’ added to conform to the box art.

Scratch made parts added to the kit:-

Apart from the HUD’s already mentioned the only added parts were a gun barrel on the right lower fuselage, cut from a hypodermic syringe, and the three airspeed indicator probes just forward of the foreplanes.

Painting:
I used Testors Model Master Acryl paint throughout. Comparing the box art and several photographs from the internet it seemed to me that the FS 36375 Light Ghost Gray was a lot darker than I expected. Testors assured me that their paint color was accurate when I asked about it! The wheel wells, air brake bay and the refuelling probe cavity were painted mat white with detail highlighted by dry brushing with mat gray.

Options:
A full range of options are available, air brake open or closed; refuelling probe extended or not; undercarriage up or down. There is no provision for deployed flaps.

Decals:
These are well printed and well detailed and available for each nationality flying the prototypes. After a spray over with Future the decal edges disappeared.

Accuracy:
Not assessed.

Conclusion:
Italeri also produce the single seat version of the Eurofighter. When funds become available I’ll buy one to go with the two seater. This kit was a delight to build and I would recommend it to anyone.


© Pete Noyle 2002

 

Related INBOX Reviews:  Italeri/Revell 1/72 Eurofighter 2000 

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