Alright gents, here we go.
I had time today to review the kit and open everything up and here are my initial feelings.
Since it is a new kit one would expect it to be pretty nice, and it is. The surface detail is very nice with panel lines that are light, in that they are not too wide or deep but more scale accurate than many kits. The rivet detail is excellent with rivets around most panels. This detail will show really well when hit with a wash after painting. Very realistic.
There are 4 sprues plus one clear, in a box. The clear parts are very clear and very crisp, they don't need any Future dipping but they are not smooth when looked at at angles. What I mean there is even though the glass is clean and clear it is bumpy to the eye as light reflects off of it as if it were super warped, and it is not, it is very smooth. When viewed straight on, this is not a problem. It only does this at certain angles. You can see what I am referring to in the image.
The parts on the sprues are crisp and clean, very little flash and what there is will clean up easily. The detail on most of the parts is high and will detail up nicely. The kit does include some photo etch of various screens and a set of seat belts, all unpainted. The front gun looks nice and I also bought a photo etch kit for it and compared the two. The barrels are very good on the kit, slightly better on the PE, but the clamps are far superior on the PE, as one would expect. It'll be a nice add on.
The cockpit detail is not too bad. All the switches and buttons are molded in so one can paint it up as detailed as your skill will allow. There are also a set of decals for the consoles and instrument panels, but with the raised details it will be a challenge to use them without issues. And I think they are pretty weak when compared to what a good builder can do with some work. I plan to detail my kit up with out the use of those.
Some of the pieces on the various sprues are very very small and could easily be lost. I think the level of detail molded into this kit is quite high. I don't think many will be disappointed. I think the kit will build up nicely.
The kit includes decals for 3 birds and they are very nice and sharp in detail. The instructions are a booklet and they are very clear and well illustrated with color foldouts of the paint and decals details. Very nice indeed.
I'm sure I am forgetting lots of things, but here it is. Any questions, please ask. Like I said, it will be bit before I jump on this as a WIP.
