Revell 1:700 Olympic review

I decided to do a review of the revel rms Olympic. I was excited to get this model being a big white star fan.
The box is end opening just the same as the 1:700 titanic and contains two hull halves, 4 sprews, manual, thread and transfers.
On first inspection the detail is crisp with very little flash anywhere. The hull is a new tool with exaggerated plating but I like that anyway in a model. The only disadvantage I found is that the shadows cast by the plates fades the gold transfer strips that surrounds the hull at the end of the build. The rest of the sprews are all rms titanic 1:700. The wind shields on the forward A deck of titanic for the enclosed space are present in this kit which I did not use as they did not exist on the Olympic. Revell claim it represents the Olympic just out of Belfast in 1911 but to honest there is a mish mash of detail. If I was to be strict, the kit does not resemble the ship in any part of her career.
The bridge has the overhanging wings which is more 1912, the vents by the funnels are inaccurate and look more like 1911 config. Strangely the venician vent below funnel number three is absent, the port holes on the forecastle on the port side are 1911 config and the bridge deck bulwark on bridge deck are missing portholes. The collasibles also seem to be the same size as the rest of the lifeboats which is also odd. The bulwarks on the bridge between the wheel house and cabs are too tall narrowing the opening in bridge deck A.There are more examples of this kind of mish mash throughout the model and does not seem to know what period it is in. this is the kind of quality I have learned to expect from revel but it is easier to do the 1912 config and fill in the blanks. 
As always with revel the colours are wrong and I have chosen my own and would expect you to do the same. There is a waterline mark for a waterline model which is nice. The rigging provided is not to scale so I used my own.
Firstly I assembled the hull and painted. (I hand paint) I painted the parts on the sprews, waited to dry and started assembly of the decks which all fit nicely together. Revel seem to illustrate painting the funnels above the lip at the top of the buff but in fact you paint both lips black. It is important to mention at the assembly stage that you must rig the funnels before glueing the boat deck down. Also be very carefull with the assembly of the cowl vents and bollards as they are extremely small. I lost one and had to devise a replacement. In the instruction which at this point would be good to mention are very good, six guide ropes on the funnels are recommended. I did not though, as the Olympic had 12, I used scale synthetics which has a realistic effect. I also separated the cargo boom from the mast in a working position as I thought it would have a builders model effect as I built my 1:350 titanic in the same manner. I also painted in the tanned well decks and wooden railings which are also not in the instructions. Over all I completed 85% of the rigging. The Marconi antenna are not factored into this model so I did my own.
After completion I went to the transfers, I completely ignored the flags as they are in my view impossible to get right so I printed my own. The water mark for the ship are poor as they do not reach high enough on the hull both fore and aft. The gold band around the hull is good but is hindered by the exaggerated plating and the Olympic name is nice, a warm feeling putting it on.
Over all the model is more like a pre construction builders model of the ship with the slight oversights but gives a good solid foundation to construct an amazing model of the ship. It has the potential to go even further than the modifications I made such as photoetch, wood deck, ww1 model etc… but I wanted to keep it without physical alteration as it is the first Olympic kit.
I would give revel 9/10 for this model as it finally gave us the Olympic and a very good representation of the ship out of the box. Revel are on a role at the moment with new models, lets hope we see Britannic soon!