Best 1/72 SR-71 Kit?

The Testor's/Italeri kit is the most accurate of the bunch.  The nose landing gear bay is too shallow with very little detail, (the Monogram kit is much better in this spot), and it has the same problem as all SR-71 kits in that the engine turbine aft face is way too far back in the nacelle.  The Monogram, now Revell, kit is good except the fuselage cross section is way too shallow.  This makes the cockpit much too wide.  It also has the plastic, triangular radar absorption panels on the outer nacelle chines and shouldn't have.  The main landing gear is good, but not as good as the Testor's.  There are a couple of other shape problems.  The original Revell kit was the first on the market in 1968 and is fairly good.  The fuselage is too deep and there is absolutely no detail on the kit.  The cockpit is zero.

Some people say the Hasegawa kit is the best, but I disagree with that.  The fuselage shape is wrong, the landing gear bays are not as detailed, the cockpit is not as good, etc.  Some of the kits have the d-21 drone included.  NO SR-71 ever carried the D-21 drone.  Only the two M-21s did that.  They are modifications of the original A-12 and have a different forward and aft fuselage from the SR-71.  Just putting the decals for 06940 on an SR-71 is not accurate.  The Trumpeter/MiniCraft kits contain what is called J-58 engines, but they only bear a vague resemblence to the real thing.  The entire engine is actually the same diameter for the whole length while the kit version is MUCH smaller at the front.  They also have a large engine access door on top of the nacelle and that is pure fiction.  On the real bird, the whole wing tip/nacelle section folded up for access to the engine from the bottom.

The Trumpeter and Mini Craft kits are the same kit.

The original Revell and Advent are the same kit

The Academy and Hasegawa are the same kit.

The Revell of Germany and Monogram are the same kit.

Darwin, O.F.

 

Thanks so much, Darwin!

Hmm I feel a kit bash coming on

Exactly what I was thinking

Wow, Yardbird, you seem to know alot about SR-71 kits.  But I wonder, do you know what the issues are on the old YF-12 kit from (I believe) Monogram from the late 60's?  Not the Testors one, the other older kit.  I got one some while back and planned to get another SR-71 to kitbash them together for best results (as it is an old model kit and missing alot of the nice touches that new ones have).  Any suggestions?  Or is the Testors one much better?  Thanks

jdswong wrote:

Wow, Yardbird, you seem to know alot about SR-71 kits.  But I wonder, do you know what the issues are on the old YF-12 kit from (I believe) Monogram from the late 60's?  Not the Testors one, the other older kit.  I got one some while back and planned to get another SR-71 to kitbash them together for best results (as it is an old model kit and missing alot of the nice touches that new ones have).  Any suggestions?  Or is the Testors one much better?  Thanks

Monogram, now Revell has never done a YF-12A.  Monogram did an SR-71 and then Revell bought the molds, labeled it Revell/Monogram and then just Revell.  The old Revell YF-12A kit was originally issued in 1966 and is the FIRST Blackbird kit to hit the market.  It is a totally different kit from the current Revell kit.  Their SR-71 version of this kit came out about a year later.  Both are the same basic kit, with the YF-12 having the round nose instead of the extended chine bays of the SR.  It has two missile bays under one chine bay and IIRC, two GAR-9/AIM-47 missiles.  The fuselage is too deep and there is very little detail on the outside.  No panels lines, either raised or recessed, poor quality landing gear and the cockpit is simply a pilot head on a piece of flat plastic that goes across under the canopies.  It has a reasonably accurate, if somewhat crude, version of the Hughes AN/ASG-18 Search and Track Radar that was in the nose of the YF-12A.  This same radar unit is in the Revell SR-71 model and is totally wrong for that version.

Overall, the Italeri/Testors version of the YF-12A is more accurate and has much more detail.

The Testors YF-12A

 

The Italeri YF-12A, same as Testors

 

 

The original Revell YF-12A

 

 

The AHM YF-12A, same as Revell

 

 

Darwin, O.F.