The new 1/48 Revell SR-71 Blackbird was delivered to my door yesterday. I ordered it from a hobby store in England via ebay. The price was $90.00 US. The estimated release date for the US is February, 2022. I’m impatient, so I couldn’t wait for February. The first thing that I noticed was the size and weight of the box. The box is 24"x17"x5". The box art is nicely done.
When I opened the box I was greeted with a view of the main fuselage. The fuselage, sans nose, is about 23 inches long. There are two clear frets and 14 grey plastic frets. Total parts count is 207. A 40 page instruction booklet is included.
Included is a decal sheet with lots and lots of tiny decals.
I need to finish a car model that I am working on before I tackle this bad boy.
Since this is a German kit, each color is translated into 21 languages.
The English (GB) translation for the fuselage color is Anthracite matt. I think that these are Revell paint colors. Anthracite is a name for coal, so I would guess that it is black. I’ll be using Tamyia paints, so I’ll use a combination of Black Rubber and Flat Black followed by Clear Flat.
When the plane came off of the assembly line it was a uniform black.
At the end of the plane’s life the paint was weathered to various shades of grey.
I need to finish my Alfa Romeo before I work on the Blackbird. I should finish that kit by the end of this comming week. I’m looking forward to working on the Blackbird. I’ll do a WIP.
Congratulations JohnnyK! I saw you on Britmodler; you seemed anxious as you watched the Brits building their Blackbirds. So you snagged it for $90; but did you pay more than that to have is shipped?
The biggest issue I have is I own the old Testers kit with plenty of AM, but my decals are old and I don’t trust them. I may have to snag a set built for this new one. I’ll have to pay close attention to your wheel bays as there is no detail on the old kit. Looking forward to seeing this one.
The total cost of the model plus shipping from England was $167.00. Yes, that is a lot of money. My wife and I are on a weekly allowance. We have been doing that for years which is the reason why we are retired. I save my left-over allowance for expensive goodies like this kit.
Not bad; I saw that price but decided to wait because, with my luck, it would be ordeded for $177 and befor it would be delivered the US market would open up for something like $110! And, I have sveral months more rigging to go on my USS Constitution!!
I just received a tiny pitot tube from Master Model and I have a pair of pilots on the way to fly this blackbird. I also have Parts 1&2 of Caracal’s Decal sets. That gives me a couple of months to decide which plane and gear up/gear down. You have noticed by now that the kit decals are just fine, so you can save yourself $35.
Anthracite is generally considered to be a slightly specular very dark gray. In most photos the SR-71 looks really flat black. I too a deep dive into the subject a long time ago with a Hasegawa 1/72 model. I’ll see what I can dig up.
If it helps the color discussion, I have the Revell UH-1C, and they call for Anthracite paint on the instrument panel and glareshield. Tamiya NATO Black is a good match for that, as is Model Master Aircraft Interior Black. FWIW…the real-world SR-71s had a lot of blue in their black paint. You could sometimes see it if the lighting conditions were just right.
