The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multi-role jet fighter designed and built as part of a joint
venture by a number of european nations.
Join me in this video, as i build and review the Airfix plastic scale model kit of this
versatile and capable aircraft.
Hello and welcome to Model Minutes!
Today's video is a build and review of the Airfix Eurofighter Typhoon kit in 1/72 scale,
which comes as part of a starter set
Before we start the kit, As always, remember that adult supervision may be required due
to the use of sharp tools and toxic paints and chemicals! Airfix recommends
this kit for those aged 8 years old and over.
So let's take a look at the kit!
The starter set comes with some exciting box art work, and the painting and decal placement
instructions on the rear of the box
It's worth noting that a flying hour token is included which can be redeemed for more
kits if you're a member of the airfix club, so it's worth cutting that out to keep
The set comes with 6 paints, all humbrol acrylics, a small tube of poly cement and two brushes
of different thicknesses.
Inside the box you get a bag of components, an a4 instruction booklet, an airfix club
leaflet and a set of waterslide decals.
The decals consist of a single small sheet and are printed to the usual good standard
we have come to expect from airfix.
The instructions are a printed inside an a4 booklet which features step by step drawings,
some information about the real eurofighter typhoon, and safety warnings
regarding the use of the paints and cement.
5 grey plastic Sprues hold the majority of the parts, whilst a single clear plastic one
contains the canopy parts. The 60 or so peices that make up the model seem
well molded, with many of the larger parts of the aircraft coming in as a few parts as
possible, which will definitely help with the ease of construction.
Having done a little research on this kit, it was first released in 1990, and as a result
the parts are a little simple and lacking the finer details of more recent
releases from airfix. That being said however, they do benefit from being cleanly molded
with little to no flash being present.
Whilst we're looking at the kit, the included paints consist of humbrol acrylic 11 silver,
33 matt black, 130 satin white, 165 medium sea grey satin, 166 light aircraft
grey satin and 167 RAF barley grey satin. I do use a couple of extra paints as the build
progresses and will mention them at the relevant times.
Moving onto the construction of the model!
The first step I chose to complete was to wash the plastic parts in warm soapy water.
The instructions recommend you do this in order to remove any oil or grease
left over from the moulding process. This will help give the cement and paints a better
surface to stick to.
Once clean, they were left to air dry. I didnt use any cloths as this can put dust or fibres
on the model and spoil the finish.
When the parts were completely dry, i then started painting the pilot with the included
number 165 paint.
Next, the internal parts of the cockpit including the pilots seat, console and the insides of
the fuselage with number 33 matt black, not forgetting the boots of the
pilot too!
I then moved on to start assembling the front canard of the aircraft. These are the little
wings right on the nose of the plane that help give it
greater maneouverablilty. The parts were cut from the sprue using a sharp knife and any
burrs were then cleaned up using a nail file. If you are careful with the
construction and installation of this part, it can be made to move up and down, but i'm
not too worried about that as it's going to end up sitting on my shelf.
Small dots of poly cement is used to bond the parts together, and they may need holding
in place until it sets.
The cockpit parts were then assembled, repeating the processes as before, removing the parts
from the sprue and cementing them together. As they had already
been painted, some paint needs to be scraped away from the bonding surfaces in order to
ensure the parts cement together correctly.
The upper and lower parts of the fuselage were then cut from their sprues and cleaned
up. I tested the fit to see how well they would go together.
Before cementing these two halves together, the cockpit assembly needs to be glued inside
the top half of the fuselage, pushed up from underneath.
Due to the tricycle undercarriage of this aircraft, the model required weight in the
nose to prevent it from sitting on its tail whilst on the ground. the instructions
call for 5 grams of ballast, so I weighed out some old coins to see how many i would
need in the nose. As you can see, i settled on 3 coins which would ensure the
model stayed upright on its landing gear.
I then glued the coins inside the bottom half of the fuselage, as far forward of the main
landing gear as possible, using a general purpose glue.
The canards that were previously assembled can then be added in the correct place, followed
by the top half of the fuselage which is cemented into position.
i used a clothes peg to hold the parts together until the cement had cured.
Smaller parts were then added, including the refuelling probe and wing tip pods. These
pods come in two halves and need cementing together before adding to the wings.
The nose cone and the tail fin can then be added, all fitting into place well with the
minimum of fuss.
The air intakes needed a little cleaning up with a knife in order to get them to fit into
place properly. These were then followed by the jet exhaust nozzles which
again needed a little attention from a knife in order to remove a little bit of excess
plastic.
Having already painted the airbrake bay with the included 130 paint, i then added the airbrake
in the extended position. It is possible to add this part in the closed
position if you would prefer.
I then assembled the landing gear parts. They do go together well, but are a little fiddly
so some tweezers might be a useful tool at this point. I decided to paint
these parts after installation, but in hind sight i wish that i'd painted them before
hand as that became quite a difficult task to get a neat finish.
The option to depict the landing gear raised is also included, but I decided to build mine
with the wheels down.
Once added to the model, they provide quite a sturdy base. Looking at the parts I thought
they might be quite fragile but they are tougher than they seem.
I then added the weapons pylons to the bottoms of the wings, but decided to keep the missiles
off until they had been painted.
I did however add the drop tanks, which come in two parts, as they were to be painted the
same overall colour as the rest of the aircraft.
Next, i began painting the model. Using the included 167 raf barely grey sating paint,
i thinned it with a little water and brushed it all over the model taking care
to avoid the areas that had already been painted such as the cockpit and airbrake bay.
The paint was thinned in order to avoid leaving brush strokes when it dries, but it will require
a number of coats as a result.
Whilst you watch me finish this step, i'll tell you a little about the real eurofighter
typhoon.
Development started in 1983, as a joint vernture between the UK, Germany, France, Italy and
Spain. Due to disagreements, France eventually left the group and went on to
design the rafale instead.
Following delays due to political and financial issues, the first flight of the prototype
didn't take place until March 1994, and further developments and delays
resulted in the first aircraft entering RAF service in 2007. Originally conceived as an
aerial supremacy fighter, with excellent dogfighting capabilities, it now
also incorporates ground attack and reconnaisance roles due to the changing demands of the modern
battlefield.
The typhoon has a maximum speed of mach 2 or 1550mph and a range of 1800 miles. The
aircraft features a single 27mm cannon and various hardpoints for drop tanks, air
to air, air to ground, freefall and guided bombs as well as other electronic aids and
warfare packages.
The Aircraft that airfix have chosen to depict in this kit is that of a Typhoon F.2 of 17(Reserve)
Sqn. at RAF Coningsby in 2007.
With the base colour complete, i then touched up any areas that required 130 satin white,
such as the airbrake bay, wheel wells and the wheel hubs. you might be able
to notice that i've already painted the nose cone with humbrol 165.
the jet exhaust areas were painted with number 11 silver, taking care as i did this by hand,
i also painted the legs of the landing gear with the same colour.
The wheels were painted with the included 33 matt black, but as i'd already installed
the landing gear this became a bit difficult.
The exhaust nozzles were then painted with humbrol 53 gunmetal grey, which is not included
in the kit.
The missiles were painted on the sprues using the included 166 paint, with 130 for the nose
cones and 165 for the fins.
The cockpit canopy was painted using the inclued 167 paint and it took a couple of layers to
get a good even finish.
I then moved on to masking the areas that required highlighting in 165 paint. These
were the leading edges of the wings, tail and air intakes. I used some masking
tape to ensure that I would get a nice straight and neat edge. The paint was then brushed
on to the correct areas. When dry, the masking tape was removed leaving
a good straight line of that colour and adding some extra detail to the paint finish.
an Acrylic satin varnish, humbrol number 135 was then thinned with water and added to the
model in the areas that were to receive the decals. This base coat would
help give a good surface for the decals to stick to whilst also preventing the silvering
that can occur on a more matt finish.
When the varnish was dry, the decals were cut from the sheet and soaked in warm water
to help release them from the backing paper. Humbrol decalfix was painted onto
the areas that were to take the decals. The decals were then slid from the backing paper
and into position on the model. The decalfix helps soften the transfers into
the surface of the model and make them appear painted on. More decalfix was brushed ontop
of the decal to help with their adhesion to the surface of the kit.
The next step was to add the missiles. I'm using tamiya extra thin cement at this stage
rather than the included tube, as the tamiya version has a little brush
applicator which helps with more precise positioning of the required cement, and I wanted to avoid
any stray blobs from ruining the paint finish i'd already achieved.
Care should be taken at this stage, as the missiles may need holding in place whilst
the cement cures to prevent them hanging to one side and looking wonky.
Next, i thinned some humbrol matt varnish number 49 enamel with some white spirit at
a ratio of about 3 parts thinner to one part paint. This was then brushed over
the majority of the model to help give it an even finish and help blend the decals into
the paint scheme. I fel that the overall satin coat was too shiny and it needed
dulling down a bit.
When that layer was dry, i then used citadel nuln oil black wash on the recessed details
of the model, painting the wash on using a fine brush. The only areas this
really applied to were the moving surfaces on the wings and tail, as the majority of
other details are raised rather than recessed.
When that coat was dry, i used some acrylic thinners on a cotton bud to remove the excess
wash, working in the same direction as the airflow the aircraft would
experience in flight. The previous enamel matt varnish coat of paint helps protect all
the previous layers of acrylic paint from being removed at this stage.
The final step in the assembly of this kit was to add the cockpit canopy, which i did
using a general purpose glue, in an attempt to prevent the plastic from fogging
up and looking cloudy, which polycement has a habit of doing. A landing gear light is
also included, which i used the same glue to adhere it to the front landing gear
leg.
And that's as far as I went with the build of this Airfix Eurofighter Typhoon Starter
set in 1/72 scale from airfix.
I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I feel that it's quite a suitable subject
for a starter set as it's easy to build and goes together well. The paint scheme
is simple too, which would help build up the confidence in a newer modeller.
I do think that the detail is a quite simple however, especially compared to newer kits
in the airfix range, but for a model that's nearly 30 years old it results
in quite a good representation of the real thing.
Retailing for £19 pounds in the UK, i feel this price is a little expensive given the
simplicity of the kit, but for those of you who remember, I got this kit as part
of my £20 mystery bag which also included other items, which made this a better deal.
At the time this video was made, the kit was not in production, but was available to pre-order
on the airfix website, so i'll add the link to the website underneath.
Stocks from the previous batch of this kit may still be available in shops and online
from other sellers however.
So, in conclusion, this is an easy and fun model to build, which would be great for any
new or returning modellers, but might be a little simple and lacking in detail
for those who'd like a bit more from a kit. That being said, it would make a great basis
for a detailing project.
At the end of the day though, i'm quite pleased with the results i've achieved with my Airfix
Eurofighter Typhoon starter set!
As always, let me know what you think of my build, techniques and finished model in the
comments below.
I'm also keen to hear your suggestions as to other kits that you'd like to see me build
on my channel, so feel free to post that too!
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