C-17 Globemaster III (Revell 1:144)

[Mike]

A long narrow box arrived for me this morning, containing one of Revell's infernally useless end-opening boxes. Emblazoned on the front was a dramatic painting of a C-17 flying overhead in the livery provided with the kit, which does a good job of enticing the modeller to buy it.

The box is packed with bagged sprues, some long containing the fuselage & wing parts & some 4 small square sprues that provide parts of each of the 4 engines.

Unbagging the sprues like a kid on Christmas morning left me with quite a pile of plastic, which the box tells me amounts to 137 pieces that build into a C-17. Time will tell on that score, but lets have a look at the major sprues.

My copy looks like it'd been on a journey, and the vibration of the sprues containing the fuselage halves had suffered a little as a result. Nothing that a quick sand won't see off, but worth looking at when you get it, in case yours has been subject to more violent travel arrangements.

Looking at the details, it's a nicely engraved kit on the face of it. The detail on the interior is shallow, but at this scale injection moulding would permit very little else, I'd imagine. The interior is provided by way of a sleeve that you build the fuselage around, so that there are no ugly sink marks on the outside, often caused by moulding rib & stringer detail integrally. Plus marks for Revell for this move.

As can be seen from the pictures that Paul Bradly kindly posted up recently, the surface detail is of course over-scale. You could hardly expect anything else, but this is easily remedied by some judicious sanding if it bothers you. Some of the raised panel lines (strengtheners?) near the fuselage half joint are large & slightly ragged, but I'm sure that these will probably not survive the seam filling process intact anyway, so careful marking of their location will be needed to replace them later.

Detail on the wings is nicely rendered, and holds up under close inspection.

Weak points from a detail point of view are the flight deck, which is in one piece, and has raised "lounge chairs" for the crew, although the area aft of this has some nicely moulded stairs and storage panel lines, which makes one wonder why more time couldn't be spent on the crew area instead, even though it will only be visible through those tiny windows afterwards... we'll know it's there! The lack of detail in the cargo bay will probably be very quickly corrected by a PE Manufacturer, although the detail on the deck itself seems quite well rendered.

Strong points? Having seen a few built up now, it builds up into a nice replica of this interesting aircraft, and with Hannants Xtradecal set on general release, you can even build British, Australian & Canadian airframes if you so wish. It's also a mainstream model of the C-17... and it won't eat up your food budget for the year, or require an extension to house it once it's complete. I can't wait to start building mine!

[daz greenwood]

Looks nice Mike.

I might even get myself one.

[PBoilermaker]

Gorgeous kit of an outstanding aircraft. Thank you for taking the time to post the pics and in-box review.

Mike

[Dave Fleming]

Looks nice - any chance of sticking a ruler into a photograph so we can get an idea of the size of it?

[Mike]

Looks nice - any chance of sticking a ruler into a photograph so we can get an idea of the size of it?

For you Dave, anything

[Graham T]

Nice but not my scale......................I'll wait for the 1/48 Trumpeter kit thanks

[David Womby]

Thanks for posting. Are there only USAF decals in the box? No foreign operators (I know Xtradecal offer those)?

Does it offer the option to build it wheels up?

David

[Mike]

Nice but not my scale......................I'll wait for the 1/48 Trumpeter kit thanks

Scaleist!

It's not my scale either by rights, but it's the most sensible & pragmatic scale we're ever going to get it at, so I snapped one up

[Richard M]

What do you think the chances are of Revell scaling it up to God's Own Scale? I'd love to see it next to a 1/72 Herc!

Best

Rich

[Mike]

Thanks for posting. Are there only USAF decals in the box? No foreign operators (I know Xtradecal offer those)?

Does it offer the option to build it wheels up?

David

US Decals only in the box... forgot to take a shot of them though

You can build the wheels up or down, and the cargo door up or down, and the crew door open or closed. No choices on the flying surfaces though. Quite a variety still

What do you think the chances are of Revell scaling it up to God's Own Scale? I'd love to see it next to a 1/72 Herc!

Best

Rich

You never know... it'd be a little over 2' by 2' square, so not outwith the realms of possibility from an engineering point of view You could always start a campaign... how's your German?

[Seamus]

What do you think the chances are of Revell scaling it up to God's Own Scale? I'd love to see it next to a 1/72 Herc!

Best

Rich

I'd love one in 1/72, though I have no idea where I'd put it, though that would be something to worry about after buying it

It does look nice, but I'm just not a fan of 1/144

[Richard M]

You never know... it'd be a little over 2' by 2' square, so not outwith the realms of possibility from an engineering point of view You could always start a campaign... how's your German?

Ich spreche Deutsch sehr gut! Ein Bier bitte. Kann ich spiele mit ihren brüsten?

Well that's got me through most of my trips there, not sure it will be much use in a campaign for a Globemaster though... Revell have some other transports and large aircraft in 1/72, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Best

Rich

Edited December 2, 2008 by Richard M

[Dave Fleming]

For you Dave, anything

Thanks Mike, a foot square or so then!!

[Mike]

Thanks Mike, a foot square or so then!!

Pretty close... It uses quite a lot of that square foot too

[RobMac]

This is a nice kit and have one waiting to be built myself. Not a big fan of the scale and would of prefered it to be at least 1/72 or even better 1/48 (I like big ) but still, a good example for a diorama me thinks

[atdb27]

Hi Mike,

Nice share and yes I have 3 to do myself (so far!)

Brit, Aus and USA are my current thoughts using Xtradecal as well as the kit supplied choices.

I also have via Trojan Thunder (Thanks Mate ) a set of Wolfpack flaps/slats set WP14403.

Like Trojan Thunder I will be using this set to up-scale the items for my PIA and (inaccurate) Annigrand 1:72nd Big Brother model.

Mike your 'defect' was minor to some others and my defect in that some fuse nose casting was incomplete!

Easily fixed but must have been the Friday shift checkers time?

Adrian

[atdb27]

I'd love one in 1/72, though I have no idea where I'd put it, though that would be something to worry about after buying it

Hi Seamus

I am one of those mad members who purchased the Annigrand behemouth resin kit.

Not the best of kits - So many inaccuracies it's untrue.

BIG - You bet it is hard to see the Revell kit and imagine it x2. Or the Revell kit is 1/2 the size

One day I will get the Annigrand kit done. For now and along with my mate Trojan Thunder we may one day get her/it done!

Cause no othe kit maker wil do it!

But 48th would be 'kin big (I want it now ) #9 Dream

Adrian