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Revell G. 91 "Tiger-Meet"

By Will Perry

Overview

In 1953, NATO sponsored a design contest for a light tactical fighter and the winner was a small but tough Fiat whose aerodynamics borrowed liberally from the superlative F-86.  The "Gina" had a short range, but it could be operated from country roads or fields, and was simple to maintain.  The plane was shopped around all over Europe and the US, but only Italy and Germany added them to their fleets.  The US did buy fifty G. 91s to supply Greece and Turkey, though both countries declined.  Passing through German hands, these aircraft eventually found their way into Portuguese service.  Other ex-Luftwaffe examples followed.  These planes proved their mettle in the brutal colonial war in Angola and stayed on in Portuguese service till 1993.  Judging from the number of web pages devoted to these Ginas, the Portuguese must have loved these planes.  Excellent websites can be found at-

http://aviation-hobby-site.com/ampPhtogal.htm
http://walkarounds.home.sapo.pt/fiat.htm
http://walkarounds2.home.sapo.pt/tigres.htm

The last site cited above is devoted to the most exotic and beautiful of Ginas - the examples painted up as tigers for the exhibitionistic NATO Tiger Meet events.  Three planes were painted in this fashion -

Serial Nº 5465  (Tiger Meet 1987)
Serial Nº 5452  (Tiger Meet 1991)
Serial Nº 5454  (Tiger Meet 1992)

The Kit

The magnificent Portuguese 5452 is the subject of this release of Revell’s 1/72 Gina.  The kit has taken years to get here - the fuselage is marked "1999".   The talk on the modeling web is that the kit had a troubled development, and that it was rushed into production in a not quite finished state.  The kit has not been well received, and a close examination shows that it doesn’t meet the crisp, high standards set by other recent Revell releases.

I counted 66 parts, molded in a translucent bright yellow that looks visually difficult to work with.  The trees were packed loose in the sturdy end-opening box, and my example had scratches in the canopy that may be a bear to polish out.  Some superfluous rocket pods, a pointy nose, and alternative armament panels give evidence to other boxings, past and future.  The kit’s design and assembly is conventional for small single-engine jets.

Basic accuracy is pretty good - measurements of taped together parts scale out within a couple of millimeters of published dimensions.  Comparing the kit to photos, a couple of areas stand out - the fairing behind the kit’s canopy looks too stubby lengthwise and too tall height wise.  The intake mouth of the kit is just too small to my eye, and the drop tanks a bit anemic.

Cockpit detail is adequate, if not state-of-the-art - a decent 3-piece bang-seat, joystick, and detailed side consoles and instrument panel.  The wheel wells have detail, but it’s all geometric gizmo shapes that you expect in science fiction kits.  On the real plane, the armament, its ammunition and the gun panel were quickly removable as a single unit.  Revell molded the gun panel as a separate part, but they passed up the opportunity to represent the guns and ammo.  A passable tube with turbine fan prevents the dreaded "see-thru" at the tail, but there’s no attempt to simulate intake ducting up front.  There’ll be good views of the interior structure of the model.

The molding is the biggest letdown.  Engraved panel lines are inconsistent - crisp in some areas, soft and shallow in others.  Simple rescribing will help, especially on top of the wings.  My example also had noticeable sink marks on the upper surface of the wings.  The scribing of some scoops and inspection panels was inexcusably sloppy, like an Eastern European kit from the Bad Old Days.  Some areas have a surface texture rough to require some attention, lest they show up under the glossy final finish.  The canopy molding is thin and clear.

A quick masking tape assembly of the main parts revealed no apparent fit problems, and the gun bay panel fit quite neatly.

Of course, it’s the decals that’ll make or break the model.  You get lots - I counted around 100! – on two sheets, printed in Italy (Cartograph?).  My sheets were perfectly registered.  The decals look a tad thick and they’re a semi-matt finish.  The majority of the decals are black tiger stripes and that lovely tiger face.  The shapes on the decal sheet compare nicely to photos of the real plane.  The instruction sheet includes good but small diagrams for decal location - scanning and blowing them up to 1/72 will make them more useful.  Fingers crossed that the decals will fit, stick and settle down properly.

Conclusion

What a long list of quibbles!  They add up to a kit that’s a bit of a disappointment.  To get some perspective, I pulled out a pair of recent kits from MPM (the Hispano Aviacion HA-200) and Revell (the jewel-like Agusta A-109).  The Gina compares well to the limited run MPM kit - better molding and crisper detail.  But the Agusta kit puts the Gina to shame - it looks a quantum jump nicer in every respect.  It’s not that the Gina is such a bad kit - it’s just that Revell has set such a high standard of late, and the Gina doesn’t meet it.  But the kit has a final trump - it’s in a scheme that is so fantastic and beautiful that it overshadows the mediocre qualities.  It may be a pretty average kit, but it can turn out a spectacular model.