The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range, four-engined, wide-body airliner, typically accommodating 366 passengers in three travel classes. It was the first airplane called a "Jumbo Jet" as the first wide-body airliner. It has a pronounced 37.5° wing sweep, easily allowing a Mach 0.85 cruise speed and its heavy weight is supported by four main landing gear legs, each with a four-wheel bogie. The partial double-deck aircraft was designed with a raised cockpit so it could be converted to a freighter airplane by installing a front cargo door, as it was initially thought that it would eventually be superseded by supersonic transports.

Entering service in January 1970 and operated by a multitude of users, this successful machine effectively withstood the harsh competition through the years, not only from the smaller widebodies, but also from the modern, bigger A380, which, amazingly, stopped being produced in 2021, two years before the 747!  Including the prototype, a total of 1574 were built.

This is the 1997 Revell reboxing of the 1990 original Matchbox mold. The specific copy was bought in 2024 from my hometown's petite hobby shop at a low price. The kit comes in a small, side opening blue box, carrying a very attractive, dramatic box art by artist Danijel Frka, depicting an Air Canada bird. In fact, it was the nice box art that drew the attention of my six year old son who grabbed this kit!

Upon opening the box, I was greeted with 59 white styrene parts arranged in two basic sprues which were cut to smaller sections, in order to fit in the tiny Revell box. Molding is acceptable, with some amounts of flash at areas present, easily cleaned off. Panel lines are, surprisingly, very finely engraved and general shapes of parts look correct.

As expected, there’s no cockpit to speak of, but the engines feature compressor faces, looking quite realistic for the scale and the same can be said for the landing gear. Passenger windows are represented as small recesses, something that might not be to everyone’s liking. Nevertheless, the windows are nicely provided as decals, so all you have to do is fill the window recesses and sand smooth. Of note is that Revell provides a nice stand (it was missing from the original Matchbox boxing), so you can place your Jumbo Jet on it if you so wish.

One tiny transparency is provided, to represent the front windscreen. Instructions are nicely done in typical Revell style of the past times, coming in the form of an 8-page b\w leaflet, containing a short history of the type, a sprues map, with the construction nicely spread in 19 simple and concise steps.

Only one scheme is provided, for a charming Air Canada bird. Decals are superbly printed by Cartograf, promising to boost the overall looks and, though old, look to be in excellent condition .

Instructions want you to first join the fuselage halves, trapping the windscreen, together with a mere 3 grams of weight in the nose, to avoid tail sitting (I would put tad more, just to be on the safe side, as the nose landing gear seems quite sturdy). The wings are then assembled and attached, followed by the tailplanes and engines (the latter are keyed, so some attention is required there). Landing gear is last, where you have the option to display it extended or retracted, ending a simple, uncomplex build.

This looks to be a decent kit of the iconic 747: general shapes of parts look correct, molding is more or less good, panel lines are finely engraved (I could live without the recessed window openings, but filling them does not seem too big a deal), details at the key (for this small scale) areas of engines and landing gear are sufficient, instructions are clear, the build itself seems uncomplicated and decals are superb, with the nice stand provided being the icing on the cake. Offered at a very cheap price, if you want a small scale Jumbo Jet, this is a kit worth tackling

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

March 2024

Copyright ModelingMadness.com. All rights reserved. No reproduction in part or in whole without express permission.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.