Previous kits in this scale by Frog, Matchbox and Airfix were fine for their times, but had been overtaken by technology. Today's modelers really want more detail and fidelity to form than what we wanted in the past. All the previous kits were deficient in some way or another in the fidelity to form part of things and this one seems to have corrected all of those.  The earlier release of the Mk.6 sold very well indeed, so it was not surprising that a year or so later, the FGA.9 was released. After a very long absence, this variant is now back on the market.

 You get pretty much the same kit as the F.6, which was released in 2005, however, there is are additional parts compared to the F.6 and some that were included in the initial boxing of the FGA.9 that are not in this kit. One thing the F.6 kit had that this does not are Sidewinders and their rails. I guess the RAF FGA.9s did not have this system installed. Everything else is about the same.

Some parts have flash, but not as bad as the initial boxing. There are no sink areas and no issues with ejector pin marks. The kit is quite modular with separate exhaust and outer forward wings to handle the FGA.9 bits. The nose and gun area are also modular as if they were thinking of the recon version, though one has not been released. On the outer upper wings are some antennas with questions beside them. I guess you will need to find a photo to see if these were used or not.

Cockpit is fairly well done and decals are supplied for instruments. Canopy can be posed open or closed, same with the speed brake and the flaps. Thanks to this variant's ability to carry larger fuel tanks, the builder will need to cut sections from them for clearance. For things under wings you have 230 gallon tanks inboard and outboard either 100 gallon tanks or rocket pods. Landing gear is well done and you can build this gear up though a stand will need to be obtained from some other source.

Instructions are well done and provide only Revell paint references. One option is as shown on the box art in green and dark grey with light grey undersides. This light grey will need to be mixed if using Revell paints. The plane is from 54 squadron in 1968. The other is from 1963 and 8 Squadron. This has a silver underside as that was standard for years so be sure to check your references regarding underside colors. Decals are typical of Revell and are fairly matte.  Revell also did not bother cutting the underwing serials for the gear down option so that will be a pain to get right. They also supply all the stencils you will need. If you don't like the options, you can use one of the myriad aftermarket sheets to take care of this.