The NEW Revell 1/48 SR-71 A Blackbird Model kit preview 

I was working reconnaissance at Wright Pat in the early 90s when this was put back in service for a while. The last aircraft designed with slide rulers.

Looks like a vast improvement over the Testors kits (they gave you the option to build the YF-12 versions, and this lead to detail issues, and lots of putty work). The main fuselage design on this Revell Germany kit is the way to go, and the instructions reveal there is quality internal reinforcement to make this a sturdy beast. I built the Testors kit a few times for my hobby shop back in the day, and it wasn't bad for the time. This new kit blows it out of the water. And the price is reasonable too. Much more detail with this kit, especially in the engine sections of the wing, lots of internal detail, and the cockpits are dead-on. Can't wait to build this one.

In 1974 on Okinawa it was always a thrill when the "Habu" took off from Kadena on a mission. It would corkscrew gaining altitude until out of sight. We almost got arrested one day by the AP's because the Navy Corpsman I was with went through an open gate and we got within 50 of one of the Blackbirds. The AP's were not amused.

You can bet there will be PE and other addons for this kit in the next year.

One word, an awesome kit. Growing up, Revell was my favorite manufacturer, I see definite improvements in tooling and instructions, as for fit and assembly I have this one on my to do list.

I will definitely be pre-ordering this one for sure! Looks outstanding! Thanks for sharing Andy, you lucky duck!

In 1972 I was assigned to the 1SRS at Beale AFB, CA. Enjoyed my time in the squadron. Will need to pick up one of these models.

Drooling. On the way to work. will watch this later tonight.

I’ll be excited in 5 years when it finally gets here in Australia. Great preview, love your work.

They molded a beautiful body and added only the visible and useful details. They cleverly left out little redundant parts that complicate builds. This is the best engineered Revel aircraft kit I’ve seen since their 1/48 Spirit of St Louis. Looking forward to building one with my son.

I have this kit and am almost done. This kit looks very very good and the detailing is pretty spot on. There is no flash on the kit (at least not the one I got. I know it can change during the pressing process of the moulds) The decals look pretty nice too. Overall, (this kit will be one of my bigger 1:48th scale planes) this is compared to the 1:72 scale from Italeri a far more nicer plane to build, with no fitting issues. You will not regret this kit once you start with it!!

I have been following this project from the beginning. Already ordered it and it's here on 20dec. Can't wait to start building

This is the kit we were hoping for 35 years ago when we were using a full tube of putty building the Testors version ;p

I built the old kit years ago. This kit does look like a much improved kit overall. Like some of the others.....looking forward to building it once again. Thank for the preview.

Earlier this year the smaller and much much older SR-71 from Revell was my first entry to painting model kits. I will definitely get this one too!

Wow didn't know this was getting released! I was only watching a documentary on this beauty the other week! Will definitely be pre ordering one from my hobby store! Thanks for the preview Andy 👍

Very impressive kit, seen one of these aircraft up close, most beautiful aircraft ever built in my opinion.

WOW, that's a nice-looking kit, Andy! Thanks for sharing!! Joe

Really interesting central keel beam to go down the centerline inside - that will keep it rigid. Also cool to see two different nose shapes, and to see that the seam between the upper and lower halves is on the bottom.

I have been waiting for this for such a long time! I built the Testors kit back in the day and can't wait to build this larger version.

Been waiting years for this kit. Thanks Andy!

Beautiful bird. We have the life sized one proudly displayed in our Castle Air museum here in Atwater.

Looks amazing and love the scale. I can not wait to order this one from you.

I built the Revel 1/72 scale version earlier this year. It was a fun build. I built a diorama for it as well! There are a lot of decals for sure. Maybe I will build this one as well! Model on!

Wow, that's a big unit !...might have to hang from the ceiling that one 👍 Love your videos Andy

One thing I saw in the instructions that is a possible mistake was the tire color. I am digging through my photos to verify, but I am pretty sure the tires on the SR-71 had aluminum powder embedded in the tire rubber for better heat transfer due to the landing speeds. The actual tire color should be a dull, matte silver. Those were the same type of tires that were on the YF-12 and the XB-70 Valkyrie. Other than that, great details with the expansion joints and skin corrugations. It is HUGE. That is not a tiny book shelf model for sure. Well done Revell. Edit: GTS (Google That Stuff). There are lots of pics and info about the MLG tires being silver and black rims. Supposedly, the nose tires are standard black rubber.

Im looking forward to getting this. What a gorgeous kit!!

It's a big kit, here in europe he coast €89,95 All the new Revell kits are much better than the old ones. Be safe Andy

WOW!! I cant wait to get my hands on one of those and start building it!!

I'd ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO GET A HOLD OF THOSE 2 ENGINES BY THEMSELVES !!! Thanks For Sharing Andy Have a Blessed Week Ahead.🤗🤗🤗

Awesome! I'll have to sneak one into my hobby room.

Fantastic looking kit of one of my all time favourite aircraft! Cannot wait to get this into my collection.

Very tempting. Looks great!

Can't wait to see the build 😁

Now time for a 1/48 U2

Nice kit review. I have the Testor's kit. The parts are molded in black and had a lot of detail. The outer box also featured actual photos of the SR-71 (on the ground), on the back of the box. The front was a picture of the finished kit ( I kept the box). I bought a vacu-formed garage kit of the drone, made out west by a Father and Son who created them on the side. This was the 1/48th scale. A smaller 1/72nd scale kit was available with the drone, but I preferred the larger scale. I built and painted it, but never got around to putting the decals on. It looks nice as is ( I still have it).

Very cool looking kit thank you for showing us

Andy, the short and sweet high points of the Blackbird family (A-12, YF-12, SR-71) are; designed in 1959 using slide rules, pencil and paper. Built in secrecy in Lockheed’s Burbank factory, then trucked to Area 51 for testing. Construction is 93% titanium, bought from the Soviet Union by the CIA using shell companies around the world. Everything had to be invented, including titanium metallurgy, because nothing “off the shelf” would work at the extreme altitude, speed, and temperatures it operated at. And yes, it leaked fuel like a sieve on the ground, but swelled up with heat at high speed, sealing the leaks. Its cameras could map over 100K square miles of earth surface in an hour. Without having a kit in my hands, from what I’ve seen on several unboxing videos, my 2 cents, I’d give the kit an A-. Hits; overall design, engineering and assembly, skin panel details, engine inlet, (“spike,” not “cone”) compressor, afterburner details, cockpit instrument panels, display stand and spare engines. Misses; louvered bypass vents on engine nacelles, lack of rivet details on the aircraft skin and exhaust flaps, ejection seats lack detail, landing gear and wheel wells lack detail, no crew figures, and the canopy pistons are crap. I’ve built 2 Testors kits, 1 SR-71 and 1 YF-12, having used every detail kit available, AND some scratch building. If you want to build it in flight, only the pilots are missing, (you won’t see the seats) but resin parts are available, though they are not plug and play. If you want to build it on the ground, canopies open, the ejection seats and landing gear will need either resin upgrades or a fair amount of scratch building.

Amazing kit Andy. I was lucky enough to watch one take off at Edwards AFB on its final NASA flight in the 90’s. I will diffidently buy this kit.

I am very excited about this one! I will be getting my pre-order in as soon as you have it up.

Preordered it long time ago (august 2021)…waiting for it to arrive, can’t wait!

i lived in skunk works country as a kid. the things you would see fly over our house, sound barrier being broken. i do miss those days. i think they did a good job on it. i think i'm going to get it. i would get the light f/x going on this.

Looks like a great kit. I built the 1/48 scale Testors years ago.

Wow !The finish product and stand looks like the Boeing Museum SR display , kinda. Great video.

Looks like a winner. On my wishlist from Andy's Hobbies HA

Got one in the mail today. Looks to be a very good kit indeed 👌

I have this kit been waiting over a year it's about time we had a new tool version

Another great video and presentation.

I have to get one or two! cause I have built the testors version twice! and still have one still in the box.... so this kit is a must have!

Ordering for sure, thanks!!!

That is probably the best SR-71 model done especially in 1:48th

Pretty sweet looking sr71!

Got mine ! - Excellent fine surface detail and a very large and impressive kit - looking forward to building it. Used to watch these going out of RAF Mildenhall - one powerful machine ! If you haven’t check out LA Speed Story on RU-vid by an SR71 pilot - very funny, inspiring and raises a chuckle Thanks for the review

Awesome, I want my hands at that scale!

That looks awesome. Will definitely be interested in getting one. Really like the added structure to strengthen the fuselage and engine design. Will definitely make for a strong and impressive kit. I had one of the old 1/48 Testors kits and it was a beast. Nice to see such a iconic aircraft getting the model kit respect it deserves.

I can see a diorama of the SR71 being serviced with an engine on its trolley being worked on. I met a Lockheed engineer at Mildenhall in the 1970s subcontracted to the USAF. He was the only guy on the base with a beard and shoulder length hair!

Hi mate, it looks very impressive. I can't wait to see it here, in Australia.

I used to own the Testors kit, but sold it. It's neat to see a new tooling SR-71. 👍

Keep em coming Andy super!!

A great reference is Blackbird park Palmdale CA. There is an SR 71 and an A 12 on display with a J 58, several videos of the park on RU-vid. About the only "Quick fix" I would do would be to drill out the main under carriage legs after they are glued together and epoxy a metal wire in them. Do not see much else, good looking kit. I look forward to what the aftermarket brings out for this kit. I would like to see engine trolleys and the twin Buick V8 start cart.

I built a smaller scale version years back [I don't recall which brand it was though]. This one looks amazing!

ZOMG. I'm an SR-71 junkie and from what I can see the detailing is pretty good especially on the engines though some things are of course simplified for scale. The cockpit is a bit chunky as someone else pointed out but if this kit sells well I foresee lots of aftermarket add-ons like 3D printed instrument panels becoming available. You're going to build it for us, right? Right? Please?

Looks like a nice kit!

Now that is a beautiful model, One of my favorite airplanes

absolutley and the yes the markings accurate.

I have 2 really nice Testers 1/48s sitting in my stash begging to be built . Gonna have to pick this up too .

Andy that’s incredible

I WANT THAT BLACK BIRD!😍😍😍🤗

This is an all new tool kit of the sr-71 light years a head of the old testors kits I have in my stash and the yf-12a in 1/48 just hope they do the a-12 and the yf-12a too this will go nicely with my academy 1/48 new tool u-2 dragon lady

I have the Testors one in the stash. Makes me want to build it next.

Based on what I can see, they are putting in framing elements to both stiffen the exterior structure of the model to prevent warps and to potentially allow for someone to open up the camera/sensor bay areas in the chines and the nose. So I expect resin aftermarket to offer those goodies eventually. The two nose tops implies that it can be built with an ASARS nose or with one that mounted an optical bar camera (the OBC would have a big glass port on bottom if fitted). For display at airshows, typically no camera/sensor was fitted. Decal options look to be for four jets, two with the 68 to 84 white markings, one with the 84 to 90 red markings and one for the early 90s temporary reactivation of the jet before it got grounded for good. One tip I can pass along, Tamiya rubber black is a good shade for this plane. Floquil Weathered Black if you have some stashed is a dead on color option (I checked it against an actual Blackbird in a museum) but it hasn't been available for awhile. The nose sections can be changed out and it was possible depending on the equipment fit to see a nose with a darker shade than the rest of the plane since some of the noses were kept inside under wraps while the rest of the plane was sitting in their open air hangars getting their paint ever so slightly sun faded.

I built the old Testors kit when I was a kid, I hope this one fits better.

Such a cool aircraft👍

Andy; Looks like a fine model of the SR 71! BIG model, too. I was in Tucson a few years back. I don’t golf so when everyone decided to go out in the blistering desert to do this, I went to the Pima County Air & Space Museum. In the main hanger is an actual SR 71! It’s freaking huge, too! Worth a visit and don’t forget to do the extra cost bud ride through “The Boneyard” of US planes awaiting their fate! Good day, for sure! BOL Mike Cassidy Toronto

I assembled a Revell YF12A some 50+ years ago. Can't remember the scale but it finished over maybe 18 inches back then. Huge model. If I remember the kit came out when the plane was still basically a secret.

I really like the stand and display engines.

I want one as soon as they get here. Looks like a pretty good (nice) kit.

Hi Andy, the new SR-71 looks great. I hope someone builds it soon on YT so e can see how it goes together. Believe it or not, I do have one of the old Testors kits in my stash. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like a very good kit details looks good enjoyable video Andy Steve

Great video, I would buy that!

Ooohhhhhh I need this

I was on the verge of ordering it here in the netherlands as my next project.....Or maybe i will or i'll do the B-25 also in 1/48 It is already available in the Netherlands

Aww damn it! I ought to just start up a Direct Deposit to Andy's Hobby Shop.

I still have the 1/48 Blackbird I built back in the 80s. This has more attention to details and way more decals. Should be a fun build and I think I can do a much better job of painting it.

There is a real one in Dulles Airport Smithsonian museum. You can go and verify the accuracy of this kit any time.

Holy crap! A new SR-71!

That is awesome lv it

wow nice !

I've received two today, 66€/75 $ per kit. It looks great and is going to be a fun build.

Hello Andy. Thanks for sharing. Usefull as usal. I started modelling at 1/35 scale. I am wondering, is there as many choice in 1/48 as i have in 1/35 ? I am considering to start again. But to have the choice is important. Would i found as many classic references, like Tiger, pz III, sdkfz 251, t34, stuka, P51 or fw 190 in 1/48, as i could in 1/35 (or 1/32 for planes)? Thank you

Thanks, Andy, for getting the word out on this brand new kit but in addition to this, did you know Hypersonic released about a year ago a start cart in 1/48 scale? The cart was used to start the engines on the SR-71. If you read anything about the Blackbird, you'll know the P & W J58 engines were started with two Buick V-8 engines (with a boost shot of triethylborane TEB for ignition) on the cart (later a big-block Chevy) and Hypersonic has done a beautiful rendition of this cart. Both early and later versions can be built. Hypersonic has hinted they may also be marketing an SR-71 in 1/48 scale. The Air Zoo Museum in Kalamazoo Michigan has a SR-71 displayed and it is an awesome sight.

Saw the real thing in a museum in Seattle...awesome aircraft.

Fantastic, the greatest aircraft ever!

First time to see a real one is in Udvar Hazy air and space museum in Chantilly, VA. Awsome

It's big, but not unmanageable.

Was just about to get the old one, screw that XD.

Thanks

They are going to scale it down, and it will then be the definitive 1/72 SR-71.

I will be getting one

I did that Testors kit about 30 years ago