Scale: 1/48-ish - about 14"/35.8cm long when built

Parts: 18 black styrene + 3 clear

Instructions: Exploded diagram and text in French & English

Decals: Self-adhesive stickers

Molding Quality: 8 - good all around

Detail: 5 - not a lot, but then there wasn't on the "original"

Accuracy: Not really applicable

MSRP: $17.99 USD (~$28.59 CAN/ € 18.24 EUR) available from hobby retailers worldwide

Overall Rating: 8 - looks like a fun kit with a lot of potential

Image: Fuselage halves

Image: Instructions are adequate

What You Get

The kit is comprised of 21 styrene pieces (18 black, 3 clear) which make up the plane and a stand. An instruction sheet and a set of self-adhesive stickers for markings round out the package.

Molding is quite good - I found only a couple of sink marks and some small mold seams on my sample. The kit is a faithful reproduction of the Aurora kit, so what you get is 1960's technology pressed in 2000's equipment. There's almost no panel detail, engraved or otherwise, just as on the original (just the outline of landing gear doors); exterior details (such as the thick, squared-off intakes and the landing gear) are clunky by today's standards. No cockpit or wheel wells are provided. Instead, you get a plate with Batman's and Robin's heads, somewhat pinched, sticking up; the landing gear plugs into holes in the underside of the model. I see this as an opportunity to excel - cockpits and gear wells are easily scratchbuilt for those that want more detail. I'd also use some plastic stock to blank off the intakes -- after thining their edges down some.

Incidentally, the size of the Dynamic Duo's heads leads me to guess a scale for the kit at roughly 1/48th. That should greatly simplify finding pre-made parts with which to detail the kit.

Instructions appear to be a faithfull recreation of the original, though in French and English this time around. They're adequade for the job. Painting instructions are extremely simple - as befits the subject. Markings are provided by stickers, which I find disappointing. They're vibrantly colored and the "registration" appears spot on, which is a plus. I'd have preferred traditional waterslide decals - but my young neice, who is far closer to the demographic at which this kit is aimed than her pushing-forty detail-obsessed modeler uncle, probably appreciates the stickers.

Oh, well. Nothing says you can't use the stickers to make masks for painting the bat logos on.

Asssembly and Finish

I assembled the major pieces using tape to hold everything together. The result looks pretty good. You'll need putty at the wing and tail roots, and between the two halves of each wing on their underside (which I could have shown if I hadn't accidentally deleted the image!), but that's about all. It's certainly better than many of the airplane models I've built.

Conclusions

I think it's a good little kit with lots of potential. If you want to recreate a blast from your past, it's something you can have built and strafing the cats in under an hour. If you want something to cause an IPMS judge to do a triple-take, the elements are all there.I recommend it to any modeler with the interest.