In recent years the same subjects have cropped up in contrasting scales, often not long after each other. We've had Beaufighters, Mosquitos, Hurricanes, Hunters, Harvards and now hot on the heels of Hasegawa's 1/48 Typhoon we now have a new tool 1/72 kit from Academy.

Their "Tiffie" depicts the "bubble" top variant and is a beauty to behold. Surface detail is all sharply recessed with raised strengthening plates on the rear fuselage. A well detailed cockpit is provided along with some impression of the tubular frame moulded inside the fuselage halves. The canopy is also thin and clear, though anyone wishing for the car-door versions may have to convert their own as the tooling breakdown doesn't suggest Academy have any plans for this. The tailplanes are also the standard type, so for later versions you'll have to rob a pair from the companion Academy Tempest kit.

Wheel wells are boxed in and the undercarriage legs and doors also exhibits some excellent detail. The kit offer alternative parts for either the three or four-bladed props and some neat rocket projectiles with separate fins - no bombs are provided, so these will have to come from the spares box. On the downside, the exhaust stacks are moulded integrally with the fuselage - Academy have done a fine job of it for sure, but separate stacks would have been preferable for both conversion and painting purposes. The shell ejector chutes also have some hefty raised surrounds which need sanding down, but then where's the fun if you can't make improvements like these?

Decals cater for two aircraft, one from 175 Squadron the other from 193 in the standard dark green/ocean grey/medium sea grey camouflage finish. The sheet is well printed and includes black/white identification markings, though the colours are a little translucent. Doubtless, like its 1/48 counterpart, there will be a glut of decal sheets for this kit. Fine moulding is one thing, but how does this Typhoon measure up? Thankfully, Academy seem to have done their homework this time around and the kit is a close match to the Arthur Bentley plans that were originally published in Scale Models magazine, and themselves the results of much careful research. The box photos seem to show the top line of the nose falling away a fraction too sharply, but it's not really apparent on the finished model.

I liked the way my finished model turned out and I'll certainly make another one someday.