Revell 1/48 Citation I Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

With the success of business jets in the corporate marketplace, Cessna looked for a niche that would not pit them directly against aircraft like the Learjet, Falcon, and Gulfstream. The logical place was the transition point from turbo-prop (another Cessna capability) to pure turbine power. Cessna wanted an aircraft that could operate from the same airfields as the turboprops yet offer better performance.

The FanJet 500 was a straight-wing, twin engined aircraft that first flew in September of 1969. Unlike other business jets at the time, the Cessna was one of the first to employ fan jet engines. While the aircraft wasn't as fast as the Falcon and Learjet, it could get into shorter airflields thanks to better low-speed performance, yet the pure jet performance made it faster and more economical to operate than the turboprops.

Following an extended flight test program, a number of improvements were made to the design including the addition of thrust reversers and the resulting aircraft was named Citation I. One of the other unique capabilities of the aircraft is the versions dedicated to single-pilot operations. Normal business jets require two pilots, normal turboprops need only one pilot. Cessna was the first to receive certification for single pilot operations of the Citation.

One footnote: The slightly larger Cessna Citation II was the version to enter military service as the T-47A. The OT-47B is the rather awesome Citation II that houses an F-16's APG-66 radar in the nose and a FLIR turret under fuselage near the wing. This set of unique aircraft have been extensively used in drug interdiction missions for several decades.

If this kit looks a little familiar, it should. Revell/Germany reissued the Hasegawa 1/48 Citation I along with the Dassault Falcon 10 and Learjet 35A. As with the other Hasegawa kits, this one is produced on four parts trees molded in white styrene plus a single tree of clear parts. Actually the clear parts are tinted.

The kit is of the older generation of Hasegawa tooling - raised surface details. Nevertheless, the detailing is fine and nicely done. And as with the other business jets in this series, this kit has a nice interior to see through that open cabin door.

While the kit provides color recommendations for the interior, note that interiors varied significantly as commercial and privately-owned business jets tended to have the look of the owner inside and out. While you could do research on the appearance of these aircraft interiors, you would be just as correct to color coordinate the interior as if you were about to spend several million dollars on your own jet.

The interior provides a nice flight deck and seating for six in the main cabin. The exterior is also nicely detailed with the only option available being the main cabin door positionable open or closed.

As with any commercial aircraft, there are a wide range of color schemes you could apply to this model. The kit provides three interesting examples:

• Citation I, OY-TKI, NewAir, Denmark, 2004
• Citation I, PT-0QD, Brazil, 2004

What I especially like about Revell/Germany releases is their decal sheets. These tend to have more options and more interesting subjects than their US counterparts. This is especially true in this case as these decals were done by DACO Products. Very nice indeed!

This kit was released in 2005 by Revell/Germany but it is still readily available. I found this one on the sale rack of my local hobby shop recently. Hasegawa continues to reissue this kit with different decals, so finding the Citation I in one form or another should not be a problem.

If you're looking for a nice aircraft subject that will actually test your scale automotive painting skills (gloss colors), and look really nice in one of those contest categories that see few entries, here is an excellent opportunity!