Many of the parts form the landing gear and engines, while the wings are made up of only three parts, including a central section comprising part of the fuselage and the underside of the wings. There is even a cockpit! The instructions, in the form of an A4 booklet, are clear and easy to follow.

The kit looks very nice overall, even if the engraving (recessed) is a little deep. It could have been filled in advantageously, except perhaps for the access doors where the engraving could be used to represent these doors with a juice, as they are not supplied as decals by Revell. The portholes are also recessed and it would have been preferred decals instead. The decal sheet supplied by Revell shows the Airbus decoration of the first four aircraft, but does not give the civil registrations. However, the Coroguard ‘patches’ on the upper surfaces of the wings and the ‘bare metal’ areas of the leading edge slats are provided, which will save some people a few metres of masking tape...

The 2014 kit featured British Airways decoration, but this was already applied to the kit parts. The 2023 version is identical to the 2009 original and features the same markings.

In conclusion

It's a very simple kit, a little too simple maybe, but it could be a good basis for adding an A380 to your collection without having to enlarge your home. The lack of choice and precision isn't a real problem if it comes to decals, as some craftsmen offer to reduce their boards to 1:144 to dress up this big Airbus (and therefore supply it with windows, doors and windscreens in this form). For the purists out there, the engine nacelles in the kit are the Engine Alliance GP7200s that equipped the four Airbus demonstrators and the aircraft used by Air France, Etihad, Emirates, Korean Air and Qatar Airways... The differences with the Trent 900 nacelles are not enormous and few people will be aware of the subterfuge if an aircraft from another airline is chosen...

 Dominique Jadoul