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Photographs Copyright © Collin Riley 2005-2012 |
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| Grumman
F8F-2 "Bearcat", VF-72, BuNo 121546, Leyte, Phillipines,
1954 |
Nice
model with fairly good fit and finish, and very good paint application.
As with most of the SkyMax dark blue navy types, the blue hue seems
to be just right. Some diecast makers apply a sort of deep sea blue,
whereas the color I remember is more greenish blue. However, a teacher
once said no one can remember colors, so I take even my own opinion
with a grain of salt.
There are a lot of accumulated problems with this model, and each
new release seems to add to the model's woes. As with the second release,
the main gear doesn't fit properly, so I had to apply sticky clay
between the gear platform and the wing to straighten the legs. And
again, I had to trim part of the shock absorber attachment to clear
the "pipe" in the wheel well. Additionally, the gear wants
to collapse forward, and to stop this I anchored both the tail wheel
and port-side main gear to the glass tabletop with spots of tacky
clay (see pictures). (If the sight of this clay bothers you, try squinting.
This will blend all the blues together. ;-) As before, the wing has
a serious case of anhedral, which is evident in several pictures.
With this copy, the canopy had ejection problems: press the top of
the canopy and release and the canopy would pop off. This can be kind
of fun: press, pop; press, pop; press, pop. A hearty self-administered
pinch will break the trance. To fix the problem I cleaned the attachment
grooves, which were contaminated with glue.
Question of the day: Which is more therapeutic, diecast collecting
or fixing problems with diecast? Mmmm.
(For color, I added a Corgi diecast Zero; the Zero is just one of
several Japanese types the Bearcat would have faced if WWII had lasted
another six months.) |
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| Type |
Fighter |
| SkyMax item no. |
SM1008 |
| Production run |
Unlimited |
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