Sheet:

Aeromaster 48-030: F8F Bearcat

Units: Various

Price

$5.00 when new in 1993

Reviewer:

Scott Van Aken

It is hard to think of this sheet as 'old', yet in many ways it is. For one thing, it is designed for the Testors/Hawk F8F-2 Bearcat. Not a bad kit, but extremely basic. Many aftermarket sets were designed for it, but now most of those are moot with the release of the Hobbycraft kit back about 5-6 years back. Though it has its detractors, the Hobbycraft kit is easy to find, accurate enough for most of us, and reasonably priced as well.

This sheet has a nice mix of aircraft, though I should mention that most of them are the -1 variety with the short tail. If you are actually using the Testors/Hawk kit, you'll have to do a bit of surgery.

First is a natural metal -1 from the 1st Fighter Squadron of the South Vietnamese Air Force. Most of these planes came from the French, who left them after they bugged out of the country after the fall of Dien Bien Phu, though additional planes were supplied by the US.

Second is another -1, but this time in overall gloss sea blue and from the 1st Fighter Bomber Wing of the Royal Thai Air Force.

Another Thai plane is this one also from the same wing as the previous plane. It has blue/white tail stripes and is in natural metal.

The lone -2 is the US Navy version from VF-151 aboard the USS Boxer in 1950. Fin tip and prop hub are red. Unfortunately, no Bearcats took part in the Korean War, though they would have been very potent adversaries against the North Korean Air Force's Russian aircraft.

Review sheet courtesy of me.

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