Hobbycraft 1/72 F2H-3 Banshee

With its name derived from Irish mythology, the McDonnell F2H Banshee was an early jet fighter operated by the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps and the Royal Canadian Navy.

The Banshee was developed during the mid to late 1940s, being a larger, more powerful and more heavily armed derivative of the earlier FH Phantom and incorporating several innovations, such as a pressurized cockpit, a "kneeling" nose landing gear and an ejection seat. It was one of the primary American fighters used in the Korean War, typically being flown as an escort fighter and reconnaissance aircraft. Radar-equipped Banshees were also used for all-weather fleet defense.

Albeit (mainly due to its straight wing) being considerably slower than the latest land-based fighters, with its powerful twin jets, its high rate of climb, its ruggedness and resistance to flak and easy maintainability it proved to be a capable high-altitude fighter, making it the aircraft of choice to escort B-29 bombers over Korea. In total, 895 examples were built.

In 1951, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) drafted a $40 million deal for 60 new Banshees to replace its obsolete fleet of Hawker Sea Furies. As the purchase was not approved before 1953, by which point production of the Banshee had been terminated, the RCN resorted to acquiring 39 second-hand USN F2H-3s for $25 million which were delivered between 1955 and 1958. They would be flown from HMCS Bonaventure, as well as NORAD interceptors from shore bases. RCN systematically equipped their aircraft with AIM-9 Sidewinders, in order to increase their potential.

Although initially well-liked by Canadian pilots for its flying qualities, the Banshee exhibited a high accident rate of 30.8%. This, combined with RCN’s shift to anti-submarine warfare (ASW), which did not anticipate aerial attacks (meaning here was little need for the type) and escalated costs to keep the obsolete bird operational in the harsh Atlantic environment, quickly gave the death’s kiss to Canadian Banshees, which were retired without replacement in September 1962.

The short lived Canadian Banshees were the primary aircraft of the equally short-lived RCN Grey Ghosts aerobatic team that flew available operational Banshees for each show. Three RCN Banshees survive to date, with the rest either scrapped or burned in firefighting exercises upon their retirement.

This is the late 80s Hobbycraft mold that has lately been recently reissued by Academy. Essentially an upgrade of the older Airfix offering, it is a solid kit, providing a decent representation of the F2H-3, having its strong points (sharp molding, well done engraved panel lines, looks accurate) and lacking at areas like the too shallow wheel wells and the off-registered decals at the earlier reboxings, with the detail at the rest key areas (like the cockpit, engine and landing gear parts) being average.

The specific kit is the original 1987 release and was bought in 2004 from a (now sadly closed) toy/hobby shop in my hometown at a fairly low price. For a look at its contents, you may read its preview, found at the ever growing MM archives.

I started by trapping the cockpit tub, rear bulkhead and instrument panel between the fuselage halves, together with some 15 grams of fishing weights in the front, to prevent tail sitting. The intake inner plates were attached at this time, as well. The wings, which contain the root-fitted engines, were next assembled (a five-piece affair each) and attached to the fuselage.

Basic cockpit color was black, with the raised instrument faces dry brushed with silver and some red, yellow and white knobs “pinned” with a toothpick with like colors. The seat and control stick were left off, to be attached at later stages. The intakes and compressor faces were painted Tamiya X-11 Silver.

The tail planes were next, which must be attached at an upward angle, followed by the 2-piece tip tanks, which were also attached, needing some tweaking to sit positively and correctly (and I think I did a less than perfect job there…). Since light could be seen  passing through the fuselage gun holes, I stuffed some modeling clay fore of the cockpit, which I carefully painted black by inserting a fine brush through the gun openings.

This concluded basic assembly which was as pleasant and uncomplex as the kit itself is. Overall fit, while not “Tamiya”, was good, only needing some filler at the “usual suspect” areas (mainly the wing roots). A couple of sink areas were filled too. After a final sanding, I decided to take the Banshee to the paint shop!

Deciding to go for a Canadian bird, I first gave the nose and front anti glare area a coat of Hu85 Black, then masked it off and gave the topsides a coat of Hu123 Extra dark Sea Gray. After masking it too, I gave the remaining a coat of Hu127 US Ghost Gray. Upon removing the masks, I painted the exhausts, as well as the front gun openings, Mr Hobby 61 Burnt Iron. The distinctive “Corroguard” coated leading edges were hand painted with Hu56 Aluminum, which dried to a shade close to that observed in reality. A coat of Future prepared the bird for decals.

I use the kit decals, in order to represent #101 RCN machine, as it stood sometime in the late 50s. Decals were neither sharply printed nor well registered, this being especially true for the red maple leaves. At least they behaved well in application, easily detaching from their backing paper and, with the help of strong softening solution, more or less following the contours of the model. A coat of Future sealed them.

The seat, stick, as well as a simple gunsight made from acetate sheet were attached in position. In order to beef up the looks of the simplistic ejection seat, I added foot pans from styrene sheet, ejection handles from stretched sprue and seat belts from masking tape. Basic seat frame and head cushion color was black, the rear and lower cushions were olive green, all three ejection handles were red and seat belts were left unpainted with brass buckles done with a fine tip brass pen.

All landing gear parts were next attached, with the bird proudly standing on its feet. The nose leg that contained the wheel not only was too short, but also had the wrong shape, being more correct for earlier Banshees. By consulting net available pics, I cut off and repositioned its bits and also added a longer main strut from styrene of suitable thickness, in order to give the Banshee a slight nose up stance. I also added brake lines to the main legs and some ribbing to the nose bay from stretched sprue, hoping to somehow distract the focusing on the too shallow bays. All landing gear parts, wheel wells, door innards and wheel rims were painted Hu56 Aluminum, tires and brake lines were black, brake calipers were painted gunmetal. Oleos were highlighted with a fine tip silver pen. The wheels were tad filed to look weighted.

Time for some weathering, which first consisted of a black wash to accentuate all recessed panel lines and provide some areas (like the landing gear) with a used, oily look. Then, dark brown and black dry pastels were applied at all areas where dirt, grime and the like would likely reside, with a satin coat giving the bird its final hue.

The canopy had its well defined frames hand painted and attached in position. Though it fitted well at both front and rear, a gap was evident in the middle area, which was treated with white glue. The underside antenna was painted white and attached at this time, as well.

The distinctive pitot tube which was mounted on the lower starboard side of the fuselage front was not provided by the kit and was fabricated from a suitably cut styrene sheet with a stretched sprue piece glued on its end. Finally, tiny blobs of red and green clear paint represented the wingtip lights, before calling the Canadian Banshee done!

Sword came in 2014 with its sensibly priced 1/72 Banshees (still, as of 2024, to offer the -3 though), which offer a high level of detail (you can read Rob Hart’s nice preview of the F2H-2P here). Being limited run in nature and containing resin and (a lot of) PE parts means that they are not expected to be easy builds, but if you want a modern, detailed and accurate Banshee they are the way to go.

This means that the subject elderly Hobbycraft (now boxed by Academy) Banshee is now left in second place (with the even older Airfix following), still being a solid kit, with its strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, overall shape looks correct, molding is sharp, panel lines are finely engraved, construction is uncomplex and fit is good. On the other hand, key area detailing is average, landing gear bays are way too shallow and decals were off registered (not an issue at the recent Academy reboxing, though).

Out of the box, an attractive Banshee can still emerge. Offered at a good fraction of the price of the superior but challenging Sword, this is still a decent albeit simple kit that can yield an appealing result.

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

5 August 2024

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