For more information on what is in the box and a brief history, please visit the preview.

As usual, construction starts with a thorough reading of the instructions, and the gathering together of subassemblies. In this case, it meant wheels, engine, wings, wheel well and cockpit. I noted that several of the mounting points are too shallow and will need to be drilled out and in some cases enlarged. A short session with a drill twist will take care of these as they crop up. I also removed the resin blocks from the three resin pieces and after butchering the seat getting it off the block, I discovered to my shock that I had two of the same console sides. Grabbing the phone, I called Squadron and they sent me a replacement piece. It is customer service like this that has kept me buying from them for the last 20 plus years. Once the part came, it was painted and made ready to install when the time came.

During the assembly of the cockpit, I found that the control column was going to end up under the seat, not exactly a good thing, so I cut off the control attachment cover and set it aside until later on. The back walls were glued in place and the seat was then glued in. I then glued the instrument panel section to its locating area and proceeded to check fit by placing it into the fuselage. It didn't really fit well and I had to shuffle the forward bulkhead around a bit to get a decent fit. The center console part was glued in. I then used a short section of Contrail rod to attach the rudder pedals to and when that was dry glued them to the back of the center console. They really did not fit perfectly. It is almost as if the pedals are a bit too big. The whole thing was then painted Interior Green.

Of all the subassemblies, the landing gear one is probably the trickiest. Though similar to the Tamiya kit, it isn't the same. I found that some of the parts were molded with a bit too wide an angle to fit into their holes without having to 'squeeze' them down a bit to fit. Though nothing broke, I'm not sure how well this stress will hold up. I also came to the realization while building this assembly that this is still a short run kit. It doesn't beat you in the head with it, but the softness of the plastic and the need to clean up every part before gluing it are two traits. In fact, the landing gear sprue had some particularly heavy mold seams that needed cleaned up. I also found some ejector pin stubs that needed removed. Sword has the surface detailing down well, they now need to concentrate on the cleanliness of their smaller parts.

While all of that was drying, I painted the engine steel and glued it to the 'firewall'. This is a butt join like most of the ones on this kit so you need to spend some time making sure it fits properly. I did this by test fitting it in a fuselage half a number of times until I was satisfied.  Then it was time to start putting some of this stuff into the fuselage halves.

This is where it became complicated. l was now at the stage where I had to add in all these subassemblies. Test fitting showed that with some fudging, all the parts could fit. I started with the cockpit. It was relatively trouble-free. This was aligned with the headrest section and it fit well against an ejector tower on the back. Next was the engine and firewall. While it fit, I was completely unable to get the other fuselage half to fit properly without a rather large gap. It seems that Sword did not take into consideration the larger diameter of the 1820 when 'adapting' the Tamiya fuselage, or made the engine too big. My guess is the former. However, it does seem as if the front of the cowling was designed for the larger engine so I did not trim cylinder heads.

The last part was the landing gear assembly. This was all glued together with the help of superglue as the parts just did not want to fit without some grunt work. I then tried to install it in the fuselage. No joy. I ended up having to trim the forward part of the assembly. Even with the bulkhead perpendicular in the fuselage, the landing gear has a decided forward slant to it that I don't think is normal for the Wildcat. I then glued on the other fuselage half. As I suspected, there was a HUGE gap on the forward section.

Once the clamped fuselage was dry, I then began using strip plastic to fill in the gap. I also tested one of the vac canopies to make sure that it would fit the wider forward base. No problems thanks to the flexibility of the plastic! The plastic was then put in place and copious amounts of glue was used. I like to use a 'hot' glue that somewhat melts the plastic and makes for a strong bond. Superglue will eventually crack under any sort of stress. I did, however, use superglue to fill in some of the gaps between laminates. Then several applications of filler to smooth things out. There is a small section that goes forward of the landing gear. It needed trimming to fit properly. I also had to do some trimming of the landing gear attachment on that part. Then the forward cowling was glued on. It is a bit too small, but would have been way too big had I trimmed cylinder heads to get the upper fuselage halves to meet. Again, I used glue to sort of melt things and the fit was good. The small ledge all around the cowling was then slathered with filler and later sanded smooth.

The next step was to attach the tail planes. These have small pegs that fit into holes on the fin. These holes are too shallow so were drilled out. Then the tail planes were glued in and the fit was quite good. Can't say the same for the wings. They are actually wider at the root than the wing roots. You have a choice of ledge at the top or the bottom. I chose the bottom. I also had to file flush one of the wings as somehow the bottom half of one managed to be longer than the other! Once all that was done and sanded, the tail wheel was added. Fit there was fair, and needed some filler.

At this juncture, the wheels were glued on. Previously they had been airbrushed overall RLM 66 dark grey and then hand brushed with gloss sea blue in the hubs. The holes in the wheels are too small to fully accept the axles, so they were drilled out somewhat and then glued in place. While on its back, the tail wheel was painted RLM 66. I also attached the center brace between the gear and then glued on the gear doors. Fit was fair but not great. Once all that was dry, it was on to the decals.