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After his impressive correction sets for the KittyHawk F2H-2 kit (link), Michael E. Rieth - from Rieth Creations - is now working on full new 1/48th scale Banshee kits. And not only the F2H-2 but also the F2H-3/-4. Fingers crossed. Sources: https://www.riethcreations.com/post/f2h-3-4-banshee-work-in-progress https://www.facebook.com/riethcreations/posts/pfbid02oSCLdoB8LXWFeUwWET4STogJAbRi4g19KHnx2Rx81ShvT1goKXCxVUZCms4kQ87Xl V.P.

Not only a F2H-3/-4 "Big Banjo" - ref. KH80130 - (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234946848-148th-mcdonnell-f2h-3-4-banshee-by-kittyhawk-in-2014) but also a McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee in 1/48th by Kitty Hawk -ref. KH80131. V.P.

F2H-2P, 128863 U.S.Navy, "Look III", VC-61, USS Yorktown, Korea 1953-54 Kit: Sword F2H-2P Photo Banshee (SW72078) Scale: 1/72 Paints: Vallejo Model Air, Vallejo Metal Colour Weathering: Flory Models Wash WIP: Photo reconnaissance version of the early US Navy fighter jet, the Banshee. Not many were made but still an interesting plane with rather sleek looks due to the extended nose. Delightful little kit with some resin & PE extras that came with the kit. Only thing I have added is the tail pitot tube. Cockpit required some extra cutting but other than that it went together better than I expected. Landing gear installation was tricky to put it mildly and the plane ended up in a nose down position which I'm not sure is entirely correct but oh well. Definitely left me hungry for some more Sword kits - luckily I have plenty of other US Navy subjects waiting in the stash. Painted with Vallejo Model Air.

SWORD 1:72 F-2H-2P Photo Banshee One of my more recent purchases. I'm currently working on Hobby Boss's F9F Panther and thought it could use a friend. Colour schemes. This will be a Navy bird, most likely. Decals. By Eduard, as it seems. It's a short run kit, for sure. Not saying that is a bad thing - I mean the details are pretty nice for the most part, but you can also see that there will most likely be a lot of sanding & fitting included. Interestingly the nose section is a clear part - because of all the camera windows. One way of doing it, I guess. Resin parts included - and they look pretty nice. Sadly, one of the intake fence thingies is bent but I guess it will straighten out with some heating. And also comes with Eduard PE sheet. I have not read or done any research about this kit - but I'm expecting (and looking forwards) to do some actual modelling to make it all come together. But definitely has the pieces fora nice looking kit - we will see how I manage it

Next out of the gate for me is the early '90's boxing of the Hobbycraft F2H Banshee: I've had this kit in my stash since my mid-90's buying spree. I always liked the Banshee and it's older sibling the FH-1 Phantom. When I was in elementary school and my school library was selling "old" books they didn't want anymore, I snapped up 2 books about airplanes: one about transport planes and this one: My dad was a WWII airplane modeler and I had lots of them on my ceiling, so this was my first real taste of the jet-age, so to speak. Truth be told, I liked the FH-1 better than the F2H, but mostly because it's canopy looked more like what I would find on my beloved WWII aircraft. The Banshee's canopy seemed more "jet age". Actually, my favorite plane in that book was the F4D, but that is a model for another day... This kit starts off (like the B-57 I just finished) with decals that are incredibly out of register: The yellow is off by maybe a half inch from the white that is supposed to be underneath it. Since it only affects the yellow, and the scheme I'd chosen has yellow tail stripes, I thought maybe I'd paint the stripes on and use the other decals that didn't have yellow. But then I took a close look at the decals and they just seem... off. They have kind of rough edges and are very matte -- makes me wonder if they'd just break apart in water. Besides, the matte won't work real well with a gloss aircraft. I really wanted to do a dark blue Banshee, but all the after market decals I could find were for gull gray banshees. Lucky for me I was able to find a sheet from a later boxing of the same kit: As an added bonus, the instructions have no painting instructions. None. So I've had to rely on research for the cockpit colors and that has been a little bit of a puzzle. Some cockpit photos show the interior as black, some as gray and some modelers (and some model instructions I found at scalemates) show the cockpit as Zinc Chromate. It could be that all are true of different periods of time. In the end I went with gray, because that's what the Banshee at the Naval Aviation museum is. I started off by spraying the interior pieces with MRP FS35237: The instrument panels were painted black, with dry brushing of gunship gray, then dark ghost gray and finally steel. The instrument panels are not accurate, but I painted red switches about where they would be in the real thing: The seat has been a bit of a challenge as well because it is not molded accurately. It has the head rest of a Martin-Baker ejection seat from the Banshee, but the rest of it doesn't look like any Banshee seat I could find. In the end I painted it gray with a black head rest and painted the seat cushions Olive, which kind of matched a couple of the instructions I found. I'm not going to sweat it too much. I'm still working on it, so no pictures yet. The few pictures of the intakes I found seemed to be the same color as the body, so I painted these parts in preparation of putting the wings together: I used Testors rattle-can enamel Dark Sea Blue thinned with just a couple drops of Mr. Leveling thinner. Turned out quite glossy. That's all for now!

Hello everyone! Here is the Airfix 1:72 McDonnell F2H-2P Banshee BuNo 126678 “2” of VMJ-1, USMC in Korea, 1951, which I built back in 2000. I opened up the solid-moulded camera ports in the nose, scratchbuilt some cameras and glazed the openings with Kristal Klear. The kit was fully painted with brush. Thanks for looking. Miguel

This is my 1/72 Hobbycraft F2H-3 Banshee. The F2H-3 was the all-weather fighter version of the F2H with a nose radar, increased size and fuel load, and horizontal stabilizer relocated to the fuselage from the rudder. I was pleasantly surprised by fit on this kit and while not a Hasegawa or Tamiya it was certainly better than Italeri. The only after marked part used was an Obsureco seat left over from my last build The kit came with decals for a all blue, anodized aluminum or gray over white finish. After much vacillating I went with the anodized aluminum. This is my first NMF in almost a year, so it is not as perfect as I would like, but still it came out nice. The quality of the decals was excellent, but since they tried to share as much between the different finished they were overly complicated. For example for the blue finish the red flashes get a while out line while for the others they get a black one. So all the red flashes came with separate outline that has to be overlaid with a separate outline. Still the worked well. On to the pictures Here it is with my old Airfix F2H-2 Next up is the Sword FJ-2 Fury. Enjoy.

Coming in 2014 from KittyHawk Model is a 1/48th McDonnell F2H-3/-4 Banshee kit - ref. KH80130 The "Big Banjo" is my favourite. Source: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234946847-kitty-hawk-asks-f2h-34-what-you-think/ V.P.

F2H-2 / F2H-2P Banshee 1:48 Kittyhawk The McDonnell F2H Banshee was a single seat carrier capable Jet Fighter developed by McDonell from their FH Phantom aircraft. The new aircraft was to use the newly developed Westinghouse J34 turbojet. The J34 would have 3000lbf thrust compared to the J30’s 1600lbf. It was originally the idea that the Banshee would use much of the Phantom design, however due to changes in required fuel and armament loads this was not to be the case. At this time the US Navy recognised they would have to move away from the WWII .50 Cal Machine gun round to the heavier 20mm Cannon round (Something that took the USAF longer to realise). Even though the Banshee was not to use the Phantom structure there were enough similarities that a prototype of the Banshee was available in August 1948, a staggering 3 months after Phantom production finished. The Banshee would be produced in three versions, The Nightfighter (F2H-2N), Photo-recon (F2H-2P), and the day fighter (F2H-2B, later F2H-3). The nightfighter had a 2’10” nose extension to house an AN/APS-19 radar units, and the Phot-recon version had a 2’5” nose extension to house 6 cameras. The Day fighter version would also feature eight underwing/stub pylons allowing for 1580Lbs of bombs/rockets to be carried. The aircraft also had a specially strengthened inner port pylon to allow carriage of either a MK 7 or Mk 8 nuclear store. In total upto 1953 895 aircraft would be delivered. The main users were the US Navy & Marine Corps. Overseas use would be only the Royal Canadian Navy. The Banshee being the only Jet Aircraft operated by them. The Banshee would see extensive use in the Korean War by the US. I was realised that straight winged aircraft we no match to North Korean MiG-15’s and the aircraft operated primarily in ground attack and interdiction roles. No Banshees were lost to enemy aircraft in the Korean War due to this decision. The photo-recon aircraft with the ability to operate at 48000 ft generally stayed out of the range of AAA fire. The aircraft were in high demand for their pictures often being escorted by USAF fighters. Again there were no Air 2 Air losses with only 2 being lost to radar laid AAA fire. The last use of the Banshee would be in 1955 and again for the photo birds with secret overflights of Chinese positions for a suspected invasion of Taiwan taking place. The Kit This new tool kit from Kittyhawk arrives on three large sprues of grey plastic, a clear sprue, a small sheet of photo-etch and a decal sheet. The parts are finely moulded with fine engraved panel line and rivet details. The kit can be built as the fighter or photo-recon Banshee, with the option of having the wings folded if needed. Construction starts conventionally in the cockpit. The ejection seat is built up from 6 parts with PE belts being provided. The seat is then installed into the cockpit floor with the sides and rear bulkhead being added. Decals are provided for the side instrument panels. The rear decking behind the cockpit is then added to the rear of the bulkhead. The next step is construction of the front gear well, and leg. The leg is a less than straightforward affair with 6 parts and the one piece nose wheel . The front gear well is 6 parts and is built up around the gear leg. Once the cockpit and front gear well are complete they can be added into the main fuselage. Also added in at this time is the rear mounted arrestor hook and its recess. Once all these parts are in the main fuselage is closed up. The modeller now has to decide which nose is going on the aircraft. If the fighter nose is chosen then a full complement of cannons are provided along with their ammunition boxes and feed chutes. These are built up and the nose parts closed up around them. Two panels are provide (one each side) which can be modelled open to show off the gun bay. Once the complete gun nose is attached to the main fuselage the nose cap can be put in place. If the modeller is going with the recon nose then a full camera fit is provided along with the mounting brackets and screens between cameras. Unfortunately they are no open panels to display the cameras but you will be able to see some of the detail through the camera windows. Now that the main fuselage and nose assembly is completed construction moves to the main body/wing area. First up two complete engines are made up along with their intakes and exhausts. These are then installed into the low main wing centre section along with other structural parts and then end plates for the main inner wing. The top two sections can then be added to the lower wing. Flaps are then added to the lower section. The main centre section of the wing can then be joined to the fuselage. Also at this stage the instrument coaming and instrument panel are added, with a decal being provided for the instruments. The canopy and tail planes are then added. The other wing sections are now built up. These can be attached either down or folded up as the modeller wishes. Each out wing has an upper and lower part and once together the wing tip tanks can be assembled and added. Flaps are added to each outboard section and dive brakes can also be added in the open position if needed. If the wings are to be attached straight then they can just be added on at this stage. If the modeller wishes to make them in the folded position then the folding mechanism and hinges need to be added. There are six small parts each side for this. The instructions then have you make up the main wheel units and undercarriage legs and add them after the wings, though I suspect most will do this before if adding the wings in the folded position. Lastly the gear doors are added and if needed the weapons load can be added. There are two pylons on each outer wing and four under the centre section, with bombs and rockets supplied. The holes for these are in the parts which means if you are doing the photo-recon Banshee you will have to sand these. It seems odd these were not flashed over and the modeller left to open them if needed? Decals Decals are provided for 4 examples; F2H-2P - Bu No. 125687 USMC VMJ-1 (Overall Gloss Sea Blue). F2H-2P - Bu No. 128870 USMC VMJ-1 (Grey over white). F2H-2 - Bu No. 124978 USMC El Toro. (Grey over white + large red areas). F2H-2 - Bu No. 125068 USN VF-11 - Korean War (Overall Gloss Sea Blue). Conclusion This is a welcome new tool of an important Korean War era aircraft for the 1:48th scale modeller. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of and available soon from major hobby shops.

F2H-2 Banshee Update sets & masks - For Kittyhawk Kit 1:48 Eduard The new Kittyhawk kit is a good one, however Eduard are along as always offering their update sets for the kit. Here we have 3 sets; Update, flaps and seatbelts. Update Set (49809) This is one brass fret and one nickel one. The coloured parts on the nickel fret are mainly for the cockpit including the main instrument panels, side panels and controls, and cockpit sils. Inside the canopy new rails are provided. Other parts in the set include new back plate and foot rest for the ejection seat. New links are provided for the landing gear legs. New door are provided for the main gear. Flaps(48912) This is one large brass fret which provides flaps, airbrakes and wells for the kit. These are split on the kit with part on the straight wing, and part on the engine nacelle. The ribs are those already attached which need to be bent into position. Some work on kit parts is needed. Seatbelts(49810) This small fret provides a full set of coloured seatbelts for the aircraft. These are the new Steel belts from Eduard. They are etched from 0.1mm sheet, which looks like stainless steel because it doesn't rust, these new belts combine the best of both worlds. The resulting etch is thin at around 0.06mm, and the paint that has been applied after etching is included in that thickness. The paint itself seems to be more flexible too, and the designs have added details such as shadows printed near buckles and joints to give an added depth to the design. They appear less susceptible to fatigue and will stand up to repeated movements, and can be posed much more realistically due to the ease of bending of the surface. The paint is also a lot less likely to flake off at a sharp bend, which is a worry for standard PE belts. Masks(EX543) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. Wheel Masks, and camera window masks are also supplied. Conclusion These sets will enhance your Banshee model. Recommended. Review samples courtesy of

HI folk's,if you are not of a certain age this won't appeal,there are some kit's long gone now which I built in my youth which among the many stick out in the memory as I thought at the time "This is my best build yet",the Airfix Banshee was one which I think must have been about 1979/80 just before Booze,Bikes and the ladies took over! When it arrived from King Kit and I opened the box I remembered how small it look's in the box but what we have is a nicely molded kit with delicate raised detail and despite the 1987 date useable decal's,there is a choice of a Marines recon version which requires surgery to add the long nose or a Navy version which is a much prettier option and the one I am going for.So a quickish OOB build and have some fun.

This is it! Build twelve since I restarted this modelling gig. I . Can. Stop. Counting! And it only took me 22 months to do 12. But what a choice. You SNEAKY Sword... Lulling me into a false sense of security with your nice little Spitfire kits that went together with little problem. Making me think all your kits are like that. SILLY me. This one was definitely in the check fit, file, check fit, rinse repeat category. I'm sure more experienced modellers would have no problem, but I'm glad I did the shake and bake Airfix Vampire before this. I don't think I'd survive doing two like this in a row. That on top of the suddenly very busy photoshoot schedule I have and it was touch and go whether it would get done! Here it is though. The Sword Photo Banshee. I chose it for build 12 because I don't think I'd seen one of these versions by Sword on here yet and I also fancied practising messing up the glossy sea blue finish a bit. I noticed the Marine aircraft based in Korea did get a bit mucky. In the end I don't think I messed it up enough, but it is what it is. A few build points. I used Lifecolor glossy sea blue for the main colour. The aluminium was Aclad 2. The camera nose is a separate section in the kit and all transparent. So that was masked off before construction. My fitting wasn't quite perfect though and it's a degree or two off clockwise. The decals are nice and thin and settled down very well. I washed the panel lines with a mix of humbrol dark earth and sand weathering powders in a mild mix of water and decal fix. The kit is missing a few details I think. For instance it doesn't have what I think are the tear drop lights on the front of the tip tanks that I've seen on photos of the real thing. Of course a REAL modeller would have fixed that. I also think the front undercarriage sits a bit low in comparison to the main gear, and I should have applied a bit of surgery to balance that out, but Real Life called and I needed it finished. In the end I quite like it. Not sure what 2015 will bring. More aircraft in 1/72 for sure, but I'm tempted to go Sci-fi for my first 2015 build. PhotoBanshee_021214_01 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_02 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_04 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_05 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_06 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_07 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_08 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_11 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr PhotoBanshee_021214_12 by IrritableRabbit, on Flickr

The Dauntless and the Banshee were in effect the same aircraft. The army Banshee did not have a tailhook and had an pneumatic rear tyre instead of a solid rubber one. This aircraft was built as an A-24B but restored to look like the Navy Dauntless. Pics by Chris.