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Originally released in the 1960s and available (yet again) this year it has been superseded by the fantastic offering from Platz. I'll be building this OOB + filler + sanding + tears + filler + sanding...

Just missed out on being first on the list.....again! Ok in to another one, this as usual will have lots of extras, though not too much in the way of modifications which will be nice for a change!! I’ll be building and Accurate Miniatures 1/48 Avenger TBF-1C I picked up in Singapore for next to nothing. With this I’ll be building and FAA Avenger MkI/Tarpon I JZ257 from 849 NAS, aboard HMS Victorious, British Pacific Fleet January 1945. Mouldings and details are lovely. I’ll be adding a few extra detail bits from Eduard, Quick Boost, DEF Model, as well as decals from XtraDecal. Got the BigEd set before I realised I had a TBF-1C and not a TBM-3, so have had to order the correct detail set, so will use both to complete this build. Sure I might need some for the second cockpit! Deacls are lovely as well. Said bit, forgot to take photos of TBF set, next post. Maybe a bit of an over kill, but they were cheap. The XtraDecal markings were for an Avenger MkII (TBM-1C), which I thought maybe an issue but after careful research I have found that these Decals were actually for an Avenger MkI (TBF-1C). There’s a great site which lists all the Bu. No’s assigned to each air craft which helped a lot, so that problem has been solved. Next is the issue of the second cockpit. Not too many photos are available, so this may not be 100% accurate but with a bit artistic license it should look fine. Am really looking forward to this build.

Grumman S-2A Tracker Kinetic Models 1:48 History The Grumman S-2 Tracker (previously S2F prior to 1962) was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft to enter service with the U.S. Navy. The Tracker was of conventional design with twin engines, a high wing and tricycle undercarriage. The type was exported to a number of navies around the world. Introduced in 1952 the Tracker saw service in the USN until the mid-1970s with a few aircraft remaining in service with other air arms into the 21st century. The last operating fleet is maintained by Argentina and Brazil. Intended as a replacement for its predecessor, Grumman's AF-2 Guardian which was the first purpose-built aircraft system for ASW, using two airframes, one with the detection gear, and the other with the weapon systems, the Tracker combined both functions in one aircraft. Grumman's design (model G-89) was for a large high-wing monoplane with twin Wright Cyclone R-1820 nine cylinder radial engines, a yoke type arrestor hook and a crew of four. Both the two prototypes XS2F-1 and 15 production aircraft, S2F-1 were ordered at the same time, on 30 June 1950. The first flight was conducted on 4 December 1952, and production aircraft entered service with VS-26, in February 1954. Follow-on versions included the WF Tracer and TF Trader, which became the Grumman E-1 Tracer and Grumman C-1 Trader in the tri-service designation standardization of 1962. The S-2 carried the nickname "Stoof" (S-two-F) throughout its military career; and the E-1 Tracer variant with the large overhead radome was colloquially called the "stoof with a roof”. Grumman produced 1,185 Trackers. Another 99 aircraft carrying the CS2F designation were manufactured in Canada under license by de Havilland Canada. U.S.-built versions of the Tracker were sold to various nations, including Australia, Japan, Turkey and Taiwan. The Tracker carried an internal torpedo bay capable of carrying two light weight torpedoes or one nuclear depth charge. There were six underwing hard points for rocket pods and conventional depth charges or up to four additional torpedoes. A ventrally mounted retractable radome and a Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) mounted on an extendable rear mounted boom were also fitted. Early model Trackers had an Electronic Surveillance Measures (ESM) pod mounted dorsally just aft of the front seat overhead hatches and were also fitted with a smoke particle detector or sniffer. Later S-2s had the sniffer removed and had the ESM antennae moved to four rounded extensions on the wingtips. The engine nacelles carried JEZEBEL sonar buoys in the rear (16 in early marks, 32 in the S-2E/G). Early Trackers also carried 60 explosive charges dispensed ventrally from the rear of the fuselage used for active sonar (JULIE) with the AN/AQA-3 and later AQA-4 detection sets, whereas the introduction of active sonar buoys and AN/AQA-7 with the S-2G conversion saw these removed. Smoke dispensers were mounted on the port ventral surface of the nacelles in groups of three each. The Model Due to the fact that Kinetic seem to stick to a standard sized box, this kit is veritably stuffed into it, with the box top visibly bulging. The attractive box art shows a Tracker at the point of leaving an aircraft carrier. Inside there are nice sprues of light grey styrene, one sprue of clear and quite a large decal sheet. The moulding appears to be very nice, with crisp details and quite fine recessed panel lines. Even though the kit is stuffed into the undersized box, there doesn’t appear to be any damage as the sprues are contained in their individual poly bags. There is some flash, but mostly around the sprue centres, although the engine nacelles have small amounts, but this won’t take more than a few swipes with a sanding stick to remove. There are, however, quite a lot of moulding pips and these have quite thick attachments to the parts which will need some careful removal and a bit of cleaning up. Due to the earlier release of the S-2F there are quite a few unused and also optional parts that will go straight to the spares box. The clear parts are very clear for the windscreen and roof windows, but the side glazing of the cockpit sections is quite wavy, looking like it’s been removed from the mould too quickly. The same can be said of the searchlight glazing, but not quite so marked. These may be remedied by carefully sanding and polishing the areas with micromesh then dipping in Kleer or Aqua Gloss. From research for this review it appears that there are some quarters that feel the kits fuselage is too long aft of the wing. Having checked the relative positions of parts and compared them with several drawings doesn’t appear to be the case, although it could be that this reviewer isn’t able to see the imperceptible differences. The length for the fuselage forward of the wing has definitely been shortened when compared with the previous S-2F kit. Construction begins with the cockpit, which in all honesty is a bit sparse, with just the cockpit floor with moulded in rudder pedals, the pilots and co-pilots seats, instrument panel and yokes. There are no seatbelts which are needed at the very least. The cockpit canopy is made up of the two clear parts joined together at the centre with the overhead console fitted inside. Fortunately the area of the join on the roof is quite large and will be pained so there shouldn’t be too much of a problem removing the seam. The difficult bit will be to try and hide the join between the windscreens. With the cockpit and canopy constructed, then the other sub-assemblies are built up, these include the searchlight housing, and radome with nose light. Construction then moves on to the fuselage with the cockpit fitted to one half along with the cockpit bulkhead, bomb bay roof, the main aft radome, which can be positioned either retracted or extended, the arrestor hook well. With these parts fitted the fuselage can then be closed up, along with as much weight as it’s possible to fit in forward of the main undercarriage legs, after which the two air intakes on either side aft of the wing are attached as is the canopy sub-assembly and nose radome with the clear nose light fitted. Turning the fuselage over the two lightweight torpedoes and assembled and fitted to the bomb bay along with the bay doors, whilst the MAD boom is assembled and slid into the tailcone. The crew access door is then fitted with its handle and attached to the opening on the starboard side. Construction of the nose wheel assembly includes the single piece oleo, scissor link, front bay door panel and struts, two three piece wheels, with the hub sandwiched between the two tyre parts. The completed assembly is then fitted to the nose wheel bay, followed by the two rear bay doors and what looks like a VHF aerial just to port of the bay. Because of the folding arrangements the assembly of the wings is a little more complex than standard builds. Firstly the inner wings, consisting of top and bottom halves and the fold joint rib are built up. These come complete with pre-moulded spars which attached to corresponding slots in the fuselage, giving a good solid joint. To these the engine nacelles, made up of inner and outer halves, main wheel bays, rear sonar buoy magazines, cooling doors and exhaust are attached. For those modellers who were worried about the pen nib fairings not being included, worry no more as they are giving more options to modellers who may wish to us aftermarket decals for other operators. The main wheel assemblies are constructed of the main oleos, actuator struts, and the main wheels, built in the same way as the nose wheels. These assemblies are then fitted to the main wheel bays as are the two bay doors. The engines are then assembled, with the engine, cowling and propeller. The engines themselves could do with a little bit more detailing, such as the addition of the ignition harness, although the modeller doesn’t really need to do too much as the cowling is quite tight around the engine, so they may be content with just a good paint job. With the engines complete these too are attached to the nacelles and the whole lot attached to each inner wing. At this point in the instructions, they call out for the two horizontal tailplanes to be assembled; these come as top and bottom halves and just need to be joined together. The inner wing and tail assemblies can then be joined to the fuselage which is finished off with a selection of communications and ILS aerials. The radome above and just behind the cockpit comes with optional parts depending on which operator the modeller is choosing to model. The outer wings are then constructed, again out of top and bottom halves and fold joint rib. To the wing tip the clear navigation light parts are attached and there are optional parts to add if modelling the Canadian version to be added here. There is a separate outer slat part that is attached to the leading edge and the radome is fitted just inboard of the slat on the starboard wing. The kit comes with six pylons and six rocket pods should you wish to add them. If the wings are to be displayed folded then the hinges are first fitted to the outer wing and allowed to set well before slotting the other end into the inner wing section. For the unfolded condition there is a rib shaped mating piece that is added to the inner section before sliding the outer section into place and keeping it steady until the glue has set. The model is now complete bar the painting and decaling. Decals The large decal sheet provides insignia for three aircraft. These being:- • S2F-1 US Navy VS-32, USS Lake Champlain, 1962 • CS2F-1 Royal Canadian Forces 1983 • S2F-1 Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force 1975 The decals have been printed by Cartograph, to their usual high standard. The decals are glossy, with very good opacity, in register and have a very thin decal film, so should settle down nicely when using your favourite softening/setting solutions. Apart from the national insignia there is a full set of stencils for one aircraft and included the large walkway markings on the upper centre section of the wings, propeller warning stripes and propeller tip stripes. Conclusion This is a very nice looking kit of an important aircraft in its genre and I think Kinetic have done it justice. Yes it could be more detailed in the areas mentioned above, but on the whole I think it will make a nice addition to any collection. The instructions are clear, but they look a little like a sketch book, a style which I’m not overly keen on and it’s a shame that the colour chart with the three aircraft is not in colour as that would have been much more helpful than shades of grey. Recommended In association with

Hellcat F6F-3 1:48 Eduard - Weekend The Grumman Hellcat was a US Navy World War II carrier based fighter aircraft designed to replace the earlier Grumman Wildcat. Although the two aircraft do look similar the Hellcat was a completely new design from Grumman. The aircraft featured the Pratt & Whiney R-2800 as used by the Chance Vought Corsair & The Republic Thunderbolt. The Hellcat proved to be a well designed fighter able to stand up to carrier operations and the rough air fields used in the Pacific Theatre of operations. Grummans initial design was in fact so good that the Hellcat was the least revised aircraft of WWII. In total 12,200 Hellcats were built for the US Navy, The US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. The Hellcat is credited with more kills in WWII than any other allied fighter. Post war the Hellcat was phased out of day fighter service but continued in US service as late as 1954 as a night fighter. One notable exception was in late 1952 when F6F-5K Drones carrying 2000lb bombs were used to attack bridges in Korea. Post war the aircraft were also used by the Aeronavale (French Navy), using them in Indochina; and the Uruguayan Navy who used them upto the 1960s. The Kit Euards kit featues the F6F-3, which was the main production varient. On opening the fairly large box from Eduard you get 3 sprues of olive green plastic, one of grey plastic, and one clear sprue. All the parts are as you would expect from Eduard, crisp, well moulded and flash free. Detail is fine engraved panel lines and rivet detail. The clear parts are very well moulded, crisp and clear. Only one of the two front screens is for this model. For the main canopy you get a choice depending whether you wish to pose the canopy open or not, the second being slightly larger to fit over the fuselage. Construction starts as always with the cockpit. This is very well moulded and comprises of nine parts. There are no straps for the seat as presumably these were on a PE fret in the original boxing. Some tape straps would suffice I am pretty sure of. Once the cockpit is complete it is placed into the fuselage, at this stage the tail wheel is also added; and the modeller needs to open up a slot for the ventral fuel tank if its going to be fitted. The fuselage is then closed up. Next job is the engine and cowl. The engine is provided as two banks of cylinders and a front cap. Again I suspect things such as wiring harness etc were on a PE fret you dont get in the weekend boxing. However properly drybrushed and hidden in the cowl the engine should look just fine. The engine is then fitted to the front of the aircraft and the cowl placed around it. Following on from the front of the aircraft its time to move to the rear. The tail planes and rudder need assembling and fitting. Next it the turn of the main wings. The wheel wells need fitting to the inside along with the gun barrels. The wings are provided with separate flaps and ailerons. To finish off the landing gear and wheels need to be made up. These appear complex, the wheels are four parts each with the landing great and doors being 10 parts each. I can see them being a little difficult to get right. Once these are done under wing rockets and the ventral fuel tank can be fitted if need along with the prop. Decals This being the weekend edition there is only one set of decals provided. These are for F6F-3 BuNo 25813 flown by Lt. C "Ken" Hildebrant of VF-33 based at Ondonga in December 1943. Conclusion There is no doubt this will build up to make a good looking model. I for one am a fan of the bare bones approach from Eduard. With the weekend editions you get the same excellent plastic without all the resin and or photo etched parts I dont like. Overall highly recommended for those who like their modelling life a bit more on the simple side. Review sample courtesy of

hi all, I’m after some help on an old chestnut that I know has caused some heated discussions both on this site and a few others. I see others have asked about bits and pieces of information on this subject before but this time I’m hoping once and for all (yeah right!) with this thread we can have some definitive answers.....maybe! FAA Avenger MkI/II (or Tarpon Mk I/II) versus TBF/TBM-1C Ok for starters, TBF-1C vs TBM-1C, so far form all he research I can find there was/is very little difference between the two. The TBF was manufactured by Grumman and the TBM was made under license by Eastern Aircraft (division of GM), plus for some bizarre reason each company decided to painted the interiors different, so this aside I can find no other differences between the two aircraft. I have read though that there was some issues with parts between the two different manufactured aircraft as they often weren’t interchangeable??? So for a coming build an Accurate Miniatures Grumman 1/48th TBF-1C is going to be the starting point. Tarpon (Avenger) Mk I/II vs TBF/TBM-1C First up the base model is going to be a -1C, so this will not have the single cowling mounted 30cal of the -1, but rather the wing mounted 50cal’s. This probably is the major noticeable difference other than the radio mast location changed between -1 and -1C. The Tarpon had a different Radio Observers windows, they were the round dome windows on each side rather than the flat ovals fitted to the TBF/TBM’s. Plus they had the second cockpit position for the Navigator, which had aircraft controls fitted (though it is mentioned that the control column was stored most of the time), in place of the radio gear normally found on the TBF/TBM’s. Other than those two details I cannot find any other major differences. Oh and for some reason they decided to change the name from Tarpon back to Avenger. Tarpon Mk I vs Tarpon Mk II Next the difference between are Tarpon Mk I and an Tarpon Mk II with respect to SEA operations and not Atlantic operations? Again only looking at the -1C aircraft (earlier TBF-1’s were also called Tarpon I’s), other than it seems the Grumman made aircraft are referred to as Tarpon Mk I’s and the eastern made as Tarpon Mk II’s. There seems to be very little differences between the two. I have an aircraft I want to build but again have run into this issue of whether it is a Mk I or Mk II! I have a set of Xtradecal markings for an Avenger II JZ257 of 849 NAS, HMS Victorious, British Pacific Fleet, Jan45. But a quick bit of research on the FAA archive web site shows this aircraft was actually an Mk I!! If anyone has a definitive guide to the aircraft serial numbers that would be a great help. I guess the main thing is to get the additional cockpit sorted out and correct as I can get it. I either have the bit required or can easily make them, I just need either some good photos (only have a couple) or some good draws showing some detail. Else I may just have to create something that looks the part....maybe! Have a few reference books, but there’s not a lot of info on the FAA Avenger/Tarpon. All help with any of these question/quires would be greatly appreciated and hopefully this won’t start a big argument!

F8F Grumman Bearcat 1:48 Testors The story is that the Grumman Bearcat concept came about during a meeting between US Navy Battle of Midway veteran pilots and the then Grumman Vice President Jake Swirbul. Here it was made clear that power and climb rate were important to the pilots. Grumman then spent some time (approx 18 months) analysing carrier warfare in the Pacific before designing the F8F Bearcat. The specifications for the Bearcat called for it to be able to be operated from the smallest carriers, and to retain the P&W R-2800 engine. The big prop for the engine (measuring 12 4) would require a long landing gear, in order to achieve this the undercarriage used an articulated hydraulic trunion which extended the length of the legs. Additional benefits of this was that when retracted the legs would be housed entirely in the wing, and the wide track helped counteract torque as well as proving a more stable platform for carrier operations. In order to save weight internal fuel was limited to 160 gallons, and armament was only 4 x 50 calibre machine guns. One unique weight saving concept tried on the bearcat was detachable wing tips. If G force was to exceed 7.5g then the tips would snap off still leaving the aircraft capable of flight, and a carrier landing. Unfortunately while this idea worked under controlled conditions, operationally it was a failure. This lead to situations where by only one tip would come off leading to the possibility of a crash. Grumman tried replacing the tips with ones which could be jettisoned by explosives. This system was stopped after the tragic death of a ground crewman after the tips blew off accidently. The Bearcat was also the first US Navy aircraft to feature a bubble canopy giving the pilot an unrestricted 360 degree view. The first production bearcats were delivered in February 1945, with VF-19 going operational in May 1945. However no Bearcat saw any combat in WWII. The first combat would have to wait until 1951 when French Forces were supplied Bearcats for the war in Indochina. When the French left in 1954 28 Bearcats were handed over to the newly formed South Vietnamese Air Force. Another operator in the same area at this time was the Royal Thai Air Force. A production bearcat would set in 1946 a time-to-climb record of 10,000 feet in 94 seconds from a 115ft take off. This would stand for 10 years before being broken by a modern jet aircraft. Due to the excellent performance of the Bearcat they became a popular aircraft for air racing. Stock as well as highly modified Bearcats would dominate the races at Reno for a long time after the aircraft were retired by the military. The Bearcat Conquest I broke the world speed record for Class C-1 with a 3KM record speed of 483.041 MPH. This aircraft now proudly rests in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. The Bear cat Rare Bear which was modified with a Skyradier engine set world speed record for Class C-1 with a 3KM record speed of 528.33 MPH in 1989 and broke the 1946 time-to-climb record with 3000m (9842 ft) being reached in 91.9 seconds in 1972. The Kit The kit is a re-boxing of an old Hawk kit from the 1960's. As such it is the technology of the time. You get a plastic bag with an assortment of parts in grey plastic. Details are a strange mix of recessed panel lines on the fuselage, raised panel lines on the wings, with recessed areas for the flight controls. The fabric areas for the control surfaces are actually very well done and restrained. Construction is fairly simple as too be honest there are not a great deal of parts. The instructions would have the modeller first complete the sub assemblies of the drop tanks, bomb, pilots seat, propeller/cowling and wings. Next the fuselage is joined together incorporating the very basic cockpit (a floor and seat).There then seems to be a step missing from the basic instructions as step 3 shows the canopy being added. Between step 2 and 3 say step 2a the modeller will have to add the wongs and completed cowling to the fuselage. To then finish off the landing gear and underwing stores are added. Colour call outs throughout are given in FS numbers and Testors own brand numbers. Canopy The clear parts are a little thick, but seem fairly clear. In this kit they were just inside the bag with all the other parts so that the canopy became detached from the sprue leaving a chunk missing. Decals The decals for the kit are good. They are by Scalemaster and printed by Microscale. They look good solid decals, in register and glossy. Markings are for two aircraft. The First is a Bearcat F8F-2 used by the Naval air Reserve at Glenview IL in 1953. This aicraft features the orange tailband as used on Naval Reserve aircraft at the time, this will need to be painted by the modeller. The second is a civilian version of the bearcat, a G-58A Gulfhawk. Markings are for an overall orange aircraft flown by Major Al Williams. To make this version the modeller will need to make some minor modifications to the kit. These modifications are detailed in the instructions. Conclusion Even though its in no doubt that there are more modern and better kits of the Bearcat out there; with some degree of modelling skill this kit should be able to be made into a good looking model. The addition of decals to make a Gulfhawk is a nice touch. Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

A 1/48th Grumman XF-10F Jaguar (wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_XF10F_Jaguar) resin kit will be soon proposed by Planet Models. Source and pictures: http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=3...mp;hilit=Jaguar Source: http://www.cmkkits.com/en/news/cmk-newsletter-02-12/ V.P. V.P

The future 1/48th Kinetic's Grumman A-6E Intruder is available to pre-order by Lucky Model. http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?item_no=KI-K48023 V.P.

Pics taken by Darwin at the SAC Museum in Nebraska

Pics taken by Darwin at the Combat Air Museum Kansas

These were taken by me at Duxford.