Special Hobby Brewster SB2A-4 Buccaneer "US Marines Dive Bomber" (SH72303) 1:72 Special Hobby

[Julien]

Brewster SB2A-4 Buccaneer "US Marines Dive Bomber" (SH72303)

1:72 Special Hobby

 

 

In 1939 Brewster was selected by the US Navy to develop a larger scout/bomber aircraft based on their Brewster SBN aircraft. The new aircraft shared the design platform but had a much higher rated engine. The aircraft was a conventional single-engined, mid-winged monoplane layout with two fixed forward firing 50 cal guns in the fuselage, and two 30 cal guns in each of the wings.  The aircraft was supposed to have a rear enclosed turret although this was replaced by a flexible twin 30 cal mount. 1000lbs of bombs were to be carried in an internal bomb bay. As well as orders for the USN the French, Dutch, Australians and UK Governments placed orders for the aircraft. The French order was taken over by the UK following the fall of France, however the UK asked Brewster for many modifications which lead to production being delayed. These delays they caused the Australian Government to cancel their orders. Problems at Brewster with the company being badly run led the US Navy to take over the company but deliveries were still quite slow. The type actually proved unacceptable for combat and most of the aircraft were destroyed before being flown operationally. Aircraft which did make it to units became trainers, hacks or target tugs. The aircraft which were ordered by Holland were taken over by the USMC, re-designated SB2A-4 and used to form the first night fighter squadron VMF(N)-531. The Buccaneer has been described as "overweight, underpowered, and lacking maneuverability,", "one of the worst aircraft of World War II", a failure,, and by the Truman Committee as  having "turned in a miserable performance."

 

 

The Kit

The kit was a new tool from 2009 and has been released in a couple of boxings since. There are 3 sprues of plastic parts, a clear sprue, a sheet of PE and a bag of resin parts. Construction starts with the cockpit and rear enclosures. The cockpit is first up with the seat going in, at the front a bulkhead and the rudder pedals with the control column behind. Seatbelts are PE; all this followed by the rear bulkhead. The radio compartment and rear gunners enclosure is up next. There are resin parts for the radios and gun sights. The seat goes in again with PE seatbelts.  Next up various small parts must be fitted to both fuselage halves. Once this is done, the instrument panel, cockpit, radio compartment, rear gunners enclosure; and the shelf between the front and back cockpits are all fitted into the fuselage along with the engine firewall at the front; the fuselage can then be closed up.

 

 

Now we can concentrate on the wings.  on both sides the wells must be boxed in, and at the rear the support rail for the dive brakes are added. The main landing gear for each side is also built up now. The wings are added along with the tailplanes, than the landing gears and its doors can go on, followed by the underside dive brakes, last on underneath is the tail wheel.  Moving back up top on the wings the upper dive brakes are fitted. Moving to the front of the aircraft the engine is built up from a central core, and individual cylinders. In the rear cockpit the defensive guns are added in.  If the modeller want the canopy to be posed open then it will have to be cut up, the rear sliding section seems to be of a greater dimension so it should fit over the centre section. Once the engine goes on this is followed by the cowl, the prop and the hub. 

 

 

 

 

Markings

The decals are printed in house and look to have no issues with them. There are marking for 4 aircraft;

 

• VS-30 Operational Training Unit, NAS Vero Beach, Florida 1943 (Faded wing markings)
• VMF (N)-532 , Cherry Point, 1943
• VS-34 Operational Training Unit, NAS Vero Beach, Florida 1944
• Fictional Dutch East Indies Scheme

 

 

Conclusion

A nice tool of a historically interesting aircraft.. The kit is detailed inside and out. Recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Seahawk]

I have the original SB2A-3 issue  I hope they've improved the instructions.  There's an impressive amount of detail in the rear cockpit (there needs to be!) but the instructions were very hazy on where it all went.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Seahawk