The Grumman Hellcat.  Big, mean, fast, feared by its enemies, but loved by its pilots.  This plane shot down 4 947 of the 6 477 aircraft shot down by all the USN carrier pilots during the war.  It was very sturdy, able to receive lots of punishment and still bring home its pilot.  It was flown by the US Navy and the USMC but the Royal Navy also operated the type and it fought the Luftwaffe on a few occasions.  Needless to say, the Cat held its own. 

 Today, it’s always a welcome sight in the many Warbirds air shows around the world.

This is another oldie but goodie.  In the usual Monogram single plastic bag, you get one black sprue for the ordnance, the wheels and the propeller, while 3 other dark blue sprues hold the fuselage, the wings and the engine.  As for their Mosquito, the black plastic lets younger (or lazy) modelers achieve a “semi-realistic” model without too much efforts or skills needed.  As always, you get a patch for your modeler leather coat. 

 The parts are very well moulded, with no sinkholes and very few flash.  The details are all raised (this kit is 1963 vintage!) and while there is no interior to speak of, the engine has nice cylinders, and the propeller is very good, with all the bolts being there.  The wheels are moulded as single piece, which is a good thing.  The quality of the ordnance varies, from very good 1 000 lbs to good looking rockets with silly zero-length launchers.  The drop tank lacks the characteristic straps, so you will need to add them if you choose to install it. 

 The fun part about this kit is that everything moves around: the wings fold (takes less place on the shelf!), the landing gear retracts and the oleos compress.  The undercarriage self-locks in the up or down position.

 The instructions are very nice, being a mix of new drawings and old Monogram instructions for the landing gear and wing fold operations. 

 The decals are very nice, being the more recent ones, thin and in register.  You get to choose from 3 different F6F-5s, one being a tri-colour USMC bird, the second an all-blue USN machine and the last is a flamboyant F6F5K target tug, with a blue fuselage, yellow wings and day-glow bands all over the place.  If you choose not to model the –5K, the decals for the band s will be very useful to trim sections for other day-glow sporting machines.

Another great bargain from Monogram.  The major incentive to buy this kit is the wing-folding mechanism, which you have to get as an aftermarket item for the Hasegawa Hellcat. 

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