The Little World

That’s learning to speak the language of the 1980’s, and it’s sort of crude. Not nasty, but basic…

The Monogram company was an object of my admiration in the 1950’s. I sought their kits in preference to others as they always seemed to be moulded with better fit and had operating features that rewarded the playing modeller. You know – the ailerons and tailplanes that moved, the landing gear that folded up, the bomb bays that opened. This would be anathema now to the fussy scale enthusiast but you are anything but that when you are eleven years old and have three week’s allowance saved up.

They seem to have undergone changes in the three decades between my childhood and the issue of this Grumman. The plastic is harder, the design is cruder, and the proportions are suspect…but in spite of the simplifications this actually is starting to look like a decent model.

The cockpit is basic, but fits together well. The wings do match the fuselage, but not a lot. The design captures the wing and tailplane in the fuselage along with the engine and cockpit, so you need your wits about you when you come to close it up. It does, however, fit remarkably well and the scraping and sanding is at a very minimum. The appalling gaps at the wing roots yielded to a quick squirt of Vallejo acrylic putty and a Q-tip.

As the final Midnight Blue paint will be close to the blue plastic colour I was tempted to skip an undercoat…but eventually thought that it would be safer to provide some form of ” tooth ” to the paint. I discovered some seams needing attention anyway, so it was all done as per normal practice.

As much as I might decry the 80’s Monogram kit, It does, indeed, look like a Bearcat.