This is the Hobby Boss F8F-1B Bearcat. I wanted something with a simple paint scheme, and this fit the bill.

The kit went together reasonably well, but I had a hard time getting the fuselage halves to mate. I've had this same trouble with modern Airfix and Eduard kits, so it is probably an issue with me and modern tooling, although Matt Dyer seemed to have the same problem.

The entire exterior was painted with Tamiya XF-17 Sea Blue. The instructions call out for the landing gear to be silver and the wheel wells to be interior green, but most planes I've seen in overall Sea Blue have the landing gear, wheels and wheel wells in Sea Blue as well, so that's what I did. The fact that it was easier was icing on the cake. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Attaching the landing gear was a bit of a pain, as it always is for me on kits where you have to do more than just stick the landing gear in a hole. I should have attached the landing ear to the plane before attaching the landing gear cover to the landing gear - it would have been easier.

I was originally going to go with the Thai option that came with the kit, but after struggling with the fuselage, I decided to make it a French plane. I plan to use the Thai decals on a Hobbycraft/Academy Bearcat. The decals did go on very well with just Microset underneath them.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.