Testor F8F-2 Bearcat in 1/48 scale

[dmminiatures]

Hi Folks - One of the few kits that is in my bucket list is this Bearcat from Testor. its crude i know but I just like to get the challenge of building this kit.



Saw it first time at ToyRus in Jakarta almost two decades ago. But was lucky to have gotten it last year. I went over to my good modeler friend. Turns out he had kit. He said he would never build it so he gave it to me.



everything about this kit is old. Even heard it was a Hawk kit. This is what I got in the box. pretty neat, huh?



the next step was to get an upgrade kit from Eduard. This is the only PE set for the Testor version.

[Thomas_M]

Not the worst kit to look at when having been finished by a master as you, Monty!
Think I still have some decals for this one to do it as the yellow "Beetle Bomb".

[BorgR3mc0]

This is going to be interesting!

Do you have any special reason the prefer the Testors kit over the Academy one?

[dmminiatures]

Not the worst kit to look at when having been finished by a master as you, Monty!
Think I still have some decals for this one to do it as the yellow "Beetle Bomb".

Just saw it on Google. really intereating aircraft. all yellow Blue Angles plane.

[dmminiatures]

This is going to be interesting!

Do you have any special reason the prefer the Testors kit over the Academy one?

Hi Borg. just sentimental reason I guess. i saw pictures of it on a Testor product catalog many years ago. It was on display at a toy store when I just got off from school but never picked it up.

i am going to be straight forward with this kit. my goal is to make a better looking bearcat. One of my objective is to give the viewer the first 5 second impression that this is not the Testor kit.

dunno, maybe thats a bit too high an aim?

[dmminiatures]

I started by working on the cockpit. This is the first time I worked on a full PE cockpit top to bottom. turns out its challenging!

but..its a great improvement to the original part.



Before the painting, I had a hard time guessing how it will come out. better than I expected once painted!



Painting the seatbelts. its kinda nice not having to scratch buit once in a while.



cockpit dashboard looks cool with the film glued at the back. but not sure if all that can be seen



I was surprised with the finished cockpit. looks pretty good.

[Thomas_M]

Oh yes, much better!

[BorgR3mc0]

Good use of PE!

And I understand the sentimental reasons for choosing this kit. It is fun that sometimes we can have something as an adult which we wanted as a kid.

[VanceCrozier]

Great start with that cockpit work!