Hi Troops:
I found the promised 1/48 scale FM kit for the Grumman F11F on the shelves of my local hobby shop today. This fills a gap in the line of Grumman fighters and I bought one. Not cheap by any means- $75.99 list. So what do you get? Two large sprues of a cream colored plastic with the main fuselage and wings and drop tanks and underwing pylons; two small sprues of the cream colored plastic giving you 4 X sidewinder missiles and some fuselage bulkheads. The plastic has a smooth finish, not the rough finish we have come to expect from short run molds and the panel lines and control surfaces are engraved, albeit very shallow engraving. Some of this will benefit from attention with an engraving tool or an Olfa P-Cutter. There is an envelope of gray resin wheel well parts and another of cream colored resin with cockpit parts and wheels and a burner can. Also one envelope of cast metal parts with the landing gear legs and some small detail parts. There is one fret of etched brass with cockpit details and wing fences. Two vac-u-form canopies are supplied in case you screw the first one up. Decal sheet looks to be in register and with good color density. Decals cover VF-21 (with the shark's teeth), VA-156 and a Blue Angels aircraft. This isn't a kit for a beginner but it looks like the FM crowd are getting better with each release. I think we can now do about all the Grumman fighters in 1/48 except the F2F.
Bill Shuey