1/48 Hobbyboss F8F-1 Bearcat
I started this one last year and then it spent a little time on the shelf of doom before I finished it this week. I sanded down the larger rudder trim tab that was for the -2 and filled and sanded the openings on the starboard wing that were not supposed to be there (Hobbyboss made starboard and port mirror images with leading edge landing light, gun camera aperture etc.) Landing light and gun camera glass were made with Micro Kristal Klear. I added a Quickboost landing gear bay set so that I would have a engine crankcase and some additional plumbing showing in the gear bay. I used the Barracuda Studios resin wheel set which were a great improvement over the kit wheels and they also provided the prominent brake disks. Dorsal and tail nav lights were added using resin pieces. Rocket pylons were sourced from a Academy kit as the Hobbyboss ones were all wrong. I fashoned a pitot tube from a Hasegawa F6F kit. Whip antenna was made from Nitonol wire and wire antenna from Uschi. That being said there were other things that I could of corrected but at this point it looked enough like a Bearcat for me. So another one comes off the shelf of doom! The Bearcat has been one of my favorites so it is nice to finally have one on the shelf.
Geoffrey @caabreu
You did a mighty fine job with your hot rod Grumman... I made sure to press the "liked" button too. Well done my friend. I read something about these planes that stated they could be airborne in 130 feet ! The pilot would hold the brakes and rev up the R-2800... then once the brakes were released, the plane would be airborne in a matter of seconds. This was a favorite fighter for many pilots from this era, (and some of the early astronauts too).
Nobody who ever flew one disliked it, many pilots list it as their favorite overall - even over later jets.
Nice work on this not-so-great kit. A far better result than it perhaps deserves. I really wish someone would do a good Bearcat kit.
Great looking Bearcat.
Beautiful finish on your build, the different shades of dark blue looks great. Very nice all over!
Amazing build, Geoffrey @caabrue
Those Bearcats were incredibly powerful and fast.
Let me also praise your build, Geoffrey!
Amazing result, great improvement over the base Hobby Boss kit!
That blue finish is fantastic, definitely liked.
Nice work on that Bearcat build and an excellent choice of markings.
Beautiful Bearcat!
My favorite Grumman Cat. Nice job on this one Geoffrey, I also used the Barracuda wheels on my Testors Bearcat. Really liked them.
A stubby beauty for sure! Great looking Bearcat Geoffrey! One of my favorite Grumman birds too. 🙂
Good looking Bearcat! Well done.
Incredible, incredible, incredible, I thought I did a nice job on mine, but man this is so good, love the way you have brought in shades into your blue, and the decals look so good. I have to get a new one and try again, I love this plane.
Fantastic work.
I just stumbled across this posting of your Bearcat. It looks great. The F8f has always been one of my favorites too. Nice job.