The Kitty Hawk Banshee is probably the most disappointing kit that I’ve purchased in 50 years of modeling. The wing center section is bloated and resembles an egg plane caricature of a Banshee, the canopy does not feature a sliding mechanism, the tail is poorly shaped, and the decals are atrocious. There are several other inaccuracies and problems with this kit that I’ll illustrate as I build it. I received my kit shortly after it was released about 18 months ago, looked at it, and put it into the stash. I was going to build it, just not right away. It’s the only game in town for a -2/2P Banshee. Last fall, I became aware that one of our members, Michael Rieth was working on a correction set for the kit. The parts looked really nice and I resolved to acquire a set and have a go at a decent Banshee. I included a photo comparing the kit wing center section to the Rieth correction piece so you can see just how far off this model is. I also purchased the Furball Banshee decal set. The terrible, out of register kit decals bothered me more then anything else I think. They just add insult to injury if you buy one of these. Well here we go!

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Looking forward to this. As I do wish to have a Banshee eventually and have been put off by the KH kit. Though shape never has been a problem on certain kits (Monogram's A/B-26 Invader) as you just get over it and build it. But reading some reviews, the Banshee is quite glaring. But there is hope now and will be watching and taking notes as you progress on this. Mike thanks for the heads up on the Furball decals as I just got a set for my Tomcat project and will be using these for the first time.

I’m going to really try to do this one justice. Taking my time and studying your blog posts. I rarely use Sol/Set anymore. I now almost always use Future to set decals.

I started cutting and gluing today. Just for fun though, I decided to compare the KH fuselage to the 65 year old Hawk Models fuselage. As you can see in the photo, not bad for a kit that’s older then me! I also taped up the fuselage with both gun and recce noses. I was sure that I’d build this kit as a photo bird, but now I’m not so sure. I found a lot of good color photos online of VF-62 Banshees onboard USS Lake Champlain in 1953 that beg to be modeled.

Back to the project. I did basic assembly of the cockpit, which is a bit shallow. It kind of reminds me of the Academy Hunter cockpit which is underscale. Yes, its a lame set up in an expensive kit, but it will be painted black and the canopy will be closed on this one. I also modified the nose gear fork and landing gear attachment points in the forward gear bay. The kit provides the forward gear set up for an F2H-3, not a -2. This is something that I wouldn’t have known had I not studied Michael Rieth’s blog. It’s a simple fix and adds a touch of accuracy.

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You really need to pay attention to how internal parts set up before final installation on this kit. Every part so far has needed some adjustment to fit.

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Thanks, Michael. Going to check it out now.

Modification complete. Thank God for CA as a filler. Thanks, Michael. This raises a new point in my mind. The seat looks too far forward. I’m going to move it rearward to be against the armor

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Correct angle, big gap.

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