1⁄35Pacific Helldiver
This is the Revell Curtiss SB2C-4 Helldiver in 1/48 scale, finished in the kit markings of an aircraft from VB-83, USS Essex, US Navy, April 1945. Other markings in the kit are for C-5s, one French, in Vietnam in 1954, the other Italian. I bought this model not long after it came out and it went straight into the build pile. It is very well detailed, including the cockpits. Etched brass detail includes seat belt buckles, ignition harness and dive brakes/flaps. The instructions are not bad but suffer from being unclear in some respects. For example, which way round does the wing bomb rack sway bracing go, how do the undercarriage parts actually fit together and how/where does the armour and the PE sights, for the twin machine guns actually fit? These problems were overcome, eventually, but could have been avoided with clearer drawings.