1:32 F2A-2 Buffalo

A barrel-shaped fighter between two worlds

The Brewster was the first monoplane with retractable landing gear that the US Navy accepted on its decks, and the F2A-2 version of 1940 was the most balanced of the whole family: a stronger engine, a better propeller, a fuselage not yet overloaded. It was flown by squadron VF-2 from the deck of the Lexington and VF-3 from the Saratoga. Before the war came, these were conspicuously colorful aircraft; only in 1941 did the colors disappear under a uniform gray finish.

Three fronts, three entirely different machines

In the prewar US Navy the upper surface of the wing was chrome yellow and the cowling, the propeller caps and the rudder carried the section color, so the machine could be placed at first glance. British and Dutch examples over Malaya and Java received a brown and green camouflage and a roundel, and against Japanese fighters it did not help them. Finnish Brewsters, on the other hand, which carried their own national marking, were among the most successful aircraft of the whole war with their regiment and served until 1945.

The set in practice

The glazing consists of a fixed windscreen, a sliding section and a rear canopy with frames that are miserable to mask freehand. Pre-cut parts hold the width of the frame and let no paint past the edge. Shapes for the inner side make it possible to build the cockpit open without the frame showing through.

Apply the largest areas first, then the small corner pieces. The reverse order leads to the small parts shifting under the large ones and the frame coming out asymmetrical.

Try the shade of the frame on an offcut of sprue first. Paint looks different on a transparent base than on the plastic of the fuselage, and a surprise on the finished canopy is hard to put right.