The ground breaking Grumman F8F Bearcat the F7F Tigercat, were superlative aircraft in every respect. Unfortunately they showed up to the party too late. It arrived too late to see much action in WWII and by the time the war in Korea began in 1950 the jet age had begun and piston powered aircraft were being phased out or relegated to secondary roles. The F8F totally outclassed any other Naval piston fighter in terms of maximum speed, maneuverability and especially climb rate, but could not keep up with the jets entering service. 

The impetus for the Bearcat began with the attack on Midway. A fast interceptor with a very high rate of climb was envisioned to stop enemy dive bombers and torpedo aircraft long before they reached the fleet or even the West Coast of the US. Designed as a high speed interceptor to replace the F6F Hellcat, the F8F Bearcat married the famous and supremely powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine to a small and light airframe. It was essentially like putting a Corvette engine in a car the size and weight of a Mazda Miata. The Bearcat's fuselage was about 5 feet shorter than the Hellcat, and was cut down vertically behind the cockpit ares, allowing the use of a bubble canopy, remedying one of the Hellcat's notable weaknesses. The vertical stabilizer was the same height as the Hellcat's, but had an increased aspect ratio. The wingspan was 7 feet less than the Hellcat's. The fuselage used flush riveting, butt jointing (as opposed to the Hellcat's lapped jointing) as well as spot welding. Increased armor protection was provided for the pilot, engine and oil cooler.

Initial design work on the Bearcat began in 1943. The first prototype flew in August 1944 and had a top speed of 425 mph and a climb rate of nearly 5000 fpm, far outclassing the Hellcat or anything the Japanese had to offer. It was a few mph slower than the Corsair but could easily outmaneuver and outclimb it. Deliveries of the Bearcat began in May 1945, only 3 months before VJ Day. It never saw combat in the Pacific. 

The Kit
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The kit was introduced in 2007. In terms of "parts count" this kit is on par with most Trumpeter kits withs 366 pieces on 11 sprues. From a first look standpoint, the cockpit looks somewhat simplified, though as we have come to expect from Trumpeter. The engine depicts a late model R-2800-30R. The cooling fin detail on the cylinders is somewhat coarse and simplified on the distributors and magneto. Since I plan on raising the leveI of detail on this kit to a higher level, I will replace it. I have a Vector resin replacement which is a kit unto itself! I will still have to add all wiring and plumbing, which should be no problem. I plan on leaving several engine panels off to highlight all the detail.  Detail over all is crisp and riveting and panel detail is more restrained than many other Trumpeter kits. Because the Bearcat bubble canopy has a "blown" profile as viewed down the longitudinal axis, the shortcomings of the injection molding process has left a seam down the center of the canopy which will have to be sanded down and polished. I may just sand it smooth and vacuform a new canopy. The M2 .50 caliber machine guns are very simple so I will replace them with a pair of cast ones from my molds of masters I made. The masters have a separate feed tray cover. I have 1/32 0.50 cal belts that I can attach to them. I plan to leave the port gun bay open. From what I have seen in reviews on the web, the forks of the main landing gear are short by about 0.2", causing the tires to rub against the bottom of the oleo legs. The tailwheel strut looks very fragile. There are white metal replacement gear available that address both issues, but I may just insert a styrene shim in the MLG and embed a piece of 0.030" steel rod up the entire MLG from the wheel strut to the top to strengthen it.  The kit comes with vinyl tires but may just put the wheel hubs in them and cast them so they are more durable. I want to model this kit as an early F8F-1 without the red stripe in the national insignia so I will probably just mask the fuselage with home made viny masks and paint them.

The cockpit is likewise lacking in detail. It is going to take a good bit of work to bring it up to the level of detail I plan for this kit. I do have a Quinta Studios 3D decal placard set to bring the detail up to par. They are truly amazing sets, superior even to the Waldron Cockpit Placards I have used for many years.

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So, let's get this party started!

The Engine

As is customary for me, I started with the engine and worked my way aft. Overall, the kit engine is not bad, but it is not great either. The cooling fin detail on the cylinders is soft and rather course. Detail on the magneto and distributors is pretty much non-existent. I searched the web and finally found some fantastic P&W R-2800 .stl 3D printer files. I printed them out and was amazed at the level of minute detail. The only thing missing was the accessory section. I have an Aires 1/32 R-2800 that did, so I cast it and attached it to the ED printed engine. It fit like a glove. The only downside is since the engine was printed in one piece, painting is a bit of a challenge. I was able to print the crank case blue gray and the cylinders Alclad magnesium, but all the detail painting and touch up was hand painted. The Pratt and Whitney Logo was printed on some white decal paper and added to the front of the engine case, a small but nice touch! I will print a data plate on a piece of aluminum foil. 

There is still a lot of plumbing, supercharger trunks and other things to add to it, but the basic engine is complete.