Academy 1:48 - SB2U-3 Vindicator "Battle of Midway"

I received the right item on time and very well packed.

I fancied a WWII US Navy kit so I bought this instead of the usual Tamiya and Revell kits. I don't rate Airfix as they haven't brought out anything new in years, and what they have are old models as far as I'm aware.I have a right stash of kits but this is my first Academy kit as I heard they were a bit pants, though that was long ago.However, having looked the kit over I found the kit looks very good indeed, although I can't yet speak for the fit of parts.Even if parts don't fit that well it can all be sorted.After all, thats the challenge with building model kits, you can expect certain manufacturers to knock out poorly fitting kits now and again.This kit looks very well detailed and comes with a canopy mask and a very small photoetch tree containing just seatbelts.It also comes with great looking Cartograph decals.However, Beware before you contact the seller about having no photoetch as its tiny and mine was sandwiched between the Cartograph decal sheet and the canopy mask sheet.So hold it up to the light to check its included if you're not ready to build the kit yet.I've given this kit four stars as its a stash kit so I can't review the fit of parts, it may be worth 5 stars once built, who knows?It looks very good though and very well detailed.The instructions also list most paint manufacturers codes with the exception of Tamiya for some reason.Vallejos codes are there though, both Model Colour and Model Air codes, no Mr Hobby or Gunze codes.

他のアキュレイトのキットと同様にインストは分かりづらい所がありますが、出来てしまえばいいいキットです。何より入手できるのがありがたいですね！

SB2Uはヨークタウン級航空母艦に搭載すべく開発された艦上偵察/爆撃機で、海軍向けのSB2U-1/2に次いで海兵隊向けに57機が生産されたのがSB2U-3でした。太平洋戦争が始まる頃には旧式化していたSB2Uは、急速にSBDドーントレスに更新されていきましたが、ミッドウェー海戦で唯一実戦を経験しています。本製品は2005年にアキュレイトミニチュアから登場したキットでしたが、同社亡き後にアカデミーが引き継いで販売しています。現在ではこのスケールでは入手可能な唯一のSB2Uとして貴重な存在で、プロポーションやディテールも優秀な決定版キットと呼べる物です。デカールは上質なカルトグラフ製で、マーキングはミッドウェー海戦に参加した機体など、海兵隊所属機が三種入っています。今後も後発キットは期待できそうにない機種なので、入手して損はないキットだと思います。