Expected release date is 30th Oct 2024 |
Skymax 1:72 1012 F8F Bearcat - USN Blue Angels, 1946, w/Decal Sheet |
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Scale: 1:72 |
Length: 4.75" |
Width: 6" |
Composition: Diecast |
SKU: SM-1012 |
Period: World War II |
SKYMAX MODELS COLLECTION
Preorder Expected Arrival - AUGUST 2024
The Blue Angels were originally formed in April 1946 as the Navy Flight Exhibition Team. They changed their name to the Blue Angels after seeing an advertisement for the New York nightclub The Blue Angel, also known as The Blue Angel Supper Club, in the New Yorker Magazine. The team was first introduced as the Blue Angels during an air show in July 1946. The first Blue Angels demonstration aircraft wore navy blue (nearly black) with gold lettering. The current shades of blue and yellow were adopted when the first demonstration aircraft were transitioned from the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat to the Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat in August 1946.
Designed to emulate a captured Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and to outperform the Japanese A6M5 Zero, the Grumman F8F Bearcat was first flown on August 21, 1944. This single-engine US Navy aircraft was Grumman's last piston-engined fighter, possessing a number of innovative features including uniquely detachable wingtips, which would snap off if g-forces reached a certain level. Though the Bearcat was considered one of the best-handling piston-engined fighters in history, it didn't become operational after the end of WWII. Still, the Bearcat earned an important place in history through its postwar service with the US Navy and its use by the Blue Angels aerobatic performance team.
SkyMax's 1:72 scale F8F Bearcat is constructed almost entirely from diecast metal, with value pricing and just the right number of features. The fuselage is designed with a near-seamless blend of plastic and diecast metal, featuring a removable bubble-top canopy and a clear view of the pad-printed instruments and control stick. Cooling fins on each of the cylinder heads can be seen inside the engine cowling. The solid metal wing has crisp panel line details, simulated fabric-stretched ailerons and air intakes with internal piping. Other details include a center-mounted fuel tank, rockets, bombs and machine guns with wing clearance blisters.
Info: F8F Bearcat - USN Blue Angels, 1946, w/Decal Sheet