HASEGAWA 1:72 GRUMMAN TARPON MK.II
Reviewer: Myself (braithy@bigpond.com)
The Grumman Tarpon Mk II is an aircraft from the World War II era and normally referred to as "Avengers". Apparently they named the early Avengers "Tarpons" and in particular for the Royal Navy. I am not absolutely sure of this last bit but I do know they were commonly known as Avengers.
The Kit is manufactured by Hasegawa and on opening the box you are presented with typical plastic wrap encasing about 40 Injection moulded parts and 11 clear. One thing to note is that the wings are in the normal complete outward position, there is no provision to fold them (Avengers/Tarpons were able to have wings folded in a configuration not dissimilar to "arms behind the back" if I were to use an analogy). References will need to be sought to determine just how the wings are to be folded if this were your desire, and would also include some surgery to achieve this result. Due to this, I configured mine as a flying model. On inspection of the parts they are flash-free with only a few minor sink marks, overall the parts are crisp and appear to be well moulded with finely engraved panel lines. Cockpit and wheel well detail is between basic and reasonable, you are given decals to use as instrumentation in the cockpit. There are no crew figures to speak of which is uncommon for a Hasegawa kit.
The instruction sheet is set out in step by step format and is easy to follow. As usual, you are given a diagram of the sprues in the kit with the unused parts shaded blue - these appear to relate to items such as rockets and some alternate glazing. There is a numbering chart for painting, using Gunze Sangyo and Mr Colour. The chart also includes approximate names for these colours to help determine with other paint manufacturers. A second sheet is provided which gives details of the colour schemes of the two aircraft the kit is intended for.
Construction starts with the cockpit, rear gunner and belly gunner areas. You then move onto fuselage, wings and so forth. As previously stated there is no option to have the wings folded and hence I have made mine into a flying model. It should also be noted that the canopy for the cockpit is one piece, you will need to cut it if you wish to display an open cockpit. In fact the only optional provision to speak of is to have open bomb bay doors (which I chose) and you are supplied with only a torpedo (no depth charges) to affix inside. Other than that, all the parts went well together with no gaps or "challenges" to otherwise speak of.
There are two sets of very good Aeromaster decal options to choose from. They leave a high quality finish but are a bit thin and need to be handled carefully. Both are Royal Navy aircraft, one being JZ114 of 848 Squadron aboard HMS Formidable, 1945 and the other being JZ301 of 845 Squadron aboard HMS Ameer, 1944. The first of these aircraft is given decals for a Far East set of roundels, while the latter is given decals that represent more common roundels of the Royal Navy, both having traditional Dark Green/Dark Sea Grey and sky blue underside colour schemes.
Overall this is a very good kit with all parts fitting very well and a good result should be achieved by anyone. The only downside is that the kit caters more for a flying model than a static display one, you will need to do all the work cutting and scratchbuilding to achieve a wings-folded-back and open canopy result. For this outcome the kit would provide a fairly hefty challenge but one which I would hazard to say is achievable if one desired.
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