Russ continues to deliver bits and pieces which are, when you think of it, invaluable! Most heavy thanks to him for providing IPMS USA yet another of his great works.

This set provides metal duplicates of the original plastic landing gear for a kit which has been with us since 1959. (I have a box with the Gulfhawk kit; it proves, along with the decal sheet with manufacturing data, that this kit is just a year younger than I am!). The kit was re-released by Monogram (and later by Revell) in 1964, 1973, and 1999, both as the Gulfhawk and the standard F3F. The kit has cut-down Gulfhawk wings for both releases…to which Mike West has a replacements for the proper wingspan in resin, or you can use internet resources to cut/paste two kits to get the same result with a LOT more work!

This is the first Ginter book I have had the pleasure of reading or reviewing. It is in the standard format of a softback book with card covers and is approx. 8 ½” x 11” in size. The text and photos are all printed on glossy, high quality paper.

There is a detailed history of the development of the PB2Y, followed by an in-depth operational history. This operational history includes details of many combat missions. High quality black and white photos are present on every page. There are also drawings and pages reproduced from technical manuals.

After the technical development section, the operational history is broken down into sections on the US Navy, the Naval Transport Service, service as an “Admiral’s Barge,” and the RAF. There are even a few pages dedicated to the Coronado’s Seaplane Tenders.

Dutch Decal has been producing decals of all aircraft from the Dutch Air Forces. The company started in 1986 and the decals that were produced caught on mainly for their quality and uniqueness and, according to Dutch Decal, their “sheets are silk screen printed with English instructions often in colour and if possible with photographs alongside the illustrations”.

This particular decal sheet was designed for Wingscale’s B-25, but due to lots of political mayhem (which I won’t get into), a new company called HK Models produced the B-25J kit. The decals will still work with this kit due to the fact that the dimensions have not changed.

Initial Impressions

This upgrade and conversion set addresses inaccuracies in the venerable Lindberg kit No. 72544, the Curtiss Goshawk, and allows a conversion to a BFC-2 or a correction to the F11-C. The Lindberg kit is still widely available, although it is out of production.

The parts are cast in light gray resin and include a replacement engine, one-piece cowling, cockpit parts, wheels and wheel pants/spats, propeller, gun sight, fuel tank, and vacuformed clear plastic windscreens and canopy. An excellent set of instructions accompanies this set and includes references, decals sources, and online extras, such as decal artwork and a rigging diagram. Everything is contained in a plastic bag.

This set immediately got me fired up, unlike many conversion or update sets. The instructions and materials are well-presented. There was no sense of trepidation, dread, or self-coaching with this one!

Quickboost continues to release replacement parts for new kits as they come out, this time it is updated exhausts for the new Airfix Swordfish.

A quick comparison between the kit part and the resin parts show the new items have more of an oval exhaust point where the kit piece looks more round.

You get 2 exhausts in the set which can be helpful if you have one of the older Matchbox/Revell versions as those kits only come with the later exhaust. Or you can save the other one for the new floatplane version Airfix is releasing shortly.

Overall a nice, quick update to help make a good looking kit that much better. Many thanks to Quickboost and IPMS/USA for the review item