COBI Grumman F6F Hellcat Set 5883

COBI's Grumman F6F Hellcat is a 1:48 model built from 235 blocks, 21.5 cm long with a 27 cm wingspan, in the US Navy's three-tone blue and white scheme. The propeller moves and the landing gear detaches. All markings are printed.

They designed it around a captured Zero

In June 1942, during the Japanese attack on the Aleutians, a Zero made a forced landing on Akutan Island. The pilot was killed when the aircraft flipped in soft ground, but the aeroplane itself was almost undamaged.

The Americans recovered it, shipped it to San Diego, repaired it and flew it — the first intact Zero any Allied nation had. Test flights established exactly what it could and could not do: superb below 300 km/h, heavy on the controls in a high-speed roll to the right, and unable to follow a steep dive because the engine cut out under negative g.

That information reached the fleet as tactical instructions, and it reached Grumman, which was finishing the Hellcat. The F6F was built to be faster, tougher and better-armed rather than more nimble, and pilots were told exactly which manoeuvres would kill a Zero and which would kill them.

Nineteen to one

The Hellcat is credited with 5,156 aerial victories, more than any other American fighter, for a loss ratio of about nineteen to one — the best of any fighter in the war.

Some of that is the aircraft. Much of it is that by 1943 the US Navy had trained pilots in numbers while Japan had lost most of its experienced ones and could not replace them.

In the COBI range

Set 5729 is the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero and 5731 the earlier F4F Wildcat, both at 1:32.

Specifications

Pieces: 235 · Scale: 1:48
Model dimensions: 21.5 × 27 × 10 cm (8.5 × 10.6 × 3.9 in)