Notes: I have loved this plane ever since seeing the "Blues" fly it as a young boy in the early 60's.

This kit has to be one of the worst I have ever built. I understand that FM started as a company molding little lead soldiers -- I think they may need to return to their roots. The plastic "sloughs" off in places when you sand it. The panel lines are OK but the overall surface is very rough. Lots of auto body primer surfacer and then careful scribing to restore the panel details. The wing and rudder trailing edges were not completely formed so I had to build them back up with CA and micro balloons. The cockpit has a photo etched panel but no instruments! Mike Grant decals to the rescue. There is a place for the throttle quadrant but no throttle in all the little lumps of white metal that I could find! When I went to apply the decals some of the areas did not even have the white underlay cut away. All in all just very poor quality control by the manufacturer but what are you going to do, it is about the only game in town.