Small Scale Military Headquarters

What the heck is this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/21st-CENTURY-TOYS-F ... dZViewItem

It's certainly not 21st Century's 1/18th scale Corsair. Looks somewhat like a shoddy custom made Bearcat?

Looks like a Grumman F8F Bearcat to me. Didn't know anyone made that in 1:18...



-Kevin

A little comparison:









-Kevin

I believe the box goes with the Ira Kepford Corsair. I wonder if the seller is aware of this strange plane in the wrong box.

A protoype that got away via skull dugery ?

hm......yes definitely looks like Bearcat. The only one i know of in 1/18 is by HPH, which costs about $2k.

I wonder what it is.......a wooden model custom? Could be an r/c plane but i don't know of any that small. Very curious. Would be nice to get some close up pics and see what the wings look like.

I blew up the picture and it looks interesting. The windscreen is a bit suspect as it looks too short and small, but it could just be the photo. There are some lumps and bumps on the side of the fuselage i can't explain but those might be the photo as well. The number 41 does has a lump under it though, not sure what that might be.

Wouldn't that be amazing if it was a 21c prototype that got shipped to somebody by mistake..

Somebody buy it so we can find out what it is..

Aren't the slots for the rear stabilisers to far back, in relation to the horizontal fin?

Looking at those comparison pics with the model box art, don't you think the tail rudder is way too wide. The white "V" gives it away.
Unless there's a separate piece that goes on top of the fin, because it doesn't look tall enough.

Unless I'm missing something.

looks good for a custom at that price

I'm starting to think this smells fishy. There doesn't appear to be any detail whatsoever in the engine exhaust area (From behind the cowl and surfacing the fuslage, over the wing root).
Yes, that tail is huge. Looking at the rear stab tabs further - they also look to low in relation to the tail.

The propeller shaft is wrong. More like one from a Corsair. It also looks to be 3 bladed instead of the 4 of an F8F but it's hard to tell.

Has anyone asked the seller where he got the plane and made aware that the plane in the box does not match the box description?

Looks like a 'cut and paste' custom to me. It wouldn't take that much to convert existing models into something resembling a Bearcat, particularly if it's placed in a 'sealed' box and never seen fully assembled. Very curious...

Dauntless wrote:Looking at those comparison pics with the model box art, don't you think the tail rudder is way too wide. The white "V" gives it away.
Unless there's a separate piece that goes on top of the fin, because it doesn't look tall enough.

Unless I'm missing something.

It looks to me like a Corsair nose w/ 3 bladed prop P-51 canopy and rudder. There is an ugly beaded joint just undder the leading edge fairing of the rudder. Yes the rudder is way to wide and short for a Bearcat. Maybe the customizer ( abobominator ) left the Corsair rudder and grafted the P-51 fairing onto it .

I asked the seller about this plane and informed him of the issues. He wrote back saying the plane is original in sealed box. This can not be possible. The box must have been retaped and this plane put inside .
Bid is up to $75.00. Too much for me to take a chance on this. Anybody know if these markings were used in the Pacific.

It looks pretty well strapped in. I would buy it on the very off chance it is something special (like a Proto that got away), but I don't want to bid against all the other people who might think the same thing. It should go for a pretty penny.

I send him a question about that plane and he will put more pics.

phil

More pics posted from the Monster Garage. It looks like some Frankenstein revisited plane.

phil

One thing is for sure is that the wings are a different color...maybe even the original Corsair wings.

"Sealed MIB in box" my arse.

I also sent the seller a message and he replied that he purchased the plane exactly as it is pictured. He did take the plane out of the box to take more pics. This thing looks very strange. Kinda looks like an unfinished custom job. In any event, this item probably will fetch a pretty high price since it is one of a kind.

It def looks a little rough. Not sure I'd want to pay upwards of 100 bucks for it.

weird !!!!! it seems that the regular corsair's gull wing & tail units are included with a bearcat fuselage ??????

This is certainly the strangest model ever seen ! maybe it's a 2001 mistake made in some obscure powerplant in China almost 10 years ago ?

Never seen something like that ! i wonder if the wing fit ? and if not if somebody can do some regular F8F wings ?

my curiosity is a little bit damped by the too many flaws in this model (first the 3 blades prop) but it can be a nice starting for acustom F8F

you can see in the last picture the missig tail cone and the same tail hook arrangement as in the HELLCAT !!!!! it's definitivly strange !!!!!!!!!!!!

I looked at his other items that he has for sales and they are mostly old model cars with a few Star Wars and Star Trek items. It appears from his history response he is on the up and up. He even has posted his face on Ebay:
http://myworld.ebay.com/thunderbolthobbies
This is his only 1:18 plane he has listed. Hondo is 40 miles outside of San Antonio to far for me but maybe KAMIKAZE can do a recon!
I say it is a custom he must have bought from someone not knowing what he has.