Grumman J2F-5/6 Duck
US WW II Float Plane Biplane

Octopus (Pavla), 1/72

Reviewed by Glen Porter

Pavla's 1/72 scale Grumman Duck is available online from Squadron.com
 

Designed and flown in the early thirties, it wasn't known as the “Duck” officially until the J2F-5 was ordered in 1940. It and the J2F-6 were flown by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps through out WW II and beyond.

As far as I know, the only 1/72 scale Duck was the old Airfix kit from many years ago. Although considered a reasonable kit for its time, it lacked detail and was coated in raised rivets as was normal for Airfix.

The highlight of this Octopus kit is the high quality resin parts for interior, engine and propeller, all 47 of them. The resin is beautifully cast in cream with no bubble or other imperfections and has all the detail you could want. As always, there are casting blocks to be removed.

The downside is the plastic. Although the shape looks to be okay, artwork on the front and rear of the box shows lots of panel detail on the fuselage and float which is not present on the plastic. This detail also seems to be present in the few photos I have of the aircraft although the small amount there is, footsteps and the like, appears to be etched. Initially, I thought it was raised but on closer inspection I realized it was indeed engraved. In this day and age, I find this a little disappointing, as if it is an older moulding upgraded with new resin.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The two sprues of plastic include fuselage/float halves, wings, rudder, tail planes, wing floats and most of the struts and mounts. The rest of the model is in resin.

Decals look very good with perfect register and minimum carrier film and cover five aircraft, one Argentinian Navy from 1950, a U.S. Navy Rescue Unit aircraft from the same period, both in over-all aluminium dope, a U.S.A.F aircraft also from a rescue unit in Alaska with Insignia Red panels over aluminium dope, 1947, a pre-war U.S.N example from a photographic unit in the two greys scheme, 1941 and a U.S. Coast Guard ship-board aircraft from during the war in the mid war three colour scheme.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Two complete vacformed canopy sets are supplied which includes two canopies, one with extra framing, plus two side windows each. This means you can afford to cut one open to show all that lovely resin interior detail without the risk of getting into trouble.

This kit from Octopus (Pavla) will build into an excellent replica of this much overlooked aircraft but I am a bit disappointed by the lack of detail on the fuselage/float. However, having said that, I must admit that many modellers will not agree with me and if that is the case with you, then go for it!

Recommended.

Thanks to Pavla for the review sample

Review and Images Copyright © 2007 by Glen Porter
Page Created 30 January, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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