Sweet is a very appropriate
name for this company as the kits are very - as Cartmann
would say - Sweeeet. I have most of the 1/144 aircraft
they have released and they are just amazing little kits.
Very fine recessed panel lines and beautifully detailed,
accurate mouldings that rival any larger injection moulded
models.
There are a few new features
in the FM-2, a couple of really nice ones and a couple
of somewhat bizarre ones. As usual you get two complete
kits in one box, in this case two gray sprues and two
dark blue sprues. For the first time though a seperate
clear sprue is included for the two canopies. Previously,
as in their Hurricane kit, Sweet included two canopies
on each sprue but one complete aircraft was moulded in
clear, which means you got two 'solid' canopies and two
clear canopies. The Mc. 200, which was their first kit,
only includes two 'solid' canopies which need to be painted
to resemble clear parts - never a favourite method of
mine even in this tiny scale.
There is no cockpit detail
except for a headrest and seat-like structure moulded
into each fuselage half, but with the canopy closed I
think it would suffice in this scale. Brengun does a set
of vacform
canopies for this kit, should you wish to detail the
cockpits and open the canopies to show off your efforts.
Click, damn you, click!
The
other new feature that I quite like is the carrier deck
printed on the decal sheet (and a set of chocks is included
on the sprues). This would look very effective stuck on
an appropriately coloured base, although I have to say
it doesn't look big enough to me. Perhaps the idea is
to buy another kit in order to get a large enough deck
section? Sneaky!
The decals are a big improvement
over previous efforts which were typical Japanese kit
decals: well printed but rather thick. These are printed
by Cartograf of Italy and are quite thin. The registration
is perfect and they have little or no carrier film. Markings
are included for 5 US Navy aircraft. I'm told a later
release will include parts and markings for Royal Navy
Wildcat VIs.
And as for the bizarre features:
Well, let's start with the box.
I'm not at all sure about this Japanese predilection for
anime girls in slinky clothing and I have no idea why
they thought it would be a good idea to include one on
the box top of a model airplane. "Yuki", as
she appears to be named, looks to be about twelve years
old, yet is clothed in a rather provocative sailor suit
and hot pants on one side of the box. This is at best
odd, and at worst somewhat disturbing. She is also curiously
sporting the word NASA on her Mae West and sailor hat.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe NASA didn't evolve
from NACA until well after the FM-2 was put out to pasture,
so I haven't a clue what the relevance is.
The other odd thing is the cutesy little animals populating
the flight deck**. I'm not
sure what exactly they are; some sort of cat and/or rodent
perhaps? The really odd part is that you get two
of these little critters in the box - complete with decals
for the bow ties, bellies and eyes. And if you scaled
them up they would be monsters - about 6 feet tall and
so darned cute and happy you'd run screaming at the sight
of them. Well, I'd run screaming anyway.
So, another brilliant little scale model from the likes
of Sweet with a couple of sickenly cute features that
really should remain in toyland. Given the quality and
relatively high price (£8.00 here in jolly old England)
I don't believe these kits are aimed at youngsters so
I have to wonder at the inclusion of the little girl from
NASA and her menagerie. Perhaps if I could read the Japanese
instructions all would be explained?
Click, damn you, click!
**Ahhh!!
Yasuhiro from Japan was kind enough to explain:
Hi, I'm greeting from Japan. Your site is very nice. The
girl and monster cat in SWEET FM-2 review relate to the
president of SWEET. The girl (NASA-chan) is his daughter.
NASA is a real name. The cat is his cat. It is about 1
feet. The president was the employee of TAMIYA.
Thank you Yasuhiro! I'm guessing "Yuki" is the
artist who created the box art then?
The
other new feature that I quite like is the carrier deck
printed on the decal sheet (and a set of chocks is included
on the sprues). This would look very effective stuck on
an appropriately coloured base, although I have to say
it doesn't look big enough to me. Perhaps the idea is
to buy another kit in order to get a large enough deck
section? Sneaky!
I'm not at all sure about this Japanese predilection for
anime girls in slinky clothing and I have no idea why
they thought it would be a good idea to include one on
the box top of a model airplane. "Yuki", as
she appears to be named, looks to be about twelve years
old, yet is clothed in a rather provocative sailor suit
and hot pants on one side of the box. This is at best
odd, and at worst somewhat disturbing. She is also curiously
sporting the word NASA on her Mae West and sailor hat.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe NASA didn't evolve
from NACA until well after the FM-2 was put out to pasture,
so I haven't a clue what the relevance is.
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