1/72 US Navy Fighter Vought F6U-1 Pirate (Late)

New from Czech maker Admiral is this model of the Vought F6U-1 Pirate. This was Vought's first jet fighter, and unfortunately a complete failure!  It did however earn the title of first US Navy jet with an afterburner, which was added on to the basic design in an attempt to improve the original design's abyssmal performance.  In that it succeeded - performance went from "abyssmal" to just "bad".

Still this looks to be a very nice kit of a very bad airplane, with recessed panel lines, a detailed one-piece resin cockpit tub (seat molded in place) and photoetched detail parts.  Markings are provided for three late-production aircraft (with the auxiliary vertical fins on the horizontal stabilizers): BuNo 122481 in NATC markings, BuNo 122491 in NASA markings and BuNo 122499 coded "19 XC" (another test unit, we believe).