Starfighter 1/72 Curtiss F11C-2/BFC-2 Upgrade
By Matt Bittner
Starfighter is at it again. The ones who benefit are the modelers, especially those that wish to keep building the older Monogram 1/72 biplanes. This time they release resin sets to upgrade the Curtiss F11C-2, as well as convert it into a BFC-2. Oh, woe is us!
The set I received is a "combo set" consisting of both the cockpit and the BFC-2 conversion turtledeck. You can buy each separate, but if you want to convert the F11C-2 into the BFC-2, you'll probably want to update the cockpit as well, so might as well opt for this all-in-one package.
The cockpit consists of two sidewalls, a cockpit floor, a front and rear bulkhead, a seat with seatbelts molded in situ, an instrument panel and the control stick. The BFC-2 conversion consists just of the replacement turtledeck.
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As with the F4B-4 cockpit set, there are things that need to be removed from the Monogram kit prior to adding the resin in. These are the faux instrument panel and the "peg hole" where the pilot is supposed to be added. From there you follow the illustrated instructions and you'll have a very nice F11C-2/BFC-2 cockpit.
The BFC-2 conversion consists of cutting part of the kit's turtledeck away (again, shown in the illustrated instructions) and gluing on the resin piece. Not sure if there are gaps or not after adding the new turtledeck, but if done with plenty of dry fitting, it shouldn't be that much.
If you couple the BFC-2 conversion with two sheets from Starfighter (both 72107 and 72105) then you'll have something in 1/72 that is unique and not seen that often.
Even if you don't want to build a BFC-2, then buy the F11C-2 cockpit by itself as it will update an excellent kit back from the sixties, and give it new life.
My thanks to Starfighter for the resin set.