A sensibly sized box with languid artwork houses seven sprues with the clear parts separately wrapped. The main components are cleanly moulded in light grey - AMT thankfully avoiding the temptation to go for dark blue - and feature neatly recessed panel detail. There was some flash in my sample but this was easily cleaned up. Seamless vinyl tyres are also included with good tread pattern. I like AMT's large, user-friendly instruction sheets which name all the parts and are packed with hints, tips and general information.

The cockpit is good, with a seat, stick and some sidewall detail moulded to the insides of the fuselage. The instrument panel is excellent, one of the best I've seen in a long time, but you'll have to shave a little off the bottom so that it lines up with the coaming. The wheel wells and undercarriage doors are also packed with detail. There are few pin marks on the latter, but these can be covered with squares of plastic strip - it passes as extra 'detail' too.

As the Tigercat was originally designed for carrier use the wings were made to fold, but AMT have wisely kept them rigid, though there is nothing to stop the adventurous from cutting them off and adding mechanism detail etc. The cowlings are moulded as one piece and there are some fine replicas of the twin row P&W R-2800-34W engines to go inside. Crankcase and ignition harness details are all separate, making for easy painting. Other high spots are the hollow exhaust pipes moulded inside the main firewall - excellent.

The overall fit of parts is neat, though sanding the mating surfaces on the major parts (always a good habit) will cure a few rough spots in places and minimise the need for filler. AMT's slightly soft plastic makes sanding a breeze, though go easy with the liquid cement when joining the wings as any excess could damage the trim tabs. After you've joined the engine nacelles, there is an awkward seam inside the recess for the exhaust pipes which will need filling. During a dry run I had trouble fitting the firewall (parts 22) to the nacelles. Sawing away the raised circular locating plug and sanding the mating surface smooth made for a perfect fit. I had intended to fit the firewall at a later stage, but the slight gap on top where it meets the wing was at variance with photo's which clearly show a smooth blend. I opted to fix it place and used some shims of plasticard and superglue to plug the gaps.

AMT suggest aluminium for the undercarriage but most photo's indicate these were gloss blue, with only the compression struts an oleos in bare metal. Wheel wells may also have been this colour, but I painted mine the suggested interior green for contrast. I like the vinyl tyres which needed no clean-up other than gentle sanding make them less shiny and more 'rubber'. Once you've painted the hubs, the tyres can be slipped into place and the result is highly effective - I hope AMT use this technique on future models.

External stores comprise of eight 5' rockets, two 500lb bombs and a centreline tank. The fins for the rockets are moulded separately but are a bit thick for this scale. I left my model 'clean' to show off it's graceful lines. Keeping the model on all-three wheels is a problem - I don't think the delicate undercarriage will be up to much nose weighting and AMT have recognised this by including an oil drum and ammo box as a tail prop. That isn't as strange as it sounds - real life Tigercats suffered the same problems and crews often had to conjure up makeshift supports.

Decal options are for three aircraft, all finished in gloss blue. There are two Marine machines , from VMF-312 (with green bands) and an unidentified unit, and single USN Tigercat in a delivery scheme. I mixed sea blue gloss from Tamiya royal blue and semi-flat black. The first coat was gently rubbed down with a piece of worn wet 'n dry to provide more 'tooth' before an other couple of passes. Despite cleaning the model, I noticed some swirls in the plastic that showed through the primer and the subsequent colour coats. Having read about adhesion problems with these decals, I went for the less colourful Marine machine but encountered no problems. I sealed them in place with a coat of Halfords Clear Lacquer which added more depth to gloss finish. The only other weathering I added to the model were some exhaust grey/brown stains.

1:48 really does do justice to this elegant looking warplane, emphasising the narrow fuselage and beefy wings that made the Tigercat so distinctive.