1/48 AF-2W Guardian Submarine Hunter

The Grumman AF Guardian was a US Navy carrier-based anti-submarine aircraft that entered service at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s. It was developed as a specialised anti-submarine aircraft at a time when submarine threats were growing in significance and the US Navy required an effective means of detecting and destroying them. An interesting fact that earned the Guardian a place in history is that it was the largest single-engine piston-powered aeroplane ever to serve on board aircraft carriers.

The Guardian fulfilled its anti-submarine role in a pair of complementary variants: the AF-2W reconnaissance variant carried detection equipment to locate targets, whilst the AF-2S strike variant carried out the actual attack. The AF-2W ‘Submarine Hunter’ variant, which this kit depicts, thus represented the ‘eyes’ of this pair – the aircraft whose task was to locate the enemy. Guardians operated from the decks of escort vessels and light aircraft carriers and formed an important part of anti-submarine groups in the early years of the Cold War.

This Special Hobby 1:48 scale kit is a glue-up model that combines standard injection-moulded plastic parts with resin (PUR) castings and photo-etched parts, allowing for the capture of the original’s fine details. The kit contains eight sprues of grey plastic parts, a sprue of clear parts, a set of PUR parts and a sheet of photo-etched parts. The decals offer two variants of an all-blue camouflage scheme with white accents and markings – one aircraft operated from the aircraft carrier USS Bairoko, the other from the deck of the USS Badoeng Strait.

For modellers, the AF-2W Guardian is an attractive combination of a less common subject, the striking all-blue colour scheme typical of the US Navy aviation of that period, and the detailed cast parts and photo-etched components that enrich the kit. The model will therefore appeal both to those interested in the history of anti-submarine aviation and to collectors of US Navy carrier-based aircraft.