I played with an original release that my Dad had built when new until it could be played with no more. This was about '66 or so, I still have what's left and used a few of its parts in the resto of this already started and broken, then abandoned kit. This is the '67 release and I was even able to get all of the decals to cooperate, I did scan them beforehand. The Orange is Tamiya. I did find B/W photos that show the wheel discs and tail struts to be silver as the box art shows, although the Smithsonian's is all orange. Whatever.
I love the shape of this old Grumman and have since I was pretty young, obviously.
My goal was to just follow the directions and after recreating a few bits of suspension, everything works just as it should. Finding this was just a right place, right time thing. I love it when that happens.
Broadcasting from the California Institute for the Used to be Alright