Kit:
Afermarket parts:
Decals:
- Aeromaster
#72-093C F4F-4 Wildcat Aces Pt.1
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This kit is
rather accurate in terms of shape and dimensions, but, as for the detail
level, there was some obvious improvement potential, that is, however,
by no means a fault of a mainstream injection molded kit.
In particular, the following
improvements made to this kit were:
- Inner surfaces of wing
halves and rear fuselage halves (rudder) were thinned down to obtain sharp
trailing edges.
- Some panel lines were filled
and some added according to reference photos. In addition, the overlapping
panels (for example, on the rudder) were represented using thin metal
foil.
- The cockpit was replaced by
the True Details resin parts.
- The canopy was replaced by
the Squadron vacu formed item. Since the Squadron canopy is designed to
fit the Academy kit, some adjustment work was required for mounting it on
the model. The canopy replacement forced widening the fairing above the
control panel in the cockpit, which have originally had rather wide
margins for placing the thicker kit canopy. This fairing was also
thinned down for correct scale representation.
- The most serious flaw
with this kit is just an empty space where the landing gear bay should be.
This problem is partially solved by inserting the True Details tub,
however some extra work was still required. For instance, the recesses to
accommodate the main wheel are just repeated in full size on the resin tub
and, since it is designed to fit the kit fuselage having rather thick
plastic, these recesses turned out to be much deeper than they should be. Some
filling and re-scribing was required to fix this problem. Some
additional detail was also added to the rear bulkhead and to the engine
compartment interior partially visible in front of the wheel bay.
In addition, the fuselage walls around the front of the wheel bay were
partially thinned down for the correct skin representation.
- The air intakes in the
forward engine cowling ring were deepened and thinned down to scale.
- A lot of detail was added to
the rather basic kit parts for the reasonable representation of the
Wildcat’s complicated landing gear.
- The aileron, elevator and
rudder hinges molded as solid pieces were improved by cutting out their
inner areas. The missing central elements were also added to the fairings
covering the hinges of the landing flaps.
- The too shallow kit exhaust
stacks were replaced by scratch built parts and the fuselage panel around
them was also somewhat refined by making extra steps, holes etc.
- A new rounded propeller hub
and the visible part of the arrester hook were made from scratch.
- A larger pneumatic tail
wheel provided with the kit was replaced by the solid smaller one which is
correct for this particular a/c. The replacement wheel was the part left
unused after building the F2A-2 kit as a Dutch Brewster Model 339C.
- Some further minor
improvements made on the model can clearly be seen on the photos.
The model
represents the F4F-4 BuNo. 5093 (F-23), one of the Wildcats flown by Lt. Cdr.
John S. Thatch during the Battle of Midway. Flying the F-23 on the June 4th,
1942, he shot down 3 Zeros.
Unfortunately, no photos of
BuNo. 5093 are known to exist, however, it is known that its finish was
absolutely standard, so that the photos of other VF-3 Wildcats of that period
could be used as reference.
The camouflage is the standard USN
early two-tone schema. Testors/Model Master Light Gull Grey was used on the
lower surfaces and the blue-grey from WEM on the upper surfaces. The
cockpit was painted with Bronze Green from Humbrol.
Pastel chalks were used for the
panel lines highlighting (wet method). Some moderate washing was done as well.
As the prototype of the model was actually new during the Battle of Midway,
only moderate weathering was represented by subtle color variations on the
upper surface.
The markings came from the
Aeromaster decal sheet providing the option for this particular aircraft.
Future was used as clear coat:
pure before applying decals and for sealing them and mixed with Tamiya
Flat base for the final coat.
Igor
References
1.
Grumman F4F Wildcat in Action No.84 - Squadron/Signal
2. Grumman F4F Wildcat Walk Around No.4 - Squadron/Signal
3. Grumman F4F Wildcat – Modelpres No.9
4. Grumman F4F Wildcat – Detail & Scale No.30
5. Grumman F4F Wildcat – Monografie Lotnicze No. 20
– AJ Press
6. Grumman F4F Wildcat - Aircraft Profile No.53
7. Grumman F4F Wildcat Aces of WWII - Osprey -Aircraft of
the Aces No.03
8. Grumman F4F Wildcat - Kagero - Monografie 12
9. Grumman F4F,F6F,F8F – FAOTW 35 - BunrinDo
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