Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat "White 18" – Tamiya 1/48
This build is the first of a series of Grumman 'cats that I plan to build in time. The kit is the revered Tamiya offering with the pronounced rivet details. This kit went together exceptionally well, no surprise there. I finished this one a few months back.
The only modifications to the kit were cutting away the cockpit floor, Eduard Zoom PE, and Techmod decals for Howard S Packard's White 18, which he flew with VF-6 in '42 if I'm not mistaken. The reason I chose this was of mild consequence, as I happen to have found the F3A-2 kit from Special Hobby that has markings for his Buffalo, wherein he had great combat success before moving to the Wildcat. I thought it would be neat to build both planes, merely as conversation pieces. 🙂 I typically have a tough time deciding markings, so any little excuse to sway myself goes a long way in resolving the issue.
Paints were a combination of Vallejo and MM acrylics. I had actually decided to do White 18 after spraying the base colors, which on most Blue/Gray F4Fs carries the blue low onto the fuselage. Because of this I had to respray the gray further up, and in my attempt to blend the two, may have gone overboard on the post-shading... But I'm happy with it.
Sealed the paint with Future, decaled, then Vallejo acrylic Matt varnish was sprayed to seal for an oil wash. Slight post shaping was once again applied with a Matt varish mix to finish it off.
I hope you enjoy!
Very nice walk through in terms of process.
‘Liked’
Just as well done as the Dauntless.
Very nice work on this. I like the result - the paint looks sun-faded without being overdone.
Your process was good. Just FWIW, that camo pattern is what was on the F4F-3 - I don't know why they changed with the F4F-4. Since you're newly-back, let me say that in airbrushing, it's good to do dark colors over light, overspray is less visible. Doing it that way will let you control the pattern better.
This is as nice as your SBD.
I did spray the grey first, thanks. You may be confused because in the one shot you can see the -4 pattern sprayed, but I had to go back and move the grey higher since the Techmod instructions show that this plane carried a -3 pattern, apparently.
Makes me wonder if Packard's plane was a -4 or not, given that the decal sheets all show it with that difference. Hmm..
Very tidy, like Tom said I think you got the balance right on the weathered finish.
That's a good looking cat Andrew. Great cockpit detail as well.
Excellent build!
Thanks everyone for the positive compliments!
Nice!
Beautiful work Andrew - this is a plane I'd really like to build and this is fantastic inspiration.