What-If Build: Grumman F5F-2 โ 1/48 Minicraft
Fresh off the workbench is Minicraft's gem-of-a-kit, that is, their Long-Nose XF5F... schemed-out in a what-if 1943 Tri-tone Blue. This is my third Navy whiffer and I can say I'm happy with the slightly esoteric and (for me anyway) appealing results.
The kit itself is fairly simple, but with a very "Minicraft-ishly" spartan cockpit. With that (and the sparsely open wheel wells) push aside, the kit itself was a delight to build. Fit was excellent and the parts were all cleanly molded. Though the fuselage required some putty at a few seams, the upper and lower wing (each piece the full span) required no putty what-so-ever!
To the cockpit, the main modifications were: the addition of a gunsight lens, seaback thinned appropriately, and harness bar and harness added (replicated F4F). The only other place were I felt that there was some need for added detail was the rear cockpit, or turtle-deck area. This area is highly visible, however the kit had no previsions for this area... Thus I did some fanciful scratchbuilding loosely based off what I could see was in the area on the real XF5F aircraft.
The only other modification to the base kit was that I added some rivet random detailing on the upper side of the plane.
Primary paints were Vallejo colors, however some MM colors were interjected here and there. Decals from the spare bin. Red outline insignias were specifically used because I like the way they contrast with the Tri-tone scheme. The Number 5 was chosen because, well... F5F. Umber and Black Oil wash was used over a matt finish, giving an overly grimmy look, but again, I like the artist results this produces.
My biggest regret of this build? Forgetting to Future the canopy...
I hope you enjoy this scheme and my build!
9 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Tom Cleaver said on August 29, 2020
"Liked." A lot. Very nice work on this whiffer.
Andrew H said on August 30, 2020
Thanks Tom, means a lot.
Tom Bebout said on August 29, 2020
Cool looking Whiffer Andrew, I really like tri-color scheme.
George Henderson said on August 29, 2020
What a cool looking machine
Robert Royes said on August 29, 2020
Nicely done! Looks great in that scheme. Nice comparison to the Wildcat.
Andrew H said on August 30, 2020
Thanks, hoping to have all Grumman fighters built before too long!
Stellan Schroeder Englund said on August 29, 2020
So ugly one would think it is from Blackburn. However, the tricolour camou and red insignias are also a favourite with me. Keep the whiffers coming.
Andrew H said on August 30, 2020
Thanks Stellan, This was the only option in my mind. Glad you like it! Unfortunately, no more whiffers in the queue for now.
John vd Biggelaar said on August 29, 2020
Nice build, overall great looking bird.
Well done, Andrew.
Doug Humphrey said on August 30, 2020
Great job! The tri-color paint scheme, red border insignia and gunsight really sell it as a warbird.
Haslam Yeoman said on August 30, 2020
Sweet build. The tri colour scheme was a great choice.
Spiros Pendedekas said on August 30, 2020
Almost a materialized "whatif", Andrew. You did a great job on it.
Walt B said on August 30, 2020
Love it! The Tri-color paint scheme is one of my favorites, and you did a very nice job with it!
DE4EVER said on August 30, 2020
๐ ... Greetings ... ๐ :
Very nice work Andrew. The paint work is remarkably done and the scheme seems to be just fitting for it.
Stephen W Towle said on August 30, 2020
A liberating build...with out the constraints of having to consult the history books and photo's allows one to be the artist and not the historian. Great to see a modeler be creative and run wild.
Two thumbs Andrew.
Andrew H said on August 30, 2020
Stephen, thanks! It's liberating and relaxing to just build to your hearts content from time to time. I'd recommend it to any builder in a slump.
Eric Berg said on August 30, 2020
Indeed a gem of a kit. Looks terrific!
George R Blair Jr said on August 30, 2020
Great looking plane, Andrew (@pb_legend). You are right that it is a gem. I have built this model twice, both in the short-nose version. My last one was in the paint scheme of the Black Hawk comic book plane. Your hypothetical paint scheme is perfect.
Andrew H said on August 30, 2020
Thanks George, I stumbled across your builds in the past, and enjoyed seeing them built up, even though I find the short nose version more... unique (not in a good way i hope you understand). ๐ Cool non-the-less! Thanks for stopping in.
Andrew H said on August 30, 2020
Thanks to everyone for the kind comments. I highly recommend this kit if it interests you!
Greg Kittinger said on August 31, 2020
You're build came out really beautifully, though that is one ugly aircraft!
Bob Torres said on June 23, 2021
Great job on this build, it really came it nice!
Gary Brantley said on July 8, 2021
That is so cool @pb_legend! It's so imaginative and extremely well done. Just imagine, it's sort of the ancestor of the Tigercat; who knew that rather ungainly F5F had such nice genes in her DNA?!? ๐
Andrew H said on July 8, 2021
Thanks for the kind words Gary, @garybrantley! Look up the XP-50 if you've never seen one, it was an army version of the XF5F with tricycle landing gear, and the heritage to the F7F is very apparent!