Airfix 1/72 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat
Airfix 1/72 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat. Depicts the machine flown by LT. Marion Carl, USMC, Guadalcanal 1942. This is a gem of a kit. Built out of the box, with wine bottle lead seat harness & radio aerial is UVDR fine. Painted with Tamiya and MRP, weathered with oils & Ammo by Mig Panel Line washes.
You can read about this badass here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Eugene_Carl
Nice work and a good result.
Allow me to tell you the story Marion Carl told me about "his Wildcat at Guadalcanal". "We didn't have our own airplanes there. You jumped in the first one that worked. When we were relieved and got back to Espiritu Santo, they wanted me to do some photos and interviews. So I got the old chief mechanic and he and I found this hangar queen there, and we put the stickers on it, and they photographed me sitting on its wing, and that became 'my Wildcat.'"
Truth be known, in the Solomons, the only squadron that ever owned its own airplanes, where the pilots almost always flew "their airplane" was VF-17, being the only Navy Corsair squadron there. Everybody else, who was photographed in an airplane, was sitting in "the one available."
Or as Joe Foss once put it to Barrett Tillman (according to Barrett): "These modelers always want to know about my airplane. Which of the 32 Wildcats in my logbook that I flew there was supposed to be mine?"
Nothing taken from the very nice model, which proves how good the Airfix kit is, but we modelers frequently don't know enough to ask the right questions when we get the chance.
Love this...
great story!
Nice looking Wildcat, it looks great! I really like the way you got the paint/weathering done, nice.
Amazing Wildcat, James!
Fools the scale for sure!
Beautiful work done on this Wildcat, James @jkelleycrna
Looks indeed much bigger than 1/72.
Kit looks great, and painting and weathering too! Airfix have nice kit of F4F!
Yep,the Grumman Cat and Mr.Carl definitely fit that word.
Very well done on that. You been putting out some nice stuff lately.
Thanks Bill, I appreciate it.
Good looking Wildcat - well done!
Awesome build James - love the weathering and pain - and I really like the folded wing and flap details, well done, great job.