Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat
Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat
Eduard, 1/48, ProfiPACK (#82201)
Eduard: BRASSIN F4F-3 wheels early (#648767), F4F gun barrels PRINT (#648769),
F4F exhausts PRINT (#648766), F4F-3 TFAce (#EX878)
Maketa i fotografije: Miroslav D. Šljivić
F4F-3 Wildcat
VF-42, USS Yorktown (CV-5)
BuNo 2531, pilot Lt. Elbert S. McCuskey
maj 1942.
Amazing looking Wildcat, Miroslav @miroslavsljivic
Especially the weathering does look superb.
Thank you very much John
Thumbs up, Miroslav @miroslavsljivic. Eduard's new cat is destined to be the model of the year with all the rave reviews it gets from everybody.
Thank you very much Eric and I agree with you for model of the year
Wonderful Wildcat, Miroslav!
Thank you very much Spiros
This looks really good Miroslav @miroslavsljivic. The VF-42 Wildcats were reinforced just before Yorktown went to the South Pacific to work with Lexington in the tour that ended at Coral Sea. Enterprise's VF-6 had just transitioned to the F4F-4, so their old F4F-3As - which were probably the Wildcats that had seen the most time at sea in a combat zone by that time - were given to VF-42 to fill out the squadron; it created some difficulties becaue VF-42's airplanes were all F4F-3s with the two-stage supercharger, while the VF-6 Wildcats (like this) were F4F-3As with the single-stage supercharger. They had to segregate the formations due to the performance differences.
Anyway, you have really caught that "South Pacific sun fading" that distinguished these airplanes. The paintwork is excellent and the result is very realistic. Bravo!
(one very minor nitpick and not a complaint or criticism - info for the next kit): the F4F-3 never had shoulder harnesses in first line service, other than the three that ended up in VMF-221 at Midway. Shoulder harnesses in general in USN aircraft didn't show up till May 1942 when they were getting new equipment from the factories just before Midway. (this is little-known information that likely wouldn't have registered with me if Dick Best hadn't pointed it out, so the fact you may not know it is no "black mark")
Mmh, Eduard identifies F-2 as BuNo. 2531, an "early" F4F-3 (not -3A) getting lost with USS Lexington, according to John Lundstrom´s book. It could have been an ex-VF-6 plane, nonetheless, since VF-6 used a mixed bunch of different Wildcat versions during its early missions aboard Enterprise.
Tom, since I have never seen a good photo of "F-2" may ask if you have any information if this plane actually sported the extra large wing roundels partially covering small ones, or is it just a guess by Eduard?
Thank you very much Tom Cleaver! Your information is fantastic, indeed. "Pacific" is not my spec theme but for me is very interesting. I have a plan about US NAVY from that period and that is Trio Bourbon Pt.1 (Wildcat, Hellcat and Corser, all in 1/48 in US NAVY collor). For now, I finished Wildcat, next is Corser (TAMIYA)...
Tom, I'm very happy when I learn something new, please do not hesitate to share more info about this theme.
P.S.-English is not my native language,sorry for mistakes.
"we're not worthy!"...(Wayne's World)
Awesome build- makes me want to dig into the boxes for my early Wildcats! (have too many other kits partly built!) Goreous work on the weathering!
Dan from Bermuda.
Thank you very much Dan DeSilva
Miki from Serbia 🙂
Beautiful work, looks great!
Thanx Robert
Very, very nice, Miroslav. Love the overall paint/weathering job...well done.
Thank you Gary
Love the weathering, and especially the markings, which highlighted the changes that were occurring in the early months of the war!
Thanx Robert, that markings is very intersting for me and story about them
Beautifully finished example of this already classic kit.
Thank you George, yes Wildcat is real Classic a/c with great story.
I love the finish you made!
Thank you Martin
Lovely work Miroslav! @miroslavsljivic
Thanx David
Excellent paint and weathering work - a fantastic Wildcat! Well done.
Thank you very much Greg. I used classic scalemodel technic for weathering (wash, dry pastels, filters...)
Odlican! Will we see it at NK?
Hvala mnogo Sebastijane!
Will we see it at NK? Yes of course 🙂