Grumman FM-2 Wildcat "The wildest Wildcat", ArmaHobby 1/72
A bit about the aircraft:
The Grumman FM-2 Wildcat is an improved version of the F4F-4 variant. The most noticeable difference is the larger tail fin, furthermore an improved powerplant was installed and the ammunition capacity was increased, but that was achieved by reducing the amount of machine guns from six to four. This Wildcat was often also named "Wildest Wildcat".
In total 18.000 aircraft were build under license by Eastern Aircraft Division.
About the kit:
After helping Bernard, @lis, by sending him some decals for his B17 build, he was too generous to sent me this amazing ArmaHobby kit of the FM-2 Wildcat. I cannot thank Bernard enough for this gift.
In the past I did build 1/72 more often but since my return after a too long absence, the only 1/72 builds I did were the B17 Fortress and Wellington, still relatively large aircraft in this scale. The Wildcat, however, a tiny aircraft by itself, especially in 1/72. I thought that it would result in a challenging build, but I have to admit that I was positively surprised about the quality of this ArmaHobby kit. I had no experience with this brand but every step during this build was a pleasure. Even the amount of details did really surprise me, even more details than a lot of kits in larger scale. This can be clearly seen in the interior and engine. There were no surprises during the build, no gaps, no fitting issues. The complex landing gear of the Wildcat was a little challenging, I decided to not follow the instructions from ArmaHobby to make it a bit more easy. The instructions are to build the entire structure first and mount it in the fuselage as one piece, this making it difficult to align perfectly. Mounting the pieces seperately made this a lot easier. Also the decals behaved like you want them to, easy to apply. What more to say, I think from the previous comments it is clear that this is a very enjoyable kit. Lots of details provided by ArmaHobby and overall excellent fitting.
The shown aircraft is the one flown by Lt. Ralf E. Elliot Jr., VC-27, USS Savo in the Philippines late 1944
Once more a big thank you to Bernard @lis for sending me this kit. I'm very pleased with it and had a lot of fun building it. Also lots of thanks to all who followed the building thread and provided me with valuable comments.
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- 1. all this blue accented should be applied as one piece according the instructions
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- 1. Decided to mount the parts seperately
A wonderful Wildcat, my friend John!
A good kit built by a master modeler yielded this excellent result!
Your build thread was, as usual a pure joy to follow.
Congratulations !
@fiveten, thank you very much, Spiros. Still a lot of miles to go before reaching master 🙂 Your comments during the build were very helpful and motivated me a lot.
Nice job, John! Looks like a great little kit!
@bapowellphys, thanks a lot, Brian.
I really enjoyed following your build thread/ adventure on this build John. The canopy turned out great and the whole project lends itself to showing how good these Arma kits can be made. Good things come in small packages.
@stephen-w-towle, thank you, Stephen. It was a peasure to have you following the thread. In this case it is fully true, a small package containing a very good kit.
This is really nice @johnb. Good work and a great result.
@tcinla, thanks a lot, Tom. Much appreciated.
Excellent work, John!
@j-healy, thank you, John
Despite being tiny your great job makes it look bigger. Well done, John!
@gwskat, thank you, Gary.
Looks good John, nicely detailed.
@kalamazoo, thanks a lot, Allan. ArmaHobby did a great job in adding lots of details in their molding.
Turned out very well, John, although being only 1/72 scale your pictures could easily pass for 1/48.
@chinesegeorge, thank you, George. Much appreciated.
Wone wild looking Wildcat! nicely done.
@roofrat, thanks a lot, Robert.
Very nice work, John! And it's always good to have amazing modeling friends!
@jetmex, thank you, Jaime. I totally agree.
Very beautiful build, John @johnb! I like the small details like the weathering around the engine or on the wing roots!
@fxrob, thanks a lot, Felix.
Fantastic Job, John @johnb , love your work - looks bigger than 1/72!
@yellow10, thank you, Paul.
@johnb - Fantastic work John. The interior detail is amazing for such a small scale. I really like the amount of weathering you added over the decals, looks incredibly realistic.
@brithebuilder, thanks a lot, Brian. Your feedback is always a pleasure to receive. The weathering is difficult to make visible because of the sea blue camouflage.
Looks really great John . I love the 1/72 scale models
What a complex landing gear !
@bernardbedeur, thank you, Bernard. Appreciated a lot.
Looks terrific John @johnb. Must be difficult working in that scale after so many 1/48ths. I am anxious to get my hands on an ArmaHobby kit but have been waiting forever for them to release their Hurricane in 1/48th. I gather you really enjoyed this kit and all the positive buzz about ArmaHobby is well deserved.
@eb801, thanks a lot, Eric. At first I was nervous to get started with this kit, so many small parts. The excellent fit did however make it easier to build than expected. A joy to build and lots of credits to ArmaHobby on this kit.
A great-looking Wildcat! I'm just finishing up my first Arma Hobby kit, and it is a real pleasure to build. Couple of fit issues on mine, but with all the detail provided I don't mind having to trim some of it away in places it will never be seen!
@gkittinger, thank you, Greg. Which ArmaHobby kit are you working on. For me it will absolutely not the latest one.
The Sea Hurrican - the only issue was the tubular framing in the cockpit - once installed (and it's not easy), it didn't allow the fuselage to seat to the wing all the way, I had to cut off the bottom section where it was hitting the wings to allow it to settle all the way down. You can't see the surgery done easily, especially if you build with the cockpit closed like I do, so no loss.
Pretty sure it will result in a great Hurricane. Looking forward to it.
Beautiful work! Awesome painting!
@lis, thank you very much, Bernard. This gift was very generous and I'm happy to had the chance to build it. It will get a prominent place on the shelf. Thanks again.
Wonderful build John, she looks great! The FM-2 (Wilder Wildcat) is my favourite version of the F4F. Nice job on the overall finish and great job on assembling the landing gear.
@v1pro, thank you very much, Bob.