F4F-4 Wildcat – Cat of the Pacific War
Today story will be short. The Airfix F4F Wildcat model is quite a popular model available for many years. I wanted to face him. As it turned out, it has a lot of imperfections that can effectively discourage novice modelers. Joining the fuselage halves was a nightmare. Also the wings didn't fit perfectly. The engine had a lot of flash. Despite this, I can consider the construction successful, because the final effect meets my expectations. There are a lot of nice details in the cabin. The fairing can be made in the open position. The final effect is also accompanied by good Mr Color paints. In particular, I liked the gray-blue color used in the early period of fighting in the Pacific. In addition, traces of use made of weathering pencils. A small diorama ends the presentation, and of course the pilot figure. First Leutenant James E. Sweet flew one mission to Guadalcanal in this machine. April 7, 1943 Achieved a surprising success, knocking down 7 enemy machines, but he have to forced ditching at sea on damaged machine. He was uninjured and soon returned to flying the F4U. Was the Wildcat actually much weaker than the Zero fighter? It was inferior to it in climb speed and maximum speed (slightly). However, it was much more resistant to damage, and the firepower allowed it to destroy an enemy fighter in one long burst. The use of new pairing tactics (Tach's wave) and not getting into a dogfight with the Zero Fighter gave the Wildcat pilots a chance to come out victorious against the Zeros.
To all modelers and modelers Lieutenant Lis wishes you a Merry Christmas and many new models and designs and will be back soon with a new breathtaking project.
A nice Wildcat!
Thank You!
Sweet and the pilot ain't so bad looking this time. 😉
Yes figure is quite good. CMK has various figures. One better one not better at all☺️
Great video Lis, decals, pilot figure and details all turned out awesome...thanks for sharing!
Thank You!
Looks great, Bernard (@lis). Wildcats always look cool.
Thank You! Yes, especially with early painting.
I did this kit a year ago when i was just getting back into the hobby and it went together perfectly. No issues at all. Your build is very beautiful, very Xmas 🎄!
Mabye PE instrument panel was to big. I need to use a lot of CA glue and next a lot of sanding. Wings after glueing has minor gap between fuselage and it was frustrating.
There are three things that I like about this post, Lis.
First - your Wildcat looks excellent, especial on that deck material.
Second - Nice job on the posted video, great record of the build process.
Third - Great music in that video!
I like this music too. Classic from this time. I’m glad that You like my Wildcat.😻
Well done, Lis!
Thank You!
Very neat work as we’ve come to expect from you, Lis, and great photography. Sorry I can’t comment on your video as You Tube isn’t available here in China. Merry Christmas.
Thank You! I’m curious how FM-2 will fit.
One minor thing, a lot of people aren't aware of this, but ailerons haven't been equal deflection since 100+ years ago. The way the aileron works is it goes up about 1/3 of what it goes down, which minimizes adverse aileron yaw. That's not a criticism of the model, which looks very good. It's just a note on something most are not aware of. If you want to correct that, it isn't difficult to reposition that right aileron.
Hello Tom! Thank You for Your comment! If I understand right need to be down in neutral position? Or close to neutral position?
1/72? An amazing build!
Yes it is 1:72 th scale.☺️
Nice build of a very good kit. Looks great, and I really like the markings as well. Nice work!
Thank You! Decals has very good quality.😻
Build, thread, article and video, all ate wonderful!
Well done!
Thank You my friend!
What not to like about this build, Bernard @lis
Superb looking Wildcat, so much detail, even in this tiny scale.
The base you used is giving this Cat an even better look.
Merry Christmas.
Thank You! I’m glad that You follow all my projects😻
1/72 really ?
Looks fantastic ! Merry x-mas too.
Thank You! Merry Xmas!
Very, very nice. So small for that level of detail work.
Thank You!