Tamiya 1/48 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat
Seeing as we're having a bit of a Wildcat theme going on here I thought I'd post my efforts as well.
As has been written before the Tamiya Wildcat is a great kit to build.
Pretty straightforward in construction, the only fiddly bit I found was the joint between the underside of the fuselage & the one piece wing moulding - & that was more due to my own inexperience rather than the fault of the kit.
I wasn't particularly happy with the kit supplied decals so I opted for the Super Scale set, but still wanted to depict a VF-41 machine from USS Ranger that sported the "meatball" inside the star & the bright red & white striped rudder.
The other additions were metal tubes for the guns & a vac-formed canopy hood since Tamiya's one wasn't crash hot in the open position being that just bit too thick.
The kit itself had a long & protracted build period of pushing thirteen years or so (top that anyone?). I started this back in the mid nineties when the kit first came out, got as far as completing the build & first base coat. Then it got put on the shelf of doom as work & life in London, marriage & the eventual birth of my daughter took my model making into an extended hiatus. I only really picked up the kit again back in 2010 & decided to gently sand back the original paint job which was a bit rough in places & get it finished.
I'm now trying to speed up my builds & keep them under a decade!
...and the winner is!
I think the eventual winner is going to be Old Father Time!
Nice build. I totally understand the part about trying to keep your builds under a decade. The older you get, the faster time flies by.
Love the early markings, BTW.
-d-
Thanks David, & yes what happened to the nineties? Surely it wasn't that long ago? On the subject of markings, it's interesting how the US Navy progressively changed theirs over a relatively short period of time. I'm planning to eventually build a few more US carrier types with that in mind.
Very nice work Marek.
Thanks Tom, I also have a Hobby Boss Martlet up my modelling sleeve, so I guess watch this space...& it's not their 1/48 offerings either, it's their 1/72 "Fast Assembly Authentic Kit" Hmmmmm...more on that later...
Marek .. really like your attention to details .. the cock-pit is GREAT ..and as Tom says ... very nice work ..
Thanks Ray, It's been a while since I last checked in to iModeler, so it's good to see comments from folks still viewing stuff that was posted a while back!