1. Introduction
1.1. Aircraft
Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat
Carrier-based fighter (information in Wikipedia)
U.S. Navy. VF-9 squadron.
USS Ranger (CV-4), off the coast of Morocco, November 1942.
1.2. Story
An F4F-4 Wildcat of Fighter Squadron Nine sits aboard the USS Ranger somewhere during November 1942. The flight deck crewmen finish the process of unfolding the Wildcat's wings, preparing it for flight. At that time Ranger was a part of a large naval force assembled for the Operation Torch, an Allied invasion of the North Africa during the World War II.
1.3. Model Kit
F4F-4 Wildcat from Arma Hobby (kit # 70047), 1:72 scale.
2. Kit Overview
This is one of the best 1:72 scale model kits that I have handled. Its accuracy is superb. The kit requires neither aftermarket items nor any scratch-building. This is the first time that I see an 1:72 model kit that, out of the box, does not need any additional detailing in either the cockpit or the landing gear or the engine. The comprehensive multi-color instruction booklet also deserves praise.
In regards to the plastic, some minor issues – as I see it – are as follows:
- The wing halves, when joined, result in a very thick trailing edge that will need addressing.
- The panel lines are a bit too subtle / too shallow.
- The manufacturer could have provided us with transparent parts for external navigation / position lights – these would have been very easy to mold in plastic and would not have required more material than, say, the plastic machine gun barrels that are included in the box. Alas, hardly any model kit company would do this very simple thing.
The low point of this kit is the enclosed decal. At first glance, the decal is accurate and generous (10 marking options in total). Unfortunately, a serious problem pops up when you actually try to apply the decal: it is very stiff, it refuses to properly adhere to curved surfaces (such as the curves of the rear fuselage spine) and refuses to "sink into" recesses even when treated with decal setting solutions.
Photographs of the kit's content can be found inside the reviews referenced on the respective page at Scalemates.
3. Construction
3.1. Building
When building my model, I made the following modifications worth listing:
1) The Wildcat has a very interesting and unusual way of folding the wings – a uniquely Grumman's design. I wanted to showcase this by presenting the wing in the process of being unfolded by the flight deck crew. To model this, I have attempted to use a resin aftermarket set produced by CMK. This set has good detail, but suffers from poor fit and poor sizing, so that eventually around half of the set's details had to be modified or re-created through scratch-building. This was the most tedious of all modifications, but it was "self-inflicted", since the kit, of course, could very well have been built with both wings unfolded.
2) Arma Hobby has designed an excellent rendition of the Wildcat's immensely complicated landing gear and the respective fuselage compartment. All key elements are provided in plastic. They were quite right not to attempt to replicate an impossible tangle of tubing and wiring that is also present in this compartment on a real Wildcat. I have tried to add at least some of the tubing, but despaired: nothing more could be done in this scale.
3) On a real Wildcat, you cannot look into one of the lower fuselage windows and see right through to the other window because the central fuel tank is in the way. There is no need to replicate the fuselage interior fully, but at a least a shape resembling the tank should be installed to block this "see-through" effect on your model.
4) Machine gun barrels were made from thin metal tubes, and a sketchy imitation of the gun camera window was added (left wing leading edge).
5) Trimmer push rods were imitated for the elevators, the rudder and the left aileron.
6) At the aft end of the fuselage, some details were added to show the arrestor hook head and the catapult holdback attachment point.
7) Painting the solid plastic red or green or blue to imitate the navigation / formation lights is unacceptable, in my view. Therefore, all lights had to be done from clear plastic. These include: a) red and green wingtip navigation lights; b) clear blue formation lights on the upper sides of both wings; c) clear blue and clear white lights on top of the fuselage. In addition to this, there is an opaque white light at the aft end of the fuselage. The wing-mounted clear landing light is provided for in the kit.
8) Dorsal wire aerial was imitated. Note that there must be no wires (shown on many drawings) between the fuselage sides and the horizontal stabilizers of an operational carrier-based Wildcat.
3.2. Painting & Markings
My Wildcat wears the standard Blue Gray over Light Gray U.S.Navy color scheme of the period (good historical photo showing this color scheme: link). The aircraft involved in the Operation Torch had a yellow outline around their fuselage and lower wing national insignia. At that time, the Wildcats of the VF-9 from the USS Ranger still had their full squadron codes on the fuselage sides. This is the photograph of the "9-F-12" that I have replicated: link. The national insignia decals came from a generic sheet produced by Techmod, and for the squadron codes I used the kit's decals.
The Arma Hobby's instruction booklet provides good and detailed painting guidance. However, at least one thing needs correction: most of the subject matter experts have, by now, came to the agreement (e.g. look for comments from Dana Bell) that the cockpit interior color on the F4F-4 was Bronze Green and not Interior Green.
3.3. Presentation
My F4F-4 is shown positioned on the carrier flight deck. The crewmen finish the process of unfolding the plane's wings, preparing it for flight (the Wildcat's wings were folded and unfolded manually, one after another; the ailerons, with the wing folded, always pointed upwards).
As to the crew figures, to get the desired poses and attire, I had to combine torsos, legs, arms and heads from several old sets – Fujimi, Hasegawa, CMK and Airfix.
4. Reference Data
[1] General information on the Grumman Wildcat in Wikipedia: link
[2] F4F Wildcat in Action | Aircraft in Action Series # 191 | Squadron/Signal Publications, 2004.
[3] F4F Wildcat Walk Around | Walk Around Series # 4 | Squadron/Signal Publications, 1995.
[4] F4F Wildcat in Detail & Scale | In Detail & Scale Series # 65 | Airlife Publishing Inc.
