Hello, here is the first of two Wildcats I’ve been tasked with building. The second will be a Tamiya kit in Midway markings. I figured I’d get the yellow wing one out of the way first. I’ve read the HB kit is fairly straight forward and decent out of the box. I figure I’ll do the subject on the box.
I was provided a set of Eduard PE flaps. I haven’t used these in ages, but I decided to get them overwith. The surgery wasn’t hard but it took forever. They aren’t perfect but I hope they look better once painted.
On to the pit. It’s average out of the box. Tamiya’s is better in my opinion. Early Grumman built 'cats apparently had bronze green pits. I made my own concoction with XF-26 Dark Green and XF-8 Blue. Early 'cats only had lap belts. I used some spare I had in the stash.
The IP has blank dials. I filled them with Airscale. I was fairly pleased with how it turned out.
Some test fitting. I don’t see any issues.
I don’t know how long this turkey will hold my attention on account of that new Tamiya Lightning staring at me from the other side of my bench…[whstl]
I’ll be lurking, watching closely, and learning as I do with all your builds. The comparison with Tamiya’s -4 will be very interesting.Your comment about Tamiya’s P-38 staring at you hits home. Mine should be here this afternoon.
Joe, that box art looks really nice. I think the plane is stellar in those colors. I am interested to see which kit builds up better. Your pit looks fantastic.
Cool project with the new Midway movie coming out soon. Looking forward to it and following along! Could be a wave of Dauntless, Avenger and Wildcat classics coming…
Good to see this one coming along, I just watched an episode about this airplane and it’s use over the operational life span. I had no idea it was so fast, as was said it looks like a barrel with wings. It achieved speeds over 300mph.
The landing gear was raised/lowered by the pilot manually, by use of a handcrank. And the gear might have looked a bit “spindly,” but was tough, effective and well suited for the rigors of carrier operations.
I’ll be onboard for this one, always a good FSM day when Joe’s shop is open for a visit. Thanks for the post and WIP.
I did the F4F-4 from Hobbyboss a couple years ago alongside a Tamiya and an original Monogram (with heavy scratch-building). The Tamiya is hands-down the best Wildcat on the market in 48th, but the HB goes together easily and looks good once complete.
Looking forward to seeing the yellow wing Wildcat.
Hey, if you’re talking Midway, don’t forget the Brewster Buffaloes. Heck, when was the last time you saw one of those? The other bird I miss is the P-36 Hawk. It was actually a pretty nice aircraft, not particularly competitive, but nice none the less.
