Does anyone have or have seen the F4F Wildcat that Revell/Monogram put out in 1/32?
'Tis an old kit from the 60’s. Built one when I was about 11 or so and can’t offer any advice as to how it fits because when you’re 11, you don’t seem to care about that kinda stuff. (Well, actually, I did! I simply don’t recall much about this one!)
But here’s one of the few built-ups of this kit which I’ve come across on the net. There are others and may be more than what I’ve seen, but this is the nicest example I’ve come across. The fella did alot of extra work to it, but it does show that a nice model can be made from this dinosaur…
Fade to Black…
Revell put it out, as BlackWolf said, long before the two companies had merged. I’ve built two in the past, and have two “on the pile” as it were. Did you have a specific question?
I have that kit when it was re-issued under the ‘Smithsonian Series’ packaging. They were 1/32 scale WWII aircraft with markings of the aircraft in the museum collection.
Before the Tamiya 1/48 kit was produced, I read several modeling publications that considered the Revell 1/32 as the most accurate of produced kits of the Wildcat. I now have the Trumpeter 1/32 version and plane to backdate my Revell kit as a F4F-3 (the one with 4 machine guns and no folding wings).
By the way, glad to see you’re back, BW T2.
Reason I asked was because I saw it while browsing on Revell/Monogram’s website. I thought it was interesting that they put out a Wildcat in 1/32 but didn’t see any big mention of it in the forum, or anywhere else for that matter. Now for the questions…
How does it compare to Trumpeters 1/32 Wildcat?
Was there any fit problems with the R/M one?
Thanks all!
I haven’t seen the Trumpeter version (alas!) so I can’t comment on that.
Aurora-7 was right about the generally good recommendations of the kit’s accuracy. I have both the old and new versions of Bert Kinzey’s “Detail & Scale” on the Wildcat, and he recommends it highly in both; of course, this was before the Trumpeter kit was heard of.
Fit of the Revell kit is pretty good; only minor gaps I experienced were in the bulkhead parts at the rear of the cockpit and the wheelwells, and fit of inner to outer wing halves. A little test-fitting on the bulkheads would indicate which way to nudge or clamp to minimize the problem and keep them centered.
The kit comes with a folding wing mechanism which, while quite clever, is nearly impossible to get tight enough to give a good fit when the wings aren’t folded. Fit of the inboard and outboard wing halves even when glued isn’t gap-free, which may be why so many conversions to earlier-model, non-folding- wing versions seem fairly commonplace.
If you run across older versions of the kit, note that starting with the “Smithsonian” series issue mentioned above the prop was redesigned to a much more accurate configuration (though there are still large and annoying slots molded in the rear cuffs). I presume that’s still good for any current-issue version.
Greg
I have and have done the Trumpeter kit. It’s a nice kit. Very well detailed. Problems with fit are caused by the redesign of the kit as the first release was a poor represention of a Wildcat. I’d recommend the kit, but would personally use an aftermarket cockpit set. That should cure that problem.
Here’s a photo:
Yes the trumpeter is a vast improvement over the Revell kit. Fit problems asides, it is a much more detailed representation of the F4F. That’s why I chose to use the Revell kit as a backdate project.
Dragonfly, Superglue here, Ive built both,the Trumpeter kit is exellent, But the Revell kit can also be a nice kit…using after market decals & resin cockpit, I had more problems with the T-kit fitting together than the Revell…Mike