Ok, so here is the third of my four Wildcat builds. After yesterday’s fun in Aggieland (thrilling A&M victory over a very good Tennessee Volunteer team, 45-38 2OT) and the resulting hours it took for me to return my father to his home and then get back to my own home, and sleeping late today instead of going to church as I should have … I spent the entire day at the work bench. I thought I would also be able to finish the Revell kit but I encountered an unexpected issue in the final step of attaching the antenna wiring (snapped antenna mast, everything is drying up now on that one).
I have built many different kits of the Wildcat but not every one of them (never built an Academy, Frog, Airfix or Trumpeter kit, for instance). I’ve built the Monogram many times, the Revell a couple of times, and the Hobby Boss once. Now I have built the Tamiya twice as well. With that sample size and given reviews I’ve read of the kits that I have not built, I can confidently state that the Tamiya kit is the best Wildcat kit that has ever been produced. Like many Tamiya kits, it almost builds itself.
Paint is Vallejo acrylic US Blue Gray and US Sea Blue, and Model Master Acryl Light Gray. The only after-market items are the resin seat with belts and Mike Grant instrument decals. Flory dark dirt wash.
The scheme is a VF-22 Wildcat housed aboard the USS Independence.
The kit box.
The cockpit with the resin seat installed.
Instrument panel.
The engine.
I think this engine is really good right out of the box, but I know at least one other modeler here has spruced it up a bit in his own build.
Machine guns.
The final reveal.
The Tamiya kit is the only one I have seen that accurately represents the underside trio of lights (I inadvertently sanded one off so I didn’t bother to paint where the third light would be).
Very nice Wildcat Aggieman! Have one in the stash I hope to get to some day.
What a game huh? With all of our existing and new injuries I think we may have to suit up the Pride of the Southland Band next week for Bama! Good game and congrats on the win.
It was a very exciting game. When we missed that field goal I turned around to talk to a Vols fan who was near me and told him they were truly living a blessed life.
Thanks for your kind words Steve! When I started this 'Cat, I planned another blue gray over light gray scheme. Given that I was building 2 other 'Cats with that same scheme, I kept looking for another scheme for which I had decals. For some reason I had not ever looked at the last page of the Tamiya instruction manual, which included this scheme; the previous page featured 3 aircraft of the blue gray over light gray scheme. And of course there were decals for that last page scheme.
Very nice looking 'cat. I’ve built 2 of these & the old 1/32 Martlett. I could never get the tri-color that nice. [:S] My favorite plane. Very underrated.
Excellent finish, Aggieman! Isn’t that a fun kit to build? I’ve got one in my stash, it’s queued up after I finish the HobbyBoss kit (mostly a copy of Tamiya’s) and another pair of Monograms.
