1/48 Tamiya F4F-4

[Johnny1000]

Hello all

New member, newly back to modeling after 30+ years. My return* was sort impulsive, inspired by digging into my grandfather's service in WW2 as a USMC pilot. This is his plane. Or rather, since planes were not assigned to pilots in the Marines, this is the plane, BuNo 03480, in which he was shot down, in either October or early November 1942. He was rescued by either a missionary or coast watcher, depending on who's telling the story, and returned to service a week or so later. 

 

*It's worth pointing out that it took well over a year and three tries, literally from scratch, to get it to a minimum level of presentability. 

 

It's the Tamiya 1:48 F4F-4 kit, with a bunch of goodies: Quickboost engine, seat, and gunsight, Finemold seatbelts, Squadron vax canopy, Vector wheels, and Miracle Masks for the ID numbers and insignia. I also dropped the elevator and opened the cowl flaps, plus added a bunch of scratch built details in the cockpit. 

 

The Quickboost engine is a big step up from the kit engine. The ignition ring is a 0.030 square rod formed around a dowl with heat, and the harness is 0.3mm lead wire.

 

The paints for the camo were Mr Paint (not to be confused with Mr Color). Weathering was via oil filters, washes, and pastels.

 

The base is just dirt glued to a wooden disc. It's glossy with puddles because it rains pretty much every single day in the Solomon Islands. The color is referenced from the one color image I could find.  

 

I'm pretty happy with it, all things considered, though I wish it were a touch crisper in spots. Next time!

 

Thanks for looking

-J

Edited December 9, 2017 by Johnny1000
grammar, clarity

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

 Very good wildcat. Glad to see your work and the fact you are honoring your grandfather. 👍

[Johnny1000]

Thanks so much!

[SimonT]

Lovely build. Always more special with a connection too.

[Stephen]

Excellent work.

 

Stephen

[gingerbob]

I hate seeing lovely builds like this where the person says, "Oh, first model in decades, just threw it together on a whim..."!  One comment in the spirit of constructive criticism: I like the touch of dropping the elevators, but they strike me as too extreme an angle?

[Johnny1000]

Simon, Stephen: thanks so much. 

 

gingerbob: to be fair, it took me over a year and literally three starts from scratch. That's probably relevant. I'll update my original post. I did a WIP at the time at FineScale where I dangled my various missteps and inadvertently glossed over here.

 

With respect to the angle of the elevators, you're probably right—I was using this image as a reference, but looking at it now, it does look like I overshot.

 

On my second try at this build, I lowered them a little, but later felt the effect was too subtle for the effort, and wanted something more dramatic. That's a mistake, of course. If I can figure out how to ease them back up without massive surgery, I might go back. 

 

Thanks for the feedback. 

-J

 

[ajmm]

Ace looking Wildcat. Very realistic - I love the weathering and that engine is really a work of art.

[AntPhillips]

Great build, it looks fabulous, third time lucky indeed.