Antoine Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 (edited) Well, it's been some times, years in fact, that I'm thinking about building an F4F wildcat, and as I've always had a soft spot for the FAA, the way to go has was martlet ... or wildcat ... Don't know that much about the quality of hobbyboss kits, but I don't really mind, as I wanted to go tamiya's way. I did read and re-read Bruce Archer's article in HS, but assessing the differences between aircraft was a bit difficult for me as first I'm not too familiar with certain word from english technical vocabulary (Cuffed???), and second I couldn't find the tamiya kit to see exactly what was there. Things changed in the last few week, as I found at last the box I was searching for in one of my LHS in Taipei. I came back home, opened the box, and tried to understand. So my aim is to build (not tomorrow maybe, but you never know) a martlet/wildcat from tamiya's kit, with the less possible transformation work. I don't mind to fill a few engraved panels, but I don't want to cast another cowling, you see. So, here's so far my understanding of Bruce work compared to tamiya's F4F, and what's needed to obtain a martlet/wildcat from it. I'll be happy to read comments and corrections about this, and also about further correction that I could have left aside, like differences in the cockpit maybe? - What we have with Tamiya's kit F4F-4 P&W R-1830-86 twin wasp Cuffed curtiss electric three-blade (?) with stepped prop hub Standard chord PW cowl (Long ?) Three cowl flaps on each side Carb intake on top Two intercooler scoop inside the cowl Folding wings 3 .50 per wings Pitot F4F-4 style (under the wing edge) - Then what is possible with minimum work? Martlet I Forget about it, need another cowl for the Cyclone Martlet II P&W R-1830-90 twin wasp Cuffed curtiss electric three-blade (?) with domed prop hub Standard chord PW cowl (Long ?) One large cowl flap on each side No carb intake on top No intercooler scoop inside the cowl Folding wings 3 .50 per wings Pitot F4F-4 style (under the wing edge), and specific angled pitot on AM964 to AM999 Corrections: Change prop hub Rescribe cowl flaps Suppress carb and intercooler scoops Change pitot if needed (See serial) Martlet III (Ex-II) P&W R-1830-76 twin wasp Cuffed curtiss electric three-blade (?) with domed prop hub Standard chord PW cowl (Long ?) One cowl flap on each side Carb intake on top Two intercooler scoop inside the cowl Fixed wings 2 .50 per wings Straight pitot Corrections: Change prop hub Rescribe cowl flaps Suppress engraved panel lines for folding wings system Suppress 1 .50 in each wing (Outer?) Change pitot Martlet III (Ex-Greek) P&W R-1830-90 twin wasp Cuffed curtiss electric three-blade (?) with stepped prop hub Standard chord PW cowl (Long ?) One cowl flap on each side Carb intake on top No intercooler scoop inside the cowl Fixed wings 2 .50 per wings Straight pitot Corrections: Rescribe cowl flaps Suppress intercooler scoops Suppress engraved panel lines for folding wings system Suppress 1 .50 in each wing (Outer?) Change pitot Wildcat IV Forget about it, need another cowl for the Cyclone, and another prop. Wildcat V P&W R-1830-86 twin wasp Cuffed curtiss electric three-blade (?) with stepped prop hub Standard chord PW cowl (Long ?) Four cowl flap on each side Carb intake on top Two intercooler scoop inside the cowl Folding wings 4 .50 per wings Pitot F4F-4 style (under the wing edge) Corrections: Rescribe cowl flaps Suppress 1 .50 in each wing (Outer?) Edited March 10, 2013 by Antoine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Archer Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Hi! You really have two (actually three) options. The first is the Wildcat V. Remove the outer guns. Second are the AMxxx Martlet II, with the cowl mods mentioned and that unique pitot. The third are AJxxx serialed Martlet II with the F4F-4 style pitot. None of the mods are difficult. Use the Hobby Boss kit for the Martlet III. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 Hi Bruce, Nice to see you here. You think the modifications to the tamiya kit are to hard to tackle in the case of a martlet III? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Antoine, in my opinion you have distilled the Pratt and Whitney-engined Martlets very well! One small item I would add is that some (if not all?) of the early Martlet II's with "AM" serials and angled pitots, have a long rearward extension of the fairing between the landing gear. I'm not sure anyone has yet figured out the function of this but it is fairly obvious. Some of these machines also have the serial painted rather curiously with periods after the letters! For example, "A.M.964". "Cuffs" are extra pieces added near the root of a propeller blade, to widen its chord. Mr. Archer's article photos nicely show cuffed props on Mk II AJ148 and Mk III 3876; and an un-cuffed one on Mk IV FMx80. Finally, I would again put this link that I just added to another post! You will find this very interesting, especially the final page of it: http://www.geocities.jp/yoyuso/fm2/fm2.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 Thanks. Very interesting link, indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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