MDriskill Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) Giving my age away here, but this model was built many years ago, before the Hasegawa kit existed. It is based on the Revell kit from the 1960's, and represents an early Grumman Martlet Mk II with odd upper-wing pitot and extended landing gear fairing. The kit was an F4F-4, so required conversion work was minimal, mostly focused on re-working cowl details to eliminate the upper lip intake and add the proper cooling flap configuration. The surface detail was sanded off and scribed, with some raised panels done with .003" brass shim stock. The various bumps and bulges underneath for the gun breeches and flap hinge fairings were made by rounding the end of a plastic rod, then slicing it off at an angle. It was difficult to control their exact size that way, so I ended up making many dozens of them and picking matched pairs to go on opposite sides! The catapult spools, aerial masts, pitot, and various other small bits were mostly made from sprue, etc. The landing gear was completely scratchbuilt with plastic rod and stretched sprue. IIRC the engine was liberated from an Italeri bomber of some sort and wired; the prop uses a Monogram P-36 hub with blades and root cuffs cut from scrap-box props. The cockpit was scratchbuilt, and the canopy vacuformed using the vintage Airfix Wildcat VI as a form. Have always loved this unusual-looking aircraft, and it looks particularly fetching in FAA markings! Edited October 5, 2015 by MDriskill 41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Greggs Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Very nice!! Lovely paint job, looks very good!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Awesome little Martlet. You have done the Jurassic Revell kit justice. david Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Lovely detail for 1/72... great job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristol boy Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Like that a lot, you've made an excellent job of an old kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darby Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Proper old school and FAA colours as well. Nice one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Very nice work indeed! I love it when folks do the older kits justice like this. Do you recall which paints you used for the TSS? Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 Best as I can recall after all these years, the colors were hand-mixed using vintage Pactra International enamels...which were already old even when the model was built! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimHead23 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Outstanding work you have really excelled this old kit to the point that I would like to see it stood up against the new Airfix offering for comparison. A model to be proud of. Regards Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Excellent job,look's superb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Excellent result! J-W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 That looks splendid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Agree with the others, the paint finish looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 That is so nice. This kit was possibly the first I ever painted, getting on for 50 years ago now I reckon. I've another among my stock, keen to do it "proper" this time. Yours is a great example of how "proper" they can be made to look. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 That really is a work of art,.....superb modelling skills! Cheers Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 May I repeat Tony's comments, superb. Both of us are FAA modellers, so can appreciate the finer points of your model. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) I very much appreciate everyone's kind comments on this ancient build! It was Eric Brown's "Wings of the Navy" that made me a fan of the FAA in general, and the Martlet in particular I believe.The model was done in pre-internet days and the research involved not only gathering every published resource I could find, but contacting both Wildcat manufacturers, Grumman and General Motors. I learned that neither company had retained any original production drawings, so without exception, kits and published drawings to this day rely--to their detriment--on the simplified diagrams contained in Pilot's Notes and Erection & Maintenance manuals.So this model is far from perfect, but I certainly knew a lot more about Martlets after building it, than before! The old Revell kit also had a very accurate overall shape to my eye, and was not really bettered until the Hasegawa kit came along.I've posted this link before, but this twin 1/72 conversion (FM-2 and F4F-3) of the Hasegawa F4F-4 by master modeler Jumpei Temma is quite amazing, and includes perhaps the most accurate Wildcat drawings in existence; do not miss the comparison of all 6 Martlet marks at the end!http://www.geocities.jp/yoyuso/fm2/fm2e-1.html Edited October 7, 2015 by MDriskill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busnproplinerfan Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I find myself getting soft and getting the nice newer kits with aftermarket goodies (spending tons of money to)instead of taking something like this and working it. Excellent build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Millman Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Absolutely gorgeous. Always thought the old Revell Wildcat was decent but you have transformed it into a superb model. My only quibble is with your Dark Slate Grey! ;-) Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Great work. Looks like a state of the art new kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 (edited) Very nicely done! I love to see what can be done with these older, not-so-perfect kits! Ian Edited October 10, 2015 by limeypilot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelh Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 It just shows what you could achieve just using good old modelling skills. Somehow to my eyes the Martlet just looks better in FAA colours. This may just be nostalgia because my very first kit ever was the Airfix Wildcat and I got my Daddy to use the FAA decals although my motivation was that they simply were more colourful having no idea what they meant. Also thanks for the link to Jumpei Temma's work. That's a keeper and added to my favourites list. Guess I will be buying the Airfix new Wildcat after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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