1/48 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat US Navy Operation Torch

[modelling minion]

Time to mark my spot for my entry in this GB.

Last time the MTO GB came around I planned on doing a couple of US Navy aircraft operated in the Med but time got the better of me and they never happened so it's time to put that right, at least partially, by building Hobby Boss' F4F-4 Wildcat as an example flown by Lt. Cdr. John Raby of VF-9 when based on the USS Ranger during the landings in North Africa for Operation Torch. I intend to build her pretty much out of the box but hope to get hold of some suitable seat belts for her. I have a set of aftermarket decals by Superscale which has the markings I want.

Here's the ubiquitous box shot;

 

And the open box shot;

 

And the decal sheet and a very nice book I've had for a few years which got me hooked on this subject;

 

I have the small matter of a B-25 to finish first for the types STGB before I get started, though knowing me I will not be able to resist the temptation for very long.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Craig.

[PlaStix]

Looking forward to seeing this one in progress Craig. Never made a Wildcat but always think it looks like it means business!!  

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

17 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Looking forward to seeing this one in progress Craig. Never made a Wildcat but always think it looks like it means business!!  

Kind regards,

Stix

I know what you mean Stix, both the Wildcat and Hellcat have that "come and have a go if you think your'e hard enough" look about them.

[modelling minion]

Well now that my B-25 for the STGB is finally finished I have been able to make a start on my Wildcat.

I started by cutting out all of the parts for the cockpit and undercarriage and building up some sub-assemblies, here you can see the cockpit parts as they are at the moment;

 

The next job will be give these a coat of paint, once I can decide what "Grumman Green" actually looks like as I do not think that the kit call out for interior green is correct, hopefully I will get these painted early next week.

The undercarriage parts have been assembled and given a coat of Vallejo matt aluminium, which doesn't seem very matt to me, as have areas inside the fuselage where they will sit and also the propellor and cowling and this is how they look;

 

 

 

There are a few sink marks as you can see but as these will be hidden inside the fuselage where nobody can see that is how they will stay. I think I need to do some more research on the colours of the undercarriage as I don't think they are overall aluminium despite what the instructions say.

I have also assembled the wings, which come with a nicely moulded 0.5 machine guns which are completely invisible once installed, makes you wonder why they bothered, and here they are;

 

One of the wings has a moulding flaw on the leading edge which will need to be sorted;

 

Should be able to sort it with some filler.

Really glad to be finally underway on this one.

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello craig ... you can actually drill out the middle gun too it was set back from the leading edge and wasnt visible. You can see it in this wing schematic. 

 

Dennis

[tonyot]

Brilliant choice,.... I`m so glad that somebody has chosen to do an Op Torch Wildcat and I`m looking forward to seeing you complete it,...... I was toying with doing a Wildcat from USS Wasp during the Spitfire delivery runs to Malta but the Torch ones are much more colourful with their yellow rings added,

 

Cheers

           Tony

 

PS,.... for Grumman Green I have used Humbrol Bronze Green in the past (No. 75?) and my only major gripe with this kit when I`ve built it was the canopy,..... I added some plastic strip to the bottom edge where it meets the fuselage runners.  

Edited July 2, 2018 by tonyot

[modelling minion]

16 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello craig ... you can actually drill out the middle gun too it was set back from the leading edge and wasnt visible. You can see it in this wing schematic. 

 

Dennis

Thanks Dennis, that's a really useful drawing, I wish Hobby Boss had seen it!

Shouldn't take long to rectify.

[modelling minion]

15 hours ago, tonyot said:

Brilliant choice,.... I`m so glad that somebody has chosen to do an Op Torch Wildcat and I`m looking forward to seeing you complete it,...... I was toying with doing a Wildcat from USS Wasp during the Spitfire delivery runs to Malta but the Torch ones are much more colourful with their yellow rings added,

 

Cheers

           Tony

 

PS,.... for Grumman Green I have used Humbrol Bronze Green in the past (No. 75?) and my only major gripe with this kit when I`ve built it was the canopy,..... I added some plastic strip to the bottom edge where it meets the fuselage runners.  

Thanks Tony,

I was thinking of the Wildcats on the Wasp too but I have a soft spot for the Torch insignia, just that bit different. I like the thought of a deck diorama with a Spitfire and Wildcat on it, and I like the early US markings with the red dot in the centre of the star and Wasp's Wildcats were still carrying them at the time.

Going to have a look for a suitable green this evening, and a light grey as that was the colour of most of the undercarriage and it's bay.

[PlaStix]

Hi Craig. Grest to see you are back onto the Wildcat and it looks like you are off to a good start. Can't wait to see more.

Kind regards,

Stix 

[modelling minion]

11 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Can't wait to see more.

Your wish is my command!

I've painted up the cockpit parts and the undercarriage (in the correct colours this time), for the cockpit I used Gunze's FS34092 which is a pretty good match for pictures I've seen of Grumman Green in un-restored Wildcat cockpits. I have then given the parts a dark wash and some highlighting but I'm afraid the pictures are not the best.

 

I've not done any detailing or highlighting on the area at the rear of the cockpit floor as it will be hidden behind the bulkhead that the seat is on, I have since added a set of Eduard seatbelts.

The undercarriage and it's area was given a coat of light grey and the lower parts were then painted black as per pictures I have found of Wildcats during Operation Torch.

 

I am now going to start on joining the fuselage parts together, this has to be the fastest moving build I've done in a long time, helped by there not being much to a Wildcat's cockpit and building the kit OOTB.

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress Craig! It all looks to be going together quickly and very well.

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

Been cracking on with this one and I have to say I'm quite impressed with the kit, whilst not the best kit in the world it goes together really quite well and certainly looks like a Wildcat to me.

Since the last update I've fitted the cockpit into the fuselage (no issues at all) and then joined the the fuselage halves together, again with no issues and just a tiny amount of filler needed. To this was then added the lower fuselage inset which also went on with no issues that a little filler and sanding couldn't deal with, I then painted and assembled the engine and added it to the assembled fuselage and then got carried away and added the wings. Here's a picture of the assembled and fitted engine;

 

I thought the crank case was too blue so I've since repainted it in a light grey. With the fuselage fitted together I took a picture of the cockpit which proves just how little of it can be seen and how pointless hours of adding details would have been.

 

I had filled and smoothed the damaged area on the stbd wing, you can see how little filler it required below.

 

Once the wings had dried there was a small amount of filler needed and then I fitted the tail planes, which fitted perfectly and gave me an almost complete Wildcat as can be seen below;

 

 

The engine cowling was next to go on, again with no issues, and once dried and cleaned up the aircraft was given a coat of Vallejo Duraluminium with more attention given to areas which will receive some weathering and chipping;

 

 

And a look at the re-painted engine;

 

I have spent this evening masking the canopy parts so next step will be to assemble them, and then we can start painting!!

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress Craig! Looks like she's going to be a beautiful Wildcat! Glad to hear it's gone together with few issues.

Kind regards,

Stix 

[Hewy]

Great job craig, love that bmf base, did you spray the alclad duraluminium without an undercoat, if so  is it the alclad ll, i think. the original would have left you with a blob of unidentifiable  plastic sludge 😔

 

[Hewy]

Sorry craig, paid a bit more attention to what you've written in post #12, vallejo duraluminium, not alclad, i see your using this as a undercoat, how does it adhere to bare plastic 

[modelling minion]

On 7/10/2018 at 7:20 PM, Hewy said:

Great job craig, love that bmf base, did you spray the alclad duraluminium without an undercoat, if so  is it the alclad ll, i think. the original would have left you with a blob of unidentifiable  plastic sludge 😔

 

Hi Glynn,

Sorry for the late reply.

Didn't use Alclad I used Vallejo acrylic metal color which goes on without an undercoat really nicely.

 

I have now painted the under surfaces in light grey using a lifecolor and here's a shot of how she looks now.

 

[modelling minion]

22 minutes ago, Hewy said:

Sorry craig, paid a bit more attention to what you've written in post #12, vallejo duraluminium, not alclad, i see your using this as a undercoat, how does it adhere to bare plastic 

Sorry Glynn I was in the middle of my last reply when you replied.

[Hewy]

Thats a top faded and bleached look you've achieved there, nice work on the belly seam  too,

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, Hewy said:

Thats a top faded and bleached look you've achieved there, nice work on the belly seam  too,

Cheers Glynn, it still needs a fair amount of work but I will  do more weathering after the decals go on.

Next job is to mask off ready for painting the top.

[PlaStix]

Hi Craig. As Glynn said; your undersides paintwork is already looking great. Most impressive!

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

Managed to get some time with the airbrush yesterday after masking off the under surfaces and after a great deal of clogging and interesting language (for some reason Vallejo paints sometimes really clog my airbrush) I managed to achieve a coat of the blue/grey to serve as a base for some weathering/lightening of panels etc and this is how she looks;

 

 

And this is how she will stay for a while. The reason being that when I cleaned my airbrush and screwed the nozzle back in it promptly snapped in half, "oh dear this will never do" I said, or something very similar. So I am now without an airbrush, I am going to try  and get a replacement nozzle and to search my modelling room/family dumping ground for another airbrush which I know is in there somewhere, somewhere but unfortunately I have no idea where!

 

Such is life eh!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Sorry to hear about your paint and Airbrush woe’s Minion. The Wildcat looks good though. 

[PlaStix]

Hi Craig. Sorry to hear about the problems with your airbrush. At least the paint on the upper surfaces look great already. Hope you manage to get sorted soon.

Kind regards,

Stix 

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Sorry to hear about your paint and Airbrush woe’s Minion. The Wildcat looks good though. 

 

49 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Craig. Sorry to hear about the problems with your airbrush. At least the paint on the upper surfaces look great already. Hope you manage to get sorted soon.

Kind regards,

Stix 

Thanks guys.

 

The good news is that after a small search I have found my other airbrush!!! And it works!!! Hopefully I will get some more paint on the Wildcat tomorrow.

Thanks for the kind words regarding the paint.

 

Craig.

[modelling minion]

Now that I'm back up and running airbrush wise I have been able to make a little progress.

I made a slightly lighter mix of the blue/grey for the upper surfaces and highlighted the centre of some panels and the top of the fuselage and it made no visible difference at all! I decided to then gloss all the surfaces in preparation for the decals and and so that I can get a wash on to her. I have made a start on the decals and I am really impressed by the Superscale decals as they go on really nicely and settle down into the details on the model, the only thing I'm not that impressed by is the yellow ring for the fuselage markings which is a little translucent for my liking and I will try to get it a bit more yellow after the matt coat has gone on. This is how she looks at the moment;

 

Hopefully I will get the rest of the decals done by the end of the day.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Craig.