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PictionID:43925428 - Title:McDonnell F-4F 37 94 JG74 May97 [C. Jacquet via RJF] - Catalog:17 - Filename:17.S_000980.tif - - -----Image from the René Francillon Photo Archive. Having had his interest in aviation sparked by being at the receiving end of B-24s bombing occupied France when he was 7-yr old, René Francillon turned aviation into both his vocation and avocation. Most of his professional career was in the United States, working for major aircraft manufacturers and airport planning/design companies. All along, he kept developing a second career as an aviation historian, an activity that led him to author more than 50 books and 400 articles published in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and elsewhere. Far from “hanging on his spurs,” he plans to remain active as an author well into his eighties.-------PLEASE TAG this image with any information you know about it, so that we can permanently store this data with the original image file in our Digital Asset Management System.--------------SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
Hey everyone – despite the fact that my activity has been nothing short of sporadic as of late, I’m finally happy to present to you all my custom LEGO rendition of a Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat from World War II!
The F4F Wildcat was Grumman’s first production monoplane naval fighter. As with many ‘firsts’ in the aviation industry, particularly during the interwar/WWII years, development was expectedly rocky. Before Grumman’s design would be able to be chosen by the Navy as their primary carrier-based frontline fighter, it had to be deemed superior to the reigning one: the Brewster F2A Buffalo. While the initial prototype was marginally quicker than the Buffalo, it possessed inferior maneuvrability to an intolerable degree, and was not proceeded with at this state. However, after fabricating the XF4F-3 prototype and equipping it with the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 “Twin Wasp” engine, Grumman was given a production order to see the resulting F4F-3 production model Wildcats in action with the Navy and Marine Corps, in the end beating out Brewster’s aircraft. Particularly in the early years of the war, it was used extensively – primarily in the Pacific Theatre. While noted as relatively inferior to its common rival there – the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero – USN and USMC pilots fought hard with these Wildcats, developing tactics and learning from hard-earned lessons gained from violent aerial encounters with the enemy. With the determination from the aviators, the F4F had a cumulative kill-to-death ratio of a little under 7:1.
The model itself was fairly challenging to design for me. Incorporating realistic features as seen on real aircraft (for this there’s the 5-degree dihedral, folding wings, and fully retractable landing gear that come to mind) is never an easy challenge. In fact, the wings when folded cannot hold themselves off the ground without assistance, nor can the model sit comfortably on its landing gear without demanding additional support. However, the fact that I was able to work these kinetic features in and still somehow have the model look the part is something I’m pretty proud of. I did design it digitally initially, and ordered the parts through BrickLink, making changes to the digital rendition as I saw fit when the bricks were in hand. All in all, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out (for now), and hope you all like it. Comments and feedback are much appreciated!
Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat of the Lone Star Flight Museum. This Wildcat crashed on the 1st May 1944 into Lake Michigan and remained in the lake until 1991. It was restored to flight status in 1994.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Brewster F2A Buffalo was an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrester hook and other modifications for aircraft carriers. The Buffalo won a competition against the Grumman F4F Wildcat in 1939 to become the U.S. Navy's first monoplane fighter aircraft. Although superior to the Grumman F3F biplane it replaced, and the early F4Fs, the Buffalo was largely obsolete when the United States entered the war, being unstable and overweight, especially when compared to the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
The Buffalo was built in three variants for the U.S. Navy: the F2A-1, F2A-2 and F2A-3, and several nations, including Finland, Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands, ordered the Buffalo, too. In foreign service, with lower horsepower engines, these types were designated B-239, B-339, and B-339-23 respectively.
Facing a shortage of combat aircraft in January 1940, the British government established the British Purchasing Commission to acquire U.S. aircraft that would help supplement domestic production. Among the U.S. fighter aircraft that caught the Commission's attention was the Brewster. The remaining 32 B-339 aircraft ordered by the Belgians, suspended at the fall of France, were passed on to the United Kingdom. Appraisal by Royal Air Force acceptance personnel criticized it on numerous points including inadequate armament and lack of pilot armor, poor high-altitude performance, engine overheating, maintenance issues, and cockpit controls, while it was praised for its handling, roomy cockpit, and visibility. With a top speed of about 323 mph (520 km/h) at 21,000 ft (6,400 m), but with fuel starvation issues over 15,000 ft (4,600 m), it was considered unfit for duty in western Europe. Still desperately in need of fighter aircraft in the Pacific and Asia for British and Commonwealth air forces, the UK ordered an additional 170 aircraft under the type specification B-339E. The aircraft were sent to Royal Australian Air Force, RAF and Royal New Zealand Air Force fighter squadrons in Singapore, Malaya and Burma, shortly before the outbreak of war with Japan.
The B-339E, or Brewster Buffalo Mk I, as it was designated in British service, was initially intended to be fitted with an export-approved Wright R-1820-G-105 Cyclone engine with a 1,000 hp (745.7 kW) engine. The Brewster aircraft delivered to British and Commonwealth air forces were significantly altered from the B-339 type sold to the Belgium and French forces in accordance with their purchase order. The Navy life raft container and arrestor hook were removed, while many new items of equipment were added, including a British Mk III reflector gun sight, a gun camera, a larger fixed pneumatic tire tail wheel, fire extinguisher, engine shutters, a larger battery, and reinforced armor plating and armored glass behind the canopy windshield. The semi-retractable tail wheel had been exchanged for a larger fixed model, which was less aerodynamic. As a result, the British B-339E was substantially heavier than the F2A-2, by some 900 lb (410 kg), and together with its less powerful engine (the F2A-2 from the original order was powered by a 1,200 hp (890 kW) Cyclone), the performance deteriorated markedly. Top speed was reduced from 323 to 313 mph (520 to 504 km/h) at combat altitudes, and the machine lost much of its good handling quality.
In service, some effort was made to improve the type's sluggish performance; a few aircraft were lightened by some 1,000 lb (450 kg) by removing armor plate, armored windshields, radios, gun camera, and all other unnecessary equipment, and by replacing the .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns. The fuselage tanks were filled with a minimum of fuel and ran on high-octane aviation petrol where available. But all this made little difference and the Buffalo-equipped units in the SEA theatre of operations suffered severe losses in combat against the Japanese Navy's A6M Zero and the Japanese Army's Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar".
To make matters worse, many of the pilots assigned to the Buffalo lacked adequate training and experience in the type, so that it is no wonder that a total of 20 of the original 169 Buffalos were lost in training accidents during 1941. By December 1941, approximately 150 Buffalo B-339E aircraft made up the bulk of the British fighter defenses of Burma, Malaya and Singapore. The two RAAF, two RAF, and one RNZAF squadrons, during December 1941 – January 1942, were beset with numerous problems, including poorly built and ill-equipped aircraft.
When the Japanese invaded northern Malaya on 8 December 1941, the B-339E initially performed adequately. Against the Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate", the overloaded Brewsters could at least hold their own if given time to get to altitude, and at first achieved a respectable number of kills. However, the appearance of ever greater numbers of Japanese fighters, including markedly superior types such as the Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" soon overwhelmed the Buffalo pilots, both in the air and on the ground. Another significant factor was the Brewster engine's tendency to overheat in the tropical climate, which caused oil to spray over the windscreen, usually forcing an aborted mission and greatly complicating attempts to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft. In the end, more than 60 Brewster Mk I (B-339E) aircraft were shot down in combat, 40 destroyed on the ground, and approximately 20 more destroyed in accidents. The last airworthy Buffalo in Singapore flew out on 10 February, five days before the island fell, and only about 20 Buffalos survived to reach India or the Dutch East Indies, where they were integrated into second line units where their poor performance did not seriously matter, freeing more capable aircraft for frontline use.
One of these units was RAF 258 Squadron. The squadron was formed on 20 November 1940 at RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire as a fighter squadron equipped with Hawker Hurricanes for homeland defense. After changing bases several times, 258 Squadron prepared for a move to the Far East. After a few days in Singapore, they were withdrawn to Sumatra and then Java, where they suffered many losses. The survivors transferred their aircraft to No. 605 Squadron and most attempted to escape by ship to Australia, but all the ships were sunk en route with no survivors.
The squadron was reformed 1 March 1942 at Ratmalana Airfield (actually, an abandoned horse racing course!), near Colombo, Ceylon, with surviving Hurricane and Buffalo fighters from Singapore and largely manned by Royal New Zealand Air Force pilots. But the new 258 Squadron did not last long: the unit suffered severe losses during the Japanese carrier strike on 5 April 1942, which finally ended the Buffalos’ brief and rather lackluster RAF career. After a spell in Burma the squadron was eventually withdrawn to be re-equipped with American Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, with which it operated until the end of the war.
It is not entirely clear how many Japanese aircraft the Buffalo squadrons shot down, although RAAF pilots alone managed to shoot down at least 20. Eighty were claimed in total, a ratio of kills to losses of just 1.3 to 1. Additionally, most of the Japanese aircraft shot down by the Buffalos were bombers. The Hawker Hurricane, which fought in Singapore alongside the Buffalo from 20 January, also suffered severe losses from ground attack; most were destroyed.
General characteristics
Crew: one
Length: 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
Height: 12 ft 0 in (3.66 m)
Wing area: 209 sq ft (19.4 m²)
Empty weight: 4,732 lb (2,146 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 7,159 lb (3,247 kg)
Powerplant:
1 × Wright R-1820-40 Cyclone 9 9-cyl air-cooled radial piston engine, 1,000 hp (745.7 kW)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 321 mph (517 km/h; 279 kn)
Cruise speed: 161 mph (140 kn; 259 km/h)
Range: 965 mi (839 nmi; 1,553 km)
Service ceiling: 33,200 ft (10,119 m)
Rate of climb: 2,440 ft/min (12.4 m/s)
Armament:
1× .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun with 200 rounds and
1× .30 in (7.62 mm) AN Browning machine gun with 600 rounds,
both synchronized above the engine, firing through the propeller disc
2× 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns with up to 450 RPG, one per wing
The kit and its assembly:
A simple and rather subtle what-if build – or that was what I thought it to be. When I read the Hawker Hurricane book from the “Planes and Pilots” series, I came across several aircraft in early SEAC markings and wondered about a Buffalo with blue 18” roundels – the RAF machines could have carried these markings in early 1942, and that became the model’s simple concept.
The kit is the Matchbox Buffalo. It is rather simple but has the benefit of being a de-navalized export version with a different cowling and tail. On the other side it also features some (IMHO wrong) details from the USN version like the cuffed Curtiss Electric propeller, which should rather be slightly smaller uncuffed Hamilton Standard propeller, the life raft behind the pilot and the open sight. However, I did not want to invest a fortune into a Hasegawa kit (which has the different tail as an optional part). The Hobby Boss F2A is another cheap alternative, but it is an American carrier aircraft, just like the Airfix kit that even comes with rivets galore as an unwelcome bonus. The vintage Aoshima kit is also there, but no option anymore. Special Hobby also does an F2A – but it’s again the American Navy aircraft, and quite expensive.
The Matchbox Buffalo was basically built OOB, I just drilled up the gun ports and tried to make the engine louvres edges a little crisper, so that they rather look like outlets and not like un-PSRed seams. The flaps were lowered for a lively look. A British reflector sight was added to the cockpit as well as a retrofitted rear-view mirror to the canopy, and struts for the roll bar were mounted behind the pilot seat instead of the OOB life raft from the US Navy F2A. The propeller was replaced, too, because the Matchbox kit’s cuffed version also belongs onto an USN aircraft and not an export B-239/339. A scratched pitot was added to the port wing.
Real trouble struck the project when the plastic turned out to be brittle of age – and this showed in inconvenient places. A major issue became the landing gear: the delicate struts broke off just as I tried to carefully release the parts from the sprues. And the rather massive canopy suddenly “silvered” from many vertical micro-cracks after I had glued it into place – before that it just had a slightly milky tint, so that I still used it but left the cockpit closed. However, once in place the front section almost went blind (at first, I thought this was humidity from ink washings!), and I considered a vacu canopy replacement – but this turned out to be prohibitively expensive, and I retained the flaw. The landing gear had to be modified to work. The struts were glued back together with plastic and super glue, while the covers were replaced with thinner styrene sheet and the supporting struts were replaced with thinner material, too.
Painting and markings:
Straightforward choice, even though with detail twists. The Buffalo received the contemporary RAF Temperate Land Scheme, with upper camouflage in Dark Green and Dark Earth. Since the aircraft was supposed to be relatively freshly re-painted, I used stronger shades for the green and the brown, namely IJA Green from Modelmaster and Humbrol 26 (khaki matt, which is less reddish than Dark Earth but slightly darker). The underside was painted in a non-regular Sky Blue, a color that was used instead of Sky or Medium Sea Grey on some SEAC fighter aircraft. I used Humbrol 47 (Sea Blue).
The model received a light black ink washing and some dry-brushed post-panel shading – even though it was not supposed to look too weathered or worn, since it would be a freshly revamped Singapore survivor in a new unit.
The small all-blue SEAC roundels and the fin flash came from an Academy P-47D, and they look odd on the Buffalo, making it look bigger as it actually is – but they could have been used on them, had the type “survived” some more months into 1942. White ID markings, e. g. bands on wings and tail surfaces, were not common at the model’s intended time frame yet, so I just gave it a propeller tip in Sky (Tamiya XF-21) and a fuselage band in the same color – the latter taken from the Matchbox OOB decal sheet and the color on the spinner adapted to the decal (with Humbrol 23).
The tactical code was created from single white 6 mm letters (from TL Modellbau). AFAIK, some SEAC units rather used such smaller letters in a non-regular font for their machines, you frequently find Spitfires and Hurricanes with similar codes, and it works well on the short Buffalo. The aircraft’s serial number is fictional (but close to the RAF Buffalos’ range) and was created with single black 2mm “W”s and numbers from a re-boxed Matchbox Gloster Gladiator (Revell).
After some soot stains around the guns and the exhausts with graphite, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and a wire antenna made from heated black sprue material was added between the mast and the fin.
A relatively simple what-if interim build, building- and painting-wise, but the kit’s age caused some serious trouble that could only be partly mended. The landing gear could be saved, even though it shows its damage, but the blind clear windscreen really bugs me. Nevertheless, a “late” SEAC Buffalo is an interesting sight. A rather subtle whif, and the all-blue roundels suit it well.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Grumman F4F Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that began service with both the United States Navy and some European air forces in 1940.
Grumman fighter development began with the two-seat Grumman FF biplane. The FF was the first U.S. naval fighter with a retractable landing gear. The wheels retracted into the fuselage, leaving the tires visibly exposed, flush with sides of the fuselage. Two single-seat biplane designs followed, the F2F and F3F, which established the general fuselage outlines of what would become the F4F Wildcat.
In 1935, while the F3F was still undergoing flight-testing, Grumman started work on its next biplane fighter, the G-16. At the time, the U.S. Navy favored a monoplane design, the Brewster F2A-1, ordering production early in 1936. However, an order was also placed for Grumman's G-16 (given the navy designation XF4F-1) as a backup in case the Brewster monoplane proved to be unsatisfactory.
It was clear to Grumman that the XF4F-1 would be inferior to the Brewster monoplane, so Grumman abandoned the XF4F-1, designing instead a new monoplane fighter, the XF4F-2. The overall performance of Grumman's new monoplane was considered inferior to the Brewster Buffalo. The XF4F-2 was marginally faster, but the Buffalo was more maneuverable, so the Brewster aircraft was judged superior and was chosen for production.
After losing out to Brewster, Grumman completely rebuilt the prototype as the XF4F-3 with new wings and tail and a supercharged version of the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp" radial engine. Testing of the new XF4F-3 led to an order for F4F-3 production models, the first of which was completed in February 1940. This modernized aircraft met a lot of international interest, and several orders were places.
Even before the Wildcat had been purchased by U.S. Navy, the French Navy and the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) had ordered the Wildcat, with their own configurations, via the Anglo-French Purchasing Board. The F4F Wildcat (initially known in British service at first as the Martlet) was taken on by the FAA as an interim replacement for the Fairey Fulmar, a two-seat fighter with good range but at a performance disadvantage against single-seater fighters. Navalized Supermarine Spitfires were not available because of the greater need of the Royal Air Force.
The FAA's F4Fs also pioneered combat operations from the smaller escort carriers. Six Martlets went to sea aboard the converted former German merchant vessel HMS Audacity in September 1941, proviing highly effective convoy escort operations. The British received 300 Eastern Aircraft FM-1s as the Martlet V in 1942–43 340 FM-2s as the Wildcat VI and finally 120 GM-built FM-3s (known in FAA service as Wildcat VII), the final evolution of the Wildcat and originally designated F4F-8 by the US Navy.
100 F4F-8 were delivered as fighters, plus 20 more as photo reconnaissance aircraft with a different equipment. This final incarnation of the Wildcat featured a new teardrop canopy and a lowered spine, which improved the pilot's field of view considerably. The FM-2’s enlarged fin was kept in order to ensure directional stability.
The F4F-8 revered to the 14 cylinder powerplant, a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-94. In order to improve survivability and allow fast dashes over hazardous territory, the engine was augmented with a water/methanol booster system that could temporarily raise output and performance. The exhaust system was also modified, exploiting the exhaust gases for additional thrust. This measure, plus a new four blade propeller, improved the speed envelope by ~20mph (30 km/h), top speed now almost reached 370 mph and rate of climb was also temporarily amended.
The F8F-8 fighter received an improved armament of four 20mm cannon in the inner wing sections, which were still foldable. The outer pair of machine guns was deleted. The resulting shift of the aircraft’s center of gravity resulted in a slightly higher rate of roll and compensated for the heavier new guns and their ammunition. Two “wet” hardpoints under the inner wings could hold 1.000 lb (454 kg) each, alternatively six HVARs could be carried under the outer wings.
The F4F-8P differed from the fighter in so far that it carried three cameras in the lower rear fuselage, with respective ventral windows. The armor was reduced and the armament consisted of only four 0.5mm machine guns in the inner wings. An additional internal fuel tank and an optional pair of drop tanks under the inner wings allowed the carriage of an additional 255 gal (965 l) of fuel for a total of about 450 gal (1,700 l). With the underwing drop tanks, maximum range was up to 3,000 mi (4.830 km). In FAA service these machines were called Wildcat FR.VII.
In total, nearly 1,300 Wildcats would serve with the FAA. By January 1944, the Martlet name was dropped and the type was simply identified as the Wildcat. In March 1945, Wildcats shot down four Messerschmitt Bf 109s over Norway, marking the FAA's last victory with a Wildcat. After the end of hostilities in Europe, the Wildcat was quickly phased out or relegated to second line duties, e. g. as trainers for carrier operations. But even these few machines were soon retired and scrapped.
Specifications:
Crew: 1
Length: 28 ft 9 in (8.76 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft (11.58 m)
Height: 11 ft 10 in (3.60 m)
Loaded weight: 7,000 lb (3,200 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830-94W 14 cylinder twin radial engine, rated at 1,350 hp (1,010 kW)
normal power and 1,425 hp (1,063 kW) emergency output with water/methanol injection
Performance:
Maximum speed: 366 mph (590 km/h)
Maximum range: 3,000 mi (4.830 km).
Range on internal fuel: 1.100 mi (1,770 km)
Service ceiling: 39,500 ft (12,000 m)
Rate of climb: 2,670 ft/min (13.6 m/s)
Armament:
4x 0.5 in (12.7 mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns,
2x underwing hardpoints (inner wings) for loads of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) each,
typically occupied by a pair of 108 gallon (409-liter) drop tanks
6x underwing hardpoints (outer wings, typically not used) for single HVARs
The kit and its assembly:
This one is a tribute build, and a pretty quick one, done in just a couple of days. The original inspiration was a profile that fellow modeler Franclab from Canada had posted at FlickR – and I had a Hobby Boss FM-2 in the stash, bought as part of a lot, without a real plan yet.
www.flickr.com/photos/franclab/31126053083
I found the idea of a Wildcat with a bubble canopy and other modernized details pretty inspiring, and so I decided to answer the profile with a hardware response.
Anyway, I did not “copy” the profile, rather did an interpretation while incorporating as many original details as possible. These mods include:
a) A lowered spine; this was made pretty easy since the Hobby Boss kit comes with an almost massive IP fuselage – the dorsal section was literally carved from the styrene.
b) A teardrop vacu canopy was fitted and the spine shaped to fit its rim. The piece actually belongs to a Spitfire XVI and comes from a Pavla set.
c) A pilot figure, or better just the upper half, since the kit’s cockpit tub is pretty shallow. The weak spot of many Hobby Boss kits is the primitive cockpit, and the figure simply hides this. For the same reason the canopy remained closed, what also made its montage easier.
d) Underwing pylons and drop tanks from a P-51 (probably Heller)
e) The exhaust system was changed into short, single stubs that exit on the flanks (Fw 190/Hawker Sea Fury style)
f) A new four blade propeller was scratched; the hub came from an Italeri F4U (looks a bit massive on the compact Wildcat. Though) while the delicate blades are single resin pieces for an Australian P-51 (from Red Roo Models). The whole things sits on a metal axis that rests in a deep hole, drilled into the massive fuselage of the kit, so that the propeller could spin freely for the beauty scene pics.
g) Scratched camera openings/covers under the lower fuselage
The idea for a photo recce variant came when I browsed for potential operators, since I wanted to build a whif from the very late WWII stages – and it was “something different” from the usual fighter.
Painting and markings:
Wanting to keep things realistic, the USA or Great Britain would be the potential operators. At some time, I considered a Dutch machine, but found this to be too far off, and favored an FAA aircraft.
The latter would either be painted Dark Sea Grey/Dark Slate Grey/Sky, all Dark Sea Blue, or Dark Sea Blue/Intermediate Blue/White.
I settled for the simple all-blue option – one reason being the FAA “Sabrecat” in SEAC markings I built some time ago, while the classic blue/white livery was already earmarked for another build in the near future.
Another argument for the dark blue livery (FS 35042 from ModelMaster) was a post-war Corsair of FAA No. 1835 Sq. in an exhaustive Sky Models decal set, an aircraft I used as benchmark for the livery and marking details.
Most of the decals come from the Sky Models set, only the upper wing roundels were sourced from the scrap box, as well as some additional markings and stencils. Panels were shaded with Humbrol 77 (Navy Blue) and Xtracolor RAL 5008, and the kit received two black ink washes – one before and a second one after shading.
After some weathering with paint and graphite around the exhaust stubs and guns, the kit was sealed with a coat of semi-matt varnish, plus some pure matt accents.
As mentioned above, a very quick tribute build, done in less than four days from seeing the profile on FlickR until the varnish had dried and the model stood on its own feet/wheels (beauty pics took some more time, though). The result looks interesting, especially the unusual post WWII combo of overall Dark Sea Blue with the standard RAF roundels. In fact - especially in the flight scenes - the fictional F4F-8 looks like the offspring between a hot night of a standard F4F and a TBM Avenger?
With best regards to Franclab, and many thanks for the inspiration! :D
General Motors FM-2 Martlet (Grumman F4F Wildcat) at the 2017 Planes of Fame Airshow held in Chino, California May 5-6, 2017. The Wildcat employed a manual landing gear retraction mechanism, requiring the pilot to turn a crank 30 times during takeoff to raise the gear.
Hey everyone – despite the fact that my activity has been nothing short of sporadic as of late, I’m finally happy to present to you all my custom LEGO rendition of a Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat from World War II!
The F4F Wildcat was Grumman’s first production monoplane naval fighter. As with many ‘firsts’ in the aviation industry, particularly during the interwar/WWII years, development was expectedly rocky. Before Grumman’s design would be able to be chosen by the Navy as their primary carrier-based frontline fighter, it had to be deemed superior to the reigning one: the Brewster F2A Buffalo. While the initial prototype was marginally quicker than the Buffalo, it possessed inferior maneuvrability to an intolerable degree, and was not proceeded with at this state. However, after fabricating the XF4F-3 prototype and equipping it with the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 “Twin Wasp” engine, Grumman was given a production order to see the resulting F4F-3 production model Wildcats in action with the Navy and Marine Corps, in the end beating out Brewster’s aircraft. Particularly in the early years of the war, it was used extensively – primarily in the Pacific Theatre. While noted as relatively inferior to its common rival there – the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero – USN and USMC pilots fought hard with these Wildcats, developing tactics and learning from hard-earned lessons gained from violent aerial encounters with the enemy. With the determination from the aviators, the F4F had a cumulative kill-to-death ratio of a little under 7:1.
The model itself was fairly challenging to design for me. Incorporating realistic features as seen on real aircraft (for this there’s the 5-degree dihedral, folding wings, and fully retractable landing gear that come to mind) is never an easy challenge. In fact, the wings when folded cannot hold themselves off the ground without assistance, nor can the model sit comfortably on its landing gear without demanding additional support. However, the fact that I was able to work these kinetic features in and still somehow have the model look the part is something I’m pretty proud of. I did design it digitally initially, and ordered the parts through BrickLink, making changes to the digital rendition as I saw fit when the bricks were in hand. All in all, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out (for now), and hope you all like it. Comments and feedback are much appreciated!
F4F-3 Grumman Wildcat N12260 US Navy BuNo 12260 NX12260
This aircraft crashed in May 1944 off USS Wolverine on Lake Michigan it was not until December 1991 that it was recovered from the river to be restored to an airworthy condition, it made it first flight after being restored on the 18th July 1994 and
Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat N14WB US Navy BuNo 122619 NX14WB
Photo taken at EAA Airventure Wittman Regional Airport Oshkosh Wisconsin USA July 2022
BAI_6057
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1/2: a set of 2 photos one with Amiibo and the other with First4Figure figures.
If you like this one please compare it with the other version.
I tried to create 2 similar photos, 1 using the big F4F figures and the other with the smaller Amiibo versions of the same figures.
The background was done physically with an image on a TV screen.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a carrier-based fighter aircraft conceived to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat in United States Navy (USN) service. The Hellcat was an erstwhile rival of the faster Vought F4U Corsair for use as a carrier based fighter. However, the Corsair had significant issues with carrier landing that the Hellcat did not, allowing the Hellcat to steal a march as the Navy's dominant fighter in the second part of World War II, a position the Hellcat did not relinquish. The Corsair instead was primarily deployed to great effect in land-based use by the U.S. Marine Corps.
Although the F6F resembled the Wildcat in some ways, it was a completely new design, much bigger and powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800, the same powerplant used for both the Corsair and the United States Army Air Force's (USAAF) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters. Some military observers actually tagged the Hellcat as the "Wildcat's big brother".
The F6F series were designed to take damage and get the pilot safely back to base. A bullet-resistant windshield and a total of 212 lb (96 kg) of cockpit armor was fitted, along with armor around the oil tank and oil cooler. A 250 gal (946 l) self-sealing fuel tank was fitted in the fuselage. Consequently the F6F was best known for its role as a rugged, well-designed carrier fighter which was able, after its combat debut in early 1943, to counter the Mitsubishi A6M Zero and help secure air superiority over the Pacific Theater.
The design proved to be very balanced, even though attempts were made to improve the Hellcat's performance. Late prototypes in the F6F series included the XF6F-4 (02981, a conversion of the XF6F-1 powered by an R-2800-27 and armed with four 20mm M2 cannon) which first flew on 3 October 1942 as the prototype for the projected F6F-4. This version never entered production and 02981 was converted to an F6F-3 production aircraft.
Another experimental prototype was the XF6F-2 (66244), an F6F-3 converted to use a Wright R-2600-15, fitted with a Birman manufactured mixed-flow turbocharger, which was later replaced by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800-21, also fitted with a Birman turbocharger. The turbochargers proved to be unreliable on both engines, while performance improvements were marginal. As with the XF6F-4, 66244 was soon converted back to a standard F6F-3.
Other experiments were more successful: Two XF6F-6s (70188 and 70913) were later converted from F6F-5s and used the 18-cylinder 2,100 hp (1,567 kW) Pratt and Whitney R-2800-18W two-stage supercharged radial engine with water injection, driving a Hamilton-Standard four-bladed propeller to cope with the extra power. The XF6F-6s were the fastest version of the Hellcat series during wartime, with a top speed of 417 mph (671 km/h vs. the F6F-5's 391 mph/629 km/h). In order to ensure directional stability at high speed the F6F-6 received a slightly taller tail fin, beyond the four blade propeller another external detail that set new variant apart from its older brethren. The armament was beefed up to four 20mm M2 cannons in the wings, while the F6F-5's standard external ordnance (including unguided missiles, iron bombs and drop tanks) could be carried, too.
The F6F-6 was cleared for production in September 1944 and entered service with both US Navy and Royal Navy (as F6F-6 and Hellcat F Mk.III, respectively) in early 1945. Small numbers of the “Double Six” were also delivered to New Zealand and the Netherlands. The latter were operated by former NL-KNIL units in the Pacific theatre that were at that time under Royal Air Force command. The machines arrived at the Dutch East Indies in June 1945 and carried Dutch markings (in the form of flags instead of RAF SEA roundels), serials and camouflage, but British codes. They effectively arrived too late to become involved in serious combat missions against the retreating Japanese forces. Despite their carrier capabilities the Dutch Hellcats were exclusively operated from land bases.
The roundabout forty, quasi-Dutch Hellcats were allocated to RAF 321 Squadron and primarily employed as escort fighters for transporters that carried out relief flights and supply drops to thousands of internees in the POW camps in the Java and Sumatra regions. Another important task were long-range air surveillance missions with occasional attacks against ground targets and shipping. Air combat did hardly occur at all so that the unit only claimed three air victories. In July 1945 the 321 Squadron air echelon moved, supplemented with B-24 Liberators, from Java to Cocos Island in preparation for the proposed invasion of Malaya, but the hostilities ended before this reprisal was carried out.
On 8 December 1945, the Dutch RAF squadrons were passed to the control of the Dutch Naval Aviation Service, while keeping the same squadron numbers. After WWII, the Hellcats were kept in service, but they were quickly phased out because the Netherlands were also operating the British Hawker Sea Fury, and in 1947 the Netherlands Royal Navy decided to keep only a single fighter aircraft type for the two of their aircraft carriers operational. Since it was common practice for Royal Netherlands Navy vessels to operate alongside Royal Navy ships, with the consequence that Dutch Sea Furies regularly operated from FAA land bases and RN carriers, the Hellcats were sorted out. Most of the Dutch F6F-6s were sold to South American operators, where they, together with surplus Hellcats from US Navy surplus stock, soldiered on until the Sixties.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 33 ft 7 in (10.24 m)
Wingspan: 42 ft 10 in (13.06 m)
Height: 13 ft 1 in (3.99 m)
Wing area: 334 ft² (31 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 23015.6 mod root; NACA 23009 tip
Empty weight: 9,238 lb (4,190 kg)
Loaded weight: 12,598 lb (5,714 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 15,415 lb (6,990 kg)
Internal fuel capacity: 250 US gal (950 l)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0211
Drag area: 7.05 ft² (0.65 m²)
Aspect ratio: 5.5
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney R-2800-18W "Double Wasp" two-row radial engine with a two-speed two-stage supercharger, delivering 2,100 hp (1,566 kW) at 2,800 rpm at 1,000 ft (305 m) and 1,800 hp (1,342 kW) at 2,800 rpm at 25,500 ft (7,772 m), driving a Hamilton Standard four-blade propeller of 13 ft 1 in (4.0 m) diameter
Performance:
Maximum speed: 330 kn (417 mph, 671 km/h)
Stall speed: 73 kn (84 mph, 135 km/h)
Combat radius: 820 nmi (945 mi, 1.520 km)
Ferry range: 1,330 nmi (1,530 mi, 2.460 km)
Service ceiling: 39,305 ft (12.000 m)
Rate of climb: 3,800 ft/min (19,5 m/s)
Wing loading: 37.7 lb/ft² (184 kg/m²)
Time-to-altitude: 7.0 min to 20,000 ft (6,100 m)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 12.2
Takeoff roll: 799 ft (244 m)
Armament:
4× 0.79 in (20 mm) M2 cannons with 250 RPG in the outer wings
Up to 4,000 lb (1,814 kg) of external loads, including 6× 5 in (127 mm) HVARs, 2× Tiny Tim unguided rockets, 1× 2,000 lb (907 kg) bomb or 1× Mk.13-3 torpedo on the fuselage centerline rack, or 2× 1,000 lb (450 kg), 4× 500 lb (227 kg) or 8× 250 lb (110 kg) bombs on two weapon racks on either side of fuselage under the wing center-section, or up to 3× 150 US gal (570 l) external drop tanks
The kit and its assembly:
This fictional Hellcat was inspired some years ago, when I came across pictures of a Dutch F6F model at FlickR, built by a modeler called "Carl". I liked the concept and it already inspired my more radical F6F-7 build (with a different engine and a bubble canopy), but the Netherlands as a potential Hellcat operator stuck to the back of my mind.
When I recently came across paint schemes for Dutch WWII aircraft I found an interesting option (see below) and eventually decided to build another Hellcat - this time an in-service F6F-6, a type that actually existed, but only as a prototype with no series production.
The kit I used is Revell's F6F-5, which is actually a re-boxed Italeri kit from 2001. A nice offering, even though I find the solution with a single lower wings part, which includes a ventral fuselage section, too, a little impractical (much like the Hasegawa kit). On the plus side, the kit comes with separate flaps (even though these massive parts have small sinkholes) and fine surface and interior details.
My conversion measures were limited and circled around the propulsion system: I implanted a new engine block (a resin piece, left over from an Art Model F8F) and a 4-blade propeller (left over from a Hobby Boss P-47). Since I wanted some more external difference to the F6F-3/5, I decided to extend the fin at the tip. It's just a subtle change, maybe 3mm net, done with 1mm plastic sheet and PSR. But it's a good visual counterbalance to the slightly more massive propeller at the front end. The gun barrels are aftermarket brass pieces. For long-range escort missions in the PTO I gave the Hellcat a pair of cardboard drop tanks (from an Academy P-51) on the inner wing stations.
Painting and markings:
Even though the inspiring F6F in a uniform Dark Sea Blue late WWII USN livery with Dutch neutrality triangles from FlickR looked good, I found at least the triangles and other orange markings to be outdated for the era when the type would have been operated.
Therefore, I went for something completely different: The paint scheme came from Dutch Do 24 and PBY Catalina flying boats, which had been operated in South East Asia in 1942 and 1943. The camouflage consisted of a very dark blue and a dark grey on the upper sides - very similar to USN Sea Blue (FS 35042, Testors 1718) and FAA Extra Dark Sea Grey (Humbrol 123), respectively - and, in this case, British Sky (Revell 59, which is a rather greenish hue, more similar to Humbrol 23 than 90) underneath, even though some machines were AFAIK alternatively painted in light Sky Blue. A unique combination and IMHO quite effective as a sea camouflage. The camouflage pattern was adapted from a Dutch 1943 Do 24, quite different from the more even FAA pattern.
Being operated late in the PTO I gave the Hellcat typical ID markings - the white bands come from the OOB sheet and add some excitement to the overall rather dull aircraft. As an RAF unit, I gave the aircraft a typical three-letter code in Sky, but instead of RAF SEA roundels I rather used Dutch flags in six positions, a common practice of late NL-KNIL units until 1946.
The odd serial number was inspired by Dutch post-war P-51Ds operated in Indonesia, created with single TL Modellbau 3mm size letters.
The kit received a light black ink wash, some light post-panel-shading and weathering (leading edges, exhaust and gun smoke stains), and was finally sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).
Another relatively simple project without major surgery, but I find the result quite convincing. I actually like the blue/grey camouflage a lot – it’s based on well-known colors, yet a unique combination. And together with the Dutch flags and the British tactical codes, the whif has a distinctive look to it.
When the U.S. entered WWII after Pearl Harbor, the Wildcat was the backbone of the U.S. Navy's air power. Although already outperformed by its major adversary, the Japanese Zero the Wildcat and the brave pilots who flew them held the line until the F6F Hellcat could be introduced into service. Through full utilization of its strengths and adaptive tactics, the Wildcat emerged from the war with an impressive 7 to 1 kill ratio. In addition to serving the U.S. Navy, the F4F served as a key fighter of the Fleet Air Arm of the British Royal Navy, and in fact was the first U.S. made fighter to down an enemy aircraft (a German Ju-88) while in British service.
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General Motors FM-2 (Grumman F4F) Wildcat at the "Warbirds Over the Beach" airshow held May 15-17, 2015, at the Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach, Virginia.