The stubby F4F Wildcat was the USN's second modern carrier fighter. The F2A was the first. However, it is the Wildcat that was the primary naval fighter for the first full year of the Pacific war. Fortunately, Grumman built a very sturdy and reliable aircraft that was able to be effectively used against the Japanese. All use of the F2A resulted in devastating losses to the units that flew it.

The first production version was the non-wing folding, four-gunned, yellow-winged F4F-3. These were initially painted in the very colorful prewar scheme of aluminum painted fuselage, yellow topped wings and colored empennage. With the introduction of the war in Europe, they also added a 'neutrality patrol' insignia on the forward fuselage to show that they were not a belligerent aircraft (like the yellow wing wouldn't have been a give-away!).

This particular sheet has all the stripes and insignia to do all three aircraft. The first is from VF-41 aboard the USS Wasp. This plane has the green tail from that ship as well as white banding on the wings and tail.

The next two are from VF-72 aboard the USS Ranger. The Ranger saw action only in the Atlantic as it was considered too small to serve effectively in the Pacific. As a result, it managed to survive the war without seeing a great deal of action outside of the North African landings in late 1942. These planes are quite similar with black tails. The major difference is the different section colors. The upper plane with True Blue cowl and stripes, with the lower one having these colors in Black.

Superscale provides all the stripes and trim, though you will have to paint the cowling. For kits, you have the excellent Hasegawa kit that was even boxed with the VF-41 markings at one time. You can also choose the Academy or the old Revell kit, which isn't half bad. All three kits will have to be modified by filling in the outer guns and the wing-fold lines.

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