This particular sheet covers the F-4F-3/3A/4 Wildcat, all from the first 8 months of the war. All of the planes are in blue-grey uppers and light grey lower surfaces. Most will use FS 36440 Light Gull Grey for the lower surfaces as it is a standard USN color and a good match for this shade.

The 1/48th Sheet covers five aircraft and offers all the insignia and tail stripes for each of the five planes.

First is a VF-6 F4F-3A, black F14,  and flown by Ltjg Wilmer Rawle. He had the first USN aerial victory of WWII by shooting down a Japanese plane in the Taroa Atoll raid of 1 Feb 1942.

White F-15, another F4F-3A was from VF-3 and flown by Butch O'Hare on his Medal of Honor mission in Feb 1942.

Another VF-3 plane, white F-1, is an F4F-3 flown by Jimmy Thatch as photographed in April 1942.

From VF-42 is black 2, an F4F-3.  This one was flown by E. Scott McCuskey in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942

Finally is an F4F-4, white 23 of VF-3. This was flown by Jimmy Thatch during the Battle of Midway in June 1942 where he first introduced the 'Thatch weave' defense maneuver.

The sheet to the right has been deliberately darkened to show the white markings.

If you get the 1/72 sheet, you will have three other options. One is for an F4F-3A flown by Ens. James Daniels, who survived a trip to Pearl Harbor late on 7 Dec. Of the 6 planes flown into the area from the Enterprise, three were shot down by US AA gunners. The other is a second F4F-3 flown by Butch O'Hare and often photographed. Finally, there is another F4F-4 from the Battle of Midway. This was flown by Ens Stephen Groves who was shot down and killed by a Val gunner during the battle. 

Any of the markings from this or the 1/72 sheet will really add to your next Wildcat kit. The kits of choice for these markings will be from Hasegawa in 1/72 and from Tamiya in 1/48. The Tamiya kit will have to be modded to do the F4F-3 versions, but Just Plane Stuff has a very nice conversion set that was reviewed here a while back.

Review sheet courtesy Three Guys Replicas

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