CDW

Difficulty has nothing to do with it. It's just a matter of how I want to spend my time and what I want to spend it doing. 
 

Thanks Mike. I like them, too. These days, there are more of them available in all shapes and sizes than ever before, this being one of the earlier examples from the 60's.
When this model was introduced in the 60's, these vehicles were still in service.

One thing I could/should have done that would have been a lot more realistic would have been to remove the molded on stabilizers on each side of the boom and replace them with some scratch built stabilizers. When the vehicle was moving or when it was lifting a maximum load weight, these stabilizers would be lowered to the mounts below.
 

For 12 long years I worked directly for a US Army Major General. His nickname was Mr. Standards. Now we were not in a combat situation, but I can tell you with first hand experience many times over, you would not want to be on the receiving end of one of his inspections with a vehicle of any type that was dirty, rusted, or generally untidy. Heads would roll and buttocks would look like a Piranha had chewed them up when he was finished. I have literally watched him make officers cry. I am imagining this recovery vehicle was assigned to a unit under his command and was getting ready for inspection. 😄
Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt many times over.

It was a glorious day of sunshine, children, grand children, lots of great food, music and dancing, and a whole lot of cooling off at the pool today. Our youngest daughter turned 23 and she will be leaving for New Hampshire in two more weeks so today was her day. 
Tonight I took some photos of where I'm at with this wrecker, just a few more details to work out before the finish of it.
I realized something a couple of days ago worth mentioning about this model. Turns out this model was re-released by Revell in 1983, but it's originally a Renwall model, Revell buying the molds after Renwall went tango uniform. So that dates this model/molds back into the 60's when all those great old Renwall models were being produced.
I have a few more details to work out with the rear and forward winches. I thought I had some small chain I could use to hang off the front bumper but I could not locate it. Lost in the proverbial black hole of Calcutta. 
 

The four stabilizers are movable and can be positioned either stowed or lowered.
 

I'll love watching you build these.
Indeed, AM was a great company and produced some outstanding models.

Thanks Mike. I like them, too. These days, there are more of them available in all shapes and sizes than ever before, this being one of the earlier examples from the 60's.
When this model was introduced in the 60's, these vehicles were still in service.

I'll love watching you build these.
Indeed, AM was a great company and produced some outstanding models.

We have two sons as well, but they were not in this photo.

After building the Accurate Miniatures F4B-4 and P-6E, I'm building the Grumman F3F-1 and F3F-2 by Accurate Miniatures.  

Bottom box art:

Reference material:

Deliveries of the F3F-1 began in 1936, and the F3F-2 was delivered in 1937-1938.  I don't believe that they saw action in WWII, as they were replaced by other, newer planes (the rate of development/improvement in war aviation was very impressive during this time).  They ended up being used more for training aircraft than anything.  Very cool looking planes continuing the colorful "yellow wing" line of aircraft.
 
I have to say that the Accurate Miniature kit looks very well done.  While I believe the F4B-4 and P-6E were reboxings of earlier Monogram kits, the F3F-1 and F3F-2 might have been developed in house.  Sprues look very clean, decals are crisp, and the instruction manual is very detailed.  The kit also includes a small fret of PE for rigging and the bomb rack.  If the kit builds as nicely as it looks in the first impressions, I have to say that it's really a shame AM is no longer in business.

Here is the aftermarket I'm planning to use (have a second set for the F3F-2):  

 
The Eduard PE set is mostly for the cockpit, but there are a few pieces for the undercarriage and bomb and bomb rack assemblies.  I'm not sure if I'm going to use the Yellow Wings decals though.  The question that really bedeviled me with the F4B-4 was can I match the nose color with the fuselage band and wing chevron?  Same issue here, as you will have to paint the nose to match the colors.  The nice thing about the AM decals, however, is that they assume you will just paint everything yourself!  I thought about doing that with the F4B-4, but the fuselage band and chevron had very narrow black (or white) stripe borders -- impossible to replicate.  The AM kit gives you very narrow black and white line decals to allow you to add the borders yourself.  If I go that route, I might even try to paint the US insignias on the wings as the Montex masks give you stencils to do so.
 
I'm digging the larger scale - hopefully a lot easier to handle than the 1/72 scale kits I just completed.  I'm also going to try a different strategy on painting and assembly.  With the F4B-4 and P-6E, there were slight fit issues so I needed to use putty in some areas to fill gaps.  I decided to assemble the fuselage with the lower wing and tail in place, and then tape off areas to paint, which was a real pain  I'm hoping that I can paint the fuselage, wings, and tail separately, and then assemble them to avoid having to go through the taping process.  Fingers crossed that the fit is good!  
 
I haven't decided on colors yet, but I'm planning to paint the aluminum areas using Vallejo's "Metal Color" line which is their answer to Alclad.  We'll see how that goes.  For the yellow wing top, I'm going with Tamiya's "camel yellow" but this time will use the correct one (the TS line) and not the line for polycarbonate RC planes (the PS line).
 
Should be fun kits!  If not, hopefully my (mis)adventures will at least provide comedic relief to you all.

Difficulty has nothing to do with it. It's just a matter of how I want to spend my time and what I want to spend it doing. 
 

Thanks Mike. I like them, too. These days, there are more of them available in all shapes and sizes than ever before, this being one of the earlier examples from the 60's.
When this model was introduced in the 60's, these vehicles were still in service.

One thing I could/should have done that would have been a lot more realistic would have been to remove the molded on stabilizers on each side of the boom and replace them with some scratch built stabilizers. When the vehicle was moving or when it was lifting a maximum load weight, these stabilizers would be lowered to the mounts below.
 

For 12 long years I worked directly for a US Army Major General. His nickname was Mr. Standards. Now we were not in a combat situation, but I can tell you with first hand experience many times over, you would not want to be on the receiving end of one of his inspections with a vehicle of any type that was dirty, rusted, or generally untidy. Heads would roll and buttocks would look like a Piranha had chewed them up when he was finished. I have literally watched him make officers cry. I am imagining this recovery vehicle was assigned to a unit under his command and was getting ready for inspection. 😄
Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt many times over.

I always liked the Renwal kits. Thought the details were much sharper than Revell or Aurora. Their ships looked sharp.

Difficulty has nothing to do with it. It's just a matter of how I want to spend my time and what I want to spend it doing. 
 

Thanks Mike. I like them, too. These days, there are more of them available in all shapes and sizes than ever before, this being one of the earlier examples from the 60's.
When this model was introduced in the 60's, these vehicles were still in service.

Thanks Mike. I like them, too. These days, there are more of them available in all shapes and sizes than ever before, this being one of the earlier examples from the 60's.
When this model was introduced in the 60's, these vehicles were still in service.

Difficulty has nothing to do with it. It's just a matter of how I want to spend my time and what I want to spend it doing. 
 

Difficulty has nothing to do with it. It's just a matter of how I want to spend my time and what I want to spend it doing. 
 

Thanks Mike. I like them, too. These days, there are more of them available in all shapes and sizes than ever before, this being one of the earlier examples from the 60's.
When this model was introduced in the 60's, these vehicles were still in service.

One thing I could/should have done that would have been a lot more realistic would have been to remove the molded on stabilizers on each side of the boom and replace them with some scratch built stabilizers. When the vehicle was moving or when it was lifting a maximum load weight, these stabilizers would be lowered to the mounts below.
 

For 12 long years I worked directly for a US Army Major General. His nickname was Mr. Standards. Now we were not in a combat situation, but I can tell you with first hand experience many times over, you would not want to be on the receiving end of one of his inspections with a vehicle of any type that was dirty, rusted, or generally untidy. Heads would roll and buttocks would look like a Piranha had chewed them up when he was finished. I have literally watched him make officers cry. I am imagining this recovery vehicle was assigned to a unit under his command and was getting ready for inspection. 😄
Been there, done that, and got the tee shirt many times over.

One thing I could/should have done that would have been a lot more realistic would have been to remove the molded on stabilizers on each side of the boom and replace them with some scratch built stabilizers. When the vehicle was moving or when it was lifting a maximum load weight, these stabilizers would be lowered to the mounts below.
 

It was a glorious day of sunshine, children, grand children, lots of great food, music and dancing, and a whole lot of cooling off at the pool today. Our youngest daughter turned 23 and she will be leaving for New Hampshire in two more weeks so today was her day. 
Tonight I took some photos of where I'm at with this wrecker, just a few more details to work out before the finish of it.
I realized something a couple of days ago worth mentioning about this model. Turns out this model was re-released by Revell in 1983, but it's originally a Renwall model, Revell buying the molds after Renwall went tango uniform. So that dates this model/molds back into the 60's when all those great old Renwall models were being produced.
I have a few more details to work out with the rear and forward winches. I thought I had some small chain I could use to hang off the front bumper but I could not locate it. Lost in the proverbial black hole of Calcutta. 
 

The four stabilizers are movable and can be positioned either stowed or lowered.