F4F-4 built as FM-1 Wildcat by Landlubber Mike - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/48

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, Landlubber Mike said:

But, I’ve thought about doing one wing down (and gun bay open) and one up (and gun bay closed).  If I can find a picture of a real plane in that configuration maybe I’ll try that.  Depending on how this one is looking, I might put it in a diorama as I picked up a few pilot and mechanic figures that might make for an interesting display.  

Mike, it would make a wonderful display, but it would be more like a one side shows one situation and the other side shows another....

 

Here's two shots of Wildcats on the deck of the USS Wasp off Africa.......

 

Arming....

Usually done on the flight deck while they were working up for a mission.....

And another shot off the same ship earlier, (still has the yellow ringed national insignias) showing gun accurization and testing....

Essentially, they never worked on the guns on the hangar deck and when they were on the hanger deck the wings were folded....

 

It was this way on all carriers during this period of time, arming guns, bombs and torpedoes was handled on the flight decks.... Way to dangerous to do it on the hanger deck.....

And as you can see in the first pics where they are arming the machine guns, when lined up to be armed, they are on the flight deck with wings folded waiting their turn, wings are unfolded for arming, and once armed, they are spotted for flight operations....

 

This was always the preflight prep procedure throughout WWII..... I believe through today as well....

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow, those are great pictures, thanks!  I see what you mean.  Hmm, I have a little time to think about it.  

 

Do you guys know, with the panels off so you can see the engine, access the lift raft, etc., would the wings be folded or not?  Now I'm wondering if I'm going to do a diorama with the engine panels off and the panels off the life raft, maybe folded is not the way to go.  I paid for the Wolfpack set, so I'll probably go with the wings folded.  Maybe instead of a diorama, I just build the Wildcat as a model showing off some of the interior details, sorta like how some people build the models with clear or open exterior parts.

[lmagna]

To some degree I agree with EG in that there may be few incidences where one wing would be folded and the other open other than in artistic license. I would not go so far as to say never though. One possibility that does come to mind though, that could be used in a diorama would be the transition. Just like the first picture in his deck shot where it shows one aircraft with only one set of gun bay doors open, there could be a transition time in extending the wings where one wing would be extended and the other not. The wings are moved by hand so there would more than likely be a number of crew about getting the aircraft ready.

 

There........... My job is done, I'll leave now.   

[Egilman]

4 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Do you guys know, with the panels off so you can see the engine, access the lift raft, etc., would the wings be folded or not?  Now I'm wondering if I'm going to do a diorama with the engine panels off and the panels off the life raft, maybe folded is not the way to go.

In standard practice, the panels would be off only on the Hanger Deck, which means that predominantly the wings would be folded, even for the life raft compartment... All maintenance was done on the hanger deck...

[Egilman]

Mike, I found this video on youtube, it consists of landing and respotting of an escort carrier flight deck around early '43... Wildcats and Avengers..... Probably in the Atlantic somewhere... It's a training film explaining basic Flight Deck procedures....

 

Note how the wings are folded with the wildcats and where the Ammo is installed, the ammo is installed from underneath the wing while they are folded as soon as they can install it... The belts are loaded into the guns with the wings horizontal from the top of the wing.... Note the wing holdback cords and stick/control surface lock cord.... You can actually see the tell-tale that pops up when the wings are unlocked and how fast it all happens... A really neat film...

 

 

One of the better videos showing standard practice...

 

EG

Edited November 2, 2020 by Egilman

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow very cool, many thanks for sharing!  
 

Hmm, might have to give this a little thought.  So appears the ammo is loaded from under the wing while it’s folded, and then gun bays open when wings are horizontal.  Seems there might be a bit of artistic license then in some of the dioramas out there.  I guess it doesn’t bother me too much if not technically accurate if your goal is to show off the innards. 

[Egilman]

8 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Wow very cool, many thanks for sharing!  
 

Hmm, might have to give this a little thought.  So appears the ammo is loaded from under the wing while it’s folded, and then gun bays open when wings are horizontal.  Seems there might be a bit of artistic license then in some of the dioramas out there.  I guess it doesn’t bother me too much if not technically accurate if your goal is to show off the innards. 

My pleasure brother, I've always believed that being able to see how it was really done helps with making display judgments given the level of details being added to model kits today.... so much detail that it's hard to show it all in real life situations... This is why the modeler takes a bit of artistic license when setting up a display....  My last Corsair had one wing folded and one down & locked, and I've done a TBF that way as well and as you can see that in real life, the TBF's wing fold was hydraulic and simultaneous....

 

My personal opinion on US navy folded wings? they look best when you have several aircraft packed together on the deck....  but that's just my opinion and I'll build them with one wing folded again..... 

 

EG

 

I'm only sure of one thing, whatever way you decide to finish & display her, she will be gorgeous....

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks EG, really appreciate it.  I'm still thinking about what to do on the wings.  It's a bit hard to tell how much crisp detail the Aires resin guns and gun bay will give.  The guns are made up of resin accented by PE so they might be ok, but at first glance they don't seem to be very crisp.  So they might actually detract a bit, not sure.  Also, if I do go one wing up one wing down, I'm wondering if I can connect the resin parts to make an unfolded wing, or if I'll have to go back and reattach the original kit wing and modify it to account for the two, rather than three, guns per wing configuration of the FM-1.  I still have a little time to think about things.

[Landlubber Mike]

I've been spending a lot of time on the model, but making excruciatingly slow progress.  More than a few times I just wanted to put it back on the shelf and work on something else, but figured I should press on and try to get over this stage of the build.  It's not that the Aires set is bad - I think it's quite good aside from the serious fit issues of the cockpit side panels and dash - it's just that there is a ton of work needed to modify the kit parts to accept the various detail parts.  I'm still fairly new to this plastic stuff, so maybe I should have started with something a little simpler or at least a well-designed kit that I didn't have a lot of aftermarket for -- I keep saying that on all these plastic builds 🥴  But, all complaining aside, I'm learning a lot and so far I'm pleased with how things are looking.

 

So here is where I am.  Managed to get the bottom tub completed.  As I mentioned earlier, the Aires cockpit fits together really well outside of the fuselage, but there are serious fit issues when you try to install it.  So, rather than drop the fully assembled cockpit into the bottom tub which is inserted as a unit into the main fuselage, I only included the cockpit tub into the bottom tub, and inserted the seat back, dash, and cockpit side panels into the main fuselage.  Took some surgery to make it all fit, but eventually got there (you can see some of the cuts, etc. in the picture below which won't be visible once glued into the main fuselage).  I also put together the section of the engine compartment between the air dam and firewall.  That wasn't too bad, but there was a lot of test fitting and sanding/cutting back to get the framing rods fit in place correctly.  Need to dirty it up a bit more, but I think it's looking good.

 

 

 

The next part which has taken me more hours than I care to admit was cutting out the front quarter panels and installing the cutaway frames.  I was really afraid of cutting too much away so it was endless dry fitting, cutting and sanding a bit, dry fitting, cutting and sanding a bit, etc.  Finally got the panels on last night though, hooray!

 

 

If you look just above the cutaway panel, there is a small square panel on the top left of the fuselage.  I think that's the access panel to the oil tank, which is the dirty yellow squarish thing in the prior picture.  I think I might cut that panel out for a little more visibility into the engine compartment.  Saw another modeler do that and thought it might be a nice way to show off more of the compartment including the oil tank.

 

For an idea of how things will look, here is the bottom tub dry fit into the main fuselage:

 

 

Now I'm working on the cowl.  Lot of surgery here to cut away most of it.  There is a fairly detailed PE framing piece that goes on each side, which are covered by what I believe looks pop up panels along the edge of the cowl.  Then there are three resin parts that look like air intakes that get attached to the inside of the cowl.  

 

 

I have a love/hate relationship with the PE in this set.  I believe it's made of some kind of stainless steel or perhaps aluminum.  It doesn't seem to like to glue via CA to plastic very well, but maybe I should have done some more prep in cleaning off any residue or etching it.  On the plus side, it's a lot stronger than brass and holds its shape very well.  My worst nightmare came to be two nights ago when I was trying to glue one of the front quarter panels and it fell onto the floor.  I stepped back out of my chair to a place I was absolutely sure the part wasn't, and ended up stepping squarely on the part. 😡  Not only that, but despite the part being fairly flat, somehow my foot managed to crumple it 🤬  Using pliers, I was able to straighten the part out, so in the end, the modeling gods must have taken pity on me  ☺️  

 

Thanks as always for looking in!

 

[Landlubber Mike]

I found a picture online of the Aires gun bay.  Doesn't look too bad, but doesn't excite me all that much either.  

 

[Edwardkenway]

The cockpit looks good in the fuselage 😁. As to the gun bay, it looks good but do you think it would be worth the work to fit it, it's your build, whatever you decide is going to be excellent, judging from your previous aircraft Mike. 

[Egilman]

12 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

There is a fairly detailed PE framing piece that goes on each side, which are covered by what I believe looks pop up panels along the edge of the cowl.

I'm guessing here but those pop-up panels on the trailing edge of the cowl would be the cowl flaps..... They are what controls the airflow around the engine cylinders..... they are only open fully when the engine is on and throttled up, otherwise they are usually almost closed...... Kit parts usually give a half to three quarters open position for them but on a carrier hangar deck, they would usually be closed.... (unless maintenance was happening)

[Egilman]

17 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I found a picture online of the Aires gun bay.  Doesn't look too bad, but doesn't excite me all that much either.

They always look good like that, but I've always found that they are more work than worth it.... but that is just my opinion, some guys swear by them and add them to everything....

 

And believe it or not, it's only aircraft jocks and us modelers that know that they have them, most people haven't a clue.... leaving them off will be no big loss if you so choose.....

[Old Collingwood]

Its looking really good  - the frame around the  acess panels look really impressive  - deffinatley worth all the effort.

 

OC.

[Egilman]

19 minutes ago, Edwardkenway said:

The cockpit looks good in the fuselage

I agree, looks great in fact...

[Landlubber Mike]

48 minutes ago, Egilman said:

I'm guessing here but those pop-up panels on the trailing edge of the cowl would be the cowl flaps..... They are what controls the airflow around the engine cylinders..... they are only open fully when the engine is on and throttled up, otherwise they are usually almost closed...... Kit parts usually give a half to three quarters open position for them but on a carrier hangar deck, they would usually be closed.... (unless maintenance was happening)

 

43 minutes ago, Egilman said:

They always look good like that, but I've always found that they are more work than worth it.... but that is just my opinion, some guys swear by them and add them to everything....

 

And believe it or not, it's only aircraft jocks and us modelers that know that they have them, most people haven't a clue.... leaving them off will be no big loss if you so choose.....

 

Thanks for the pointing out the cowl flaps.  The way Aires has the PE, it looks like these are supposed to be partially open as you surmised. 

 

Found another diorama where it looks like the builder used the Aires detail set I'm using for an F4F-4.  The modeler has the cowl flaps slightly open and the gun bays open.  Looks pretty cool (though, again, wings are down)!  I still might pass on the gun bays on this kit though.  I have a few other kits where I have the option to open the gun bays so might try it there.  

 

 

 

 

Also, I think the color scheme and decals for the FM-1 Wolfpack are for an Atlantic-based plane, and these FM-1s generally were used on escort carriers.  I'd love to make a diorama scene like the above, so will probably have to wait until I get to a different model where I can model terrain (and not have to figure out whether gun bays were open on folded wings or not).

Edited November 8, 2020 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks for the kind words guys and all the tips and suggestions, I really appreciate it.  I may have mentioned this before, but one thing I've really enjoyed with these models is learning all the history and technology that goes along with these planes.  It's been very fun learning and sharing with you all.  

[Canute]

Mike, who is the manufacturer of the cowl flap PE? If Eduard, it is stainless. Some aftermarket model RR PE is stainless and you have to carefully plan all the required bends before doing any of them. The stainless is unforgiving. The slight bends you're doing should be easy.  😉

[Landlubber Mike]

This PE is from the Aires set.  My guess is that it is stainless, reminds me of the Eduard stainless.

 

The slight bends are easy.  The issue is when the part doesn’t touch the part to be glued too.  The PE wants to spring back so I’ve found you need longer holding/clamping time or the CA just doesn’t grab. And of course sometimes you can’t use a clamp so you’re down to fingers, and any slight movement doesn’t let the CA set.  

[Roger Pellett]

Mike, 

 

Did these operate from the “Taffy” escort carriers during the Leyte Gulf Campaign?  If so, maybe a different color scheme?

 

Roger

Edited November 9, 2020 by Roger Pellett

[Egilman]

15 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I think the color scheme and decals for the FM-1 Wolfpack are for an Atlantic-based plane

Mike, the color scheme is prewar grey over grey..... (Although the yellow light may be affecting the color a bit) The squadron according to the label is VMF 223 that would be a marine squadron, the location would be Guadalcanal, Henderson field, late '42....... On that basis the six guns is wrong (they would be flying F4F-3's with two guns in each wing) and grey over grey is wrong, markings are correct though. The actual aircraft depicted is Marion Carl's who as a charter member of the cactus airforce, (a survivor from the marine buffalo squadron at Midway) was the leading ace from the 'canal... 12.5 of his 16.5 victories came in the F4F..... the colors were blue over grey.... (he got two planes at Midway flying a Buffalo, and receive a navy cross for it seeing as he was one of only 10 that came back) He retired as a Major General after commanding marine aviation in Vietnam....

 

8 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

Did these operate from the “Taffy” escort carriers during the Leyte Gulf Campaign?  If so, maybe a different color scheme?

Oh yes and they were still blue over grey at Leyte..... and it was probably correct being an F4F-4....

Edited November 9, 2020 by Egilman

[Landlubber Mike]

Roger, I know that F4F Wildcats were in both the Atlantic and the Pacific theaters.  What I'm not sure about is whether FM-1s were in the Pacific.  I've done some searching but haven't come across anything definitive.  A number of sources note that the FM-1s were included on escort carriers in the Atlantic, so that's pretty clear.  There weren't too many FM-1s made by GM/Eastern (1,150), and 311 were sent to Britain where they were designated as the Martlet V (and later as the Wildcat V).

 

In any event, the Wolfpack FM-1 wing fold conversion set has markings for an FM-1 aboard the USS Core (CVE 13) in 1943.  Colors are "Gull Gray" on top and "Insignia White" on bottom.

 

 

 

Here's a picture I found online of someone that used the Wolfpack set to build an FM-1.  Forgot I had found this.  Good example of the color scheme.  I have to say that the one wing up/one wing down is growing on me.  The builder here kept the original kit wing on the right, and used the Wolfpack on the left.  Decisions decisions.  I might see if I can find the base this guy used which was the Skunkmodels SW-48015 WWII USN Wooden Deck Display Base.  Looks pretty cool.

 

 

 

Speaking of color schemes, has anyone tried blackbasing (where you use black primer as the base and then work colors up from there)?  I was thinking of trying it out, but am thinking that the black might be too dark a base for the Insignia White areas.  I like what this guy did where the panel lines in the white areas are more a brownish gray.

Edited November 19, 2020 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

I made a little more progress on the cowl last night.  Managed to get one of the PE framing pieces installed.  Also included the top air intake.  The kit's intake was molded into the cowl, but the Aires resin part provides a little more depth as it runs along the full length of the top of the cowl.

 

 

Add this piece has been a royal pain.  Just gluing this on took over an hour. 🤬  It's been hard to glue and use clamps, and like I mentioned earlier, the CA seems to take considerably longer to set the PE against the plastic (in part I think because the PE likes to spring to it's original position).  I thinned the cowl sections, but the shape doesn't seem to perfectly line up with the shape of the cowl.  So, I think I'm going to have to cut a little off the bottom plastic so the PE frame is the same width is exposed across, which will mean re-riveting the plastic part (sorry that probably isn't very clear).  

 

Fingers crossed that the other side goes a little better.  After including the other side, there are two separate intakes that run along the cowl from front to back and ending into that small rectangular section, and then the cowl flaps.  

Edited November 9, 2020 by Landlubber Mike

[Canute]

Mike, I seen guys do pre-shading of panel lines with black paint, then putting color over it. Makes the panels stand out. Can't say if I've seen black primer, except for the natural metal finishes. I know Alclad stresses the black base under their lacquers.

[Landlubber Mike]

I've used the Mr. Hobby spray on primers and really like them.  They spray great from the can without any need for decanting.  Great coverage, and the primed surface is very hard and scratch resistant (unlike Vallejo).  The number on the can is the "filler" capacity of the primer (higher the number, the less filler it is).  Don't expect huge clumps coming out of the can, but it does fill slight scratches, etc. and levels perfectly.  Unlike Vallejo, you can sand this without pitting or other issues.  Only issue is the smell which is pretty terrible like most lacquers/acrylic-lacquers (I forget what exactly this is).  I like Vallejo for the ease and use it a lot for smaller detail parts, but for larger sections like car bodies and planes where you might need to use a little filler and want a very smooth finish, this is hard to beat.  I've put Tamiya and Vallejo on top of it without issues.

 

I've used gray on my other models, but they also have black (and white and possibly some other colors).  I've been using Vallejo Metal Colors for engines and on the aluminum bare metal finish of my F3Fs.  There I used Vallejo Gloss Black primer as recommended, and the effect was very nice.  I discovered, however, that the Vallejo primers can use a bit of thinning as they come out a bit thicker and tend to gum up the airbrush.

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Landlubber Mike

[Egilman]

Most of the FM-1's served in the Atlantic aboard Bogue class escort carriers, in the Pacific, it was primarily FM-2's aboard the Casablanca class escort carriers.... and when they sent an escort carrier to Britain under lend-lease, it came with Wildcats both FM-1's & 2's

 

The USS Core joined the Fleet at Tacoma WA where she was built in early '42, she did her working up off San Diego in early '42 then shifted to the Atlantic for escort duties eventually forming up in a hunter killer group. She survived the war eventually being stricken in the '50's she was credited with several u-boat kills during her war period.....

 

Atlantic aircraft camo aboard the hunter killer groups was indeed Gull Grey over White or Aircraft Grey.... When the US Navy switched to Grey over Grey camo fleetwide in early '41 it was found to be very effective in hiding the aircraft from surface recognition until the aircraft got within firing range..... So they retained the scheme for the hunter killer groups..... in the Pacific where surface targets were not the priority for fighter planes, they switched the the Blue over Grey scheme in late '41.... I don't believe the Wildcat ever wore the three color scheme of dark blue over lighter blue over grey you see on some corsairs and other carrier aircraft, but I could be wrong on that....

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Fingers crossed that the other side goes a little better.  After including the other side, there are two separate intakes that run along the cowl from front to back and ending into that small rectangular section, and then the cowl flaps.

I think your doing a bang up job, that steel PE does try the patience though, but it looks to me that you got it under control.... It's coming out beautifully.....

 

Really gonna look the business....

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks guys for all the kind words, really appreciate it.  

 

Well, after many more hours than I care to admit, I think I'm done assembling the cowl.  Lot of surgery and new parts!  The Aires PE and resin parts generally fit very well, but the instructions are sparse to put it mildly.  Good diagrams showing what goes where, but there is quite a bit of dry fitting and figuring things out on the fly.  The engine compartment forward of the firewall in particular took a lot of studying, research, dry fitting, etc. to figure out how things all fit together.

 

 

Here's the cowl - I'm pretty pleased with how it came out.  After cutting out half of the cowl and carving out the air intakes, I added the interior frames (PE), the three air ducts (resin), and eight cowl flaps (PE).  Aires also gives you exterior panels to cover up the open areas if you choose, or you could display them off the model in a maintenance scene.  

 

 

 

 

Unless I decide to open the gun bays, that should be it for the Aires set.  The rest of the build should come together fairly quickly given the relatively simple color scheme and the fit and design of the kit.  

 

Thanks for looking in!

[Landlubber Mike]

Just wanted to pass along some tools I've found very helpful on this build.  I picked these up from John Vojtech of UMM-USA (Unique Master Models) :  http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/index.php (no affiliation).  He's got a lot of other goodies for plastic modelers on his site, so just a warning  

 

Micro saw - very helpful to cut plastic and resin parts with a very thin kerf.  I used this to cut out the fuselage for adding the life raft.  He also sells mini miter boxes for this saw.

 

 

 

Scribers - these are really helpful for a variety of uses as shown below.  I used them to cut out the various panels from the cowl and fuselage.  I started with a #11 blade to deepen the panel line a bit, then ran the scriber to finish the cut.  Much quicker, easier, and safer than trying to use an X-acto blade in my opinion.

 

 

 

Micro chisels - very helpful to cut out and remove sections of parts for better fit, to replace with aftermarket, etc.  They come in different sizes and shapes.

 

[Old Collingwood]

That is looking mighty fine Mike  - and love the tools  - some of those scribers are worth thier weight in gold.

 

OC.