The Little World

This colour scheme on the Grumman F4F Wildcat is apparently real – it was seen in 1941 in the Atlantic aboard the USS RANGER conducting something called a Neutrality Patrol. It’s the standard US Navy Yellow Wing scheme adapted to the eastern seaboard.

Neutrality? Was the USA expecting attack from the British or Germans or Italians? Or Canadians? What was the Trudeau family doing at the time…?

Never mind – The scheme has worked well, Hobby Boss have a slightly different take on the colour of the wing than I do and my next Yellow Winger will explore their recommendation of Mr. Color 329 to see if it is any better. I suspect there would have been some variation due to weathering anyway. The fuselage is the new Mr Color Super Metallic Bright Silver and the tail is my own mixture for US Navy Willow Green. I’ve mixed a big bottle of it in case I find more eligible planes.

The ID bands came out well with a combo of Character White band and black decal strips cut off some old spare invasion stripes. These edges are a little prominent compared to the profile drawings, but net time round I’ll investigate the use of the bow pen to edge stripes.

There was the option in the kit to show an open canopy or a closed one. The actual cockpit tub is a little bare for show – so unless I can find pilots for these Hobby Boss models that have been suitably Badered, I will show them closed.

In any case, a thoroughly enjoyable build and a great tonic after a week spent trying to polish a Mister Craft plane into any semblance of beauty.