The Little World

Well, that’s what the colour call-out said. VF-4 Red Rippers embarked on the USS RANGER – pre 1941.

I have been adding steadily to the Yellow Wing Navy shelf for years. So far I’ve resisted the temptation to paint the scheme on planes that never carried it and I’m glad to see that there were far more types that were flown than I suspected – there should be modelling for years.

I was amazed at the success with the landing gear after the iffy nature of the internal components’ fit. You really cannot see inside there and the outside bits actually fitted. And the canopy is clear enough that you can actually see the seatbelts.

The scheme is colour-coded to the ship that carried the squadron, as well as to the squadron and section itself. The information is all out there in the black bands, tail and nose colour, plus the wing chevron. It is quite complex and would have provided an enemy with far more information than was wise – no wonder they ditched the idea with wartime and went to plain camouflage.

My ultimate aim is to have a different Yellow Wing aircraft on display flying off each of the 7 US Navy carriers before Pearl Harbour. I’ll have to research NAS shore base codes as well – I’ll bet the training squadrons had them.

This was a delightful Czech kit – the Super Aluminium paint has come out nearly as bright as the Stainless Steel used on the B-18 Bolo bomber – and that has a gloss coat as well. I really see no need for Alclad or strange black basing when a simple white undercoat and this GSI Creos lacquer will give this good a result.