1:48 F4F Wildcat Part.3: F4F-3 Wildcats in the Pacific Front

Wolfpack 1:48 - the third sheet for the Wildcat, version F4F-3

The third continuation of the decal line for the type Grumman F4F Wildcat, according to the name devoted to the version F4F-3 in 1:48 scale. The sheet brings markings for a model built from a kit of your own.

The subject: the early version of the Wildcat

The F4F-3 could be told from the later machines at first glance. It had a fixed, non-folding wing and in it four heavy machine guns instead of six. A radial engine with a two-stage supercharger gave it decent performance even at greater altitudes and the lower weight meant a livelier rate of climb. It was with this version that American naval aviation entered the fighting in the Pacific, and it was on it that the defensive tactic of a pair of aircraft arose, which the pilots used against more agile opponents. The machines turned up even where island field airfields took the place of a flight deck.

Working with the sheet

Early naval machines wore bold stripes and insignia across whole areas, so it pays to lay the arrangement out dry on the model first and only then reach for the water. Settle a large feature in one movement from the center to the edges and push the air out from under it with a soft brush. Where a decal runs across the fin, a light score with a blade helps, so that it can be bent without wrinkling.

Who the sheet is for

• builders who focus on the beginning of the war in the Pacific
• modelers who tell the individual versions of the Wildcat apart
• anyone adding to a collection of American naval types