This model seems to have been on my workbench for ages.... What with holidays, having to wait for a set of custom made masks from Canada, the time it takes to paint markings using masks - a week - compared to an evening for decals and the need to obtain a new undercarriage, it really seems to have fought me all the way.
The kit is based on the 32 scale Trumpeter Wildcat F4-3 US Navy fighter. The Wildcat was the USN carrier-born fighter at the start of the war. A tough pugnacious little fighter it was outclassed by the Japanese Zero and eventually replaced by the Hellcat. Despite its shortcomings it was a popular aircraft with its pilots and an impressive kill ratio was achieved even against the superb Zero.
When the Royal Navy obtained Wildcats they renamed them Martletts and these were the first 'modern' fighters obtained by the RN. The aircraft depicted was one of a batch of Wildcats on a ship for delivery to the Greek airforce when Greece fell to the Nazis. The ship was diverted to Egypt and the Royal Navy equipped 805 Squadron RNAS with them.
The conversion was fairly easy involving only a change of seatbelts with aftermarket photo engraved metal ones of the right type. The research into the markings and paint scheme was not so straight forward. On the internet there is a picture of this aircraft in a all mid-stone over azure finish and a lot of modellers have depicted the aircraft in that way. In my research though I found a photo of the aircraft with a dual-tone camo scheme and it threw doubt on the underside colour. Given the drawing was certainly inaccurate by depicting an F4-4 I decided to totally disregard that. The 'field applied' scheme I used was a dual tone dark earth over mid-stone with the undersides left in the US neutral grey. The pattern was clearly not a standard A or B schemes either and from the photo every aircraft in the squadron had a different pattern. I tried to depict this pattern in the photo as accurately as possible. I could not source any aftermarket decals so I ordered paint masks to be made, this was the first time I have used these and I am pleased with the results.
The kit itself was not an easy one. It fought me all the way with poor fitting bulkheads and the undercarriage was a nightmare. A massive contrast to my last model that was also a Trumpeter kit.
Anyway - here are the photos.
