Trumpeter's 1/32 F4F-4 Wildcat Part 8: "Finish"

By Rodney Williams

The first photo comes from my WWII scrapbook and shows some Wildcats flying. I built a 1/48 scale "Wildcat" back in 1982, and mixed up some paint to match these colors. A client of mine bought the model, and wanted to know why I painted it this color so I had to make a print of this photo for him. Really!!!!!!! I would have loved to paint this 1/32 scale "CAT" this color.

So...for all you color chip book modelers, get your books out and find out what the two colors are on this real Wildcat.

In May of 2005, I was one month away from my 74th birthday. I had a "cataract" removed from my right eye. It turned out great and I can see real good now, but I still need glasses for driving, reading, watching TV and to build models. Here in the state of Colorado, out in "No Man's Land", we have fairly clear skies. Our clouds are white-white if you know what I mean! When I close my old bad left eye and look at the clouds with only my new good right eye, the clouds are the "white-white" color.

HOWEVER!!! When I close the right eye and look at those white-white clouds with my left eye, those same clouds look rather dirty yellowish brown color.

My eye doctor said: At 30 years old, you do not see the same color as you did at 20 years old. Your eyes change and get worse as you age. So if you are "40-50-60" years old, just forget about trying to match your paint to a "Federal Standard Colors" (595a) chip book.

IT'S FINISHED

This model was to be built "OOB", so why am I airbrushing on the insignias...ANSWER...I have no idea! But these photos show you what I am doing and why!

I have used artist "Frisket Film" for more than two decades. It looks "goofy" to apply big decals to a model which will not sink down into the panel lines, let alone all those "tiny" rivet holes. I just cut a circle in the film, then position it on the right area and press in down on the painted model. I airbrush on the insignia blue, then remove the film a.s.a.p. Next, I use tracing paper and trace over the kit decal star. My next move is to tape the tracing paper on top of my film. Using a steel ruler and a new knife blade I carefully cut out the star. The tricky part is placing the star pattern on the pre painted insignia blue circle. The Tamiya XF-1 flat white paint covers up my special mix of "insignia blue" paint real fast and does not fill in the panel lines not the tiny rivets. (Huuummmm - - - - I wonder if my insignia blue paint mix, matches my 595a color chip chart? Who cares!!!!). I even airbrushed on the white stripe on the fin, including the black wing walks.

My next operation is to add the decals, so I have to clear coat the model with future, then decal it, then add more future. After the future has dried for a few days, I added some weathering with black and raw umbra oils. Then I shot on some Tamiya dull coat, which is pre mixed with 4 parts of denatured alcohol, with about 10% of future added.

BTW: You can make your own dull/flat coat: Use ordinary baby powder, and/or talcum powder. Add it to your future floor wax, "presto" you have your dull coat ready to use. Experiment by using about 25% powder to 50% future, and 25% of denatured alcohol. This mix per say will give you a semi-satin sheen on your model. By adding more powder, say 50-50 or 1-to-1, your mix becomes duller. ( Some where on this web site, our modeling friend "RATO" has a little story about dull coats).

I add the gun sight, and the gun sight ring post that's up on the dash. The windscreen was pre fitted to the fuselage, so I attached it to the fuselage with future. A hand made gun post was added.

I had painted all the tiny parts that goes on the inside of the right wing fold. These shaky hands of mine was able to fit in all the parts with out breaking them. The crank handle has a hole in the end so it will slip onto a shaft.

Since I am shipping the model to my client, we elected not to attach the right wing. However, just before I started to add the paint to the model, I carefully attached the wing to the hinges, and wiggled the wing a bit so I could line up the "U" brackets on the wing tip and stabilizer. The Jury Strut went on A-OK. I assume that when all the parts are super glued together, it will hold the wing in its proper location.

If I had to build this model again, I would not fold back one wing, let alone both wings. Most all the visible wing fold parts are made wrong, and there are too many missing parts. I even left some parts off the wing fold area, as my shaky hands can no longer hold raw stock, while I try to cut and sand a part...then my eyes can not see that good either.

Another important item is: I find no photos of any WWII Wildcats with only one wing folded. When you see both wings folded...both ailerons are in the "UP POSITION." Look at the two black and white photos that I have included in this story. Note that the Jury Strut is paint a white looking color. WHERE'S MY 595a COLOR CHIP BOOK? JUST GOT TO MATCH THAT COLOR - - - RIGHT!!!

This has not been a happy model to build.

Trumpeter's 1/32 F4F-4 Wildcat Part 8: "Finish"

By Rodney Williams

IT'S FINISHED

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