Valiant Wings Publishing | Airframe and Miniature No. 22: The Grumman F4F Wildcat

Reviewed by Kevin Futter

UK publisher Valiant Wings Publishing has released Number 22 in its popular Airframe & Miniature series, entitled The Grumman F4F Wildcat (including GM F-1 & FM-2): A Complete Guide to Grumman's First Cat. The author is Richard Franks, and the illustrations are shared between Richard Caruana and Juraj Jankovic. The terrific cover art is by Jerry Boucher.

The first thing that struck me when I picked up this book was how heavy it is; at a hefty 208 pages plus a gatefold section of scale drawings, it is indeed a weighty tome. It's extremely well printed on quality glossy paper, and the reproduction of all drawings and photographs is first-class.

The contents are broken up into nine separate chapters, grouped into two distinct sections:

There is also a preface, along with a collection of appendices at the rear of the book:

  1. Wildcat Kits
  2. Wildcat Accessories
  3. Wildcat Decals & Masks
  4. Bibliography

The book closes out with a gatefold insert containing scale drawings in 1/48 scale by Richard Caruana.

The sample images below (courtesy Valiant Wings Publishing) should give a good indication of the nature and style of the book's contents:

While not mentioned in the table of contents, the Preface weighs in at a substantial 21 pages, and describes a potted history of the Wildcat in all its versions, which provides useful support for the subsequent technical information.

The sequence of chapters covering the evolution of the airframe spans 22 pages, and consist of brief summaries supported by crisply-rendered greyscale profile drawings. They are clear and easy to follow, and form a handy guide for discerning what features distinguished which variants.

The Camouflage & Markings section covers 30 pages, and includes a one-page stencil placement guide to 1/48 scale. Rather than a dedicated section for colour profiles, they are instead interspersed throughout the text as necessary. They are by Richard Caruana as usual, and are very nicely rendered indeed. There's a wonderful selection of schemes here, from the colourful pre-war period through to the later U.S. Navy blues and a healthy dose of British Martlets.

Chapter 5 features a brief description of the commonly available Wildcat model kits. Our options in 1/32 scale are limited to the ancient Revell kit, and the better and more modern Trumpeter offering. But even the latter is hardly state-of-the-art, being one of Trumpeter's earliest efforts in the scale. Is it too much to hope for a new tooling any time soon?

The modelling section features four kit builds, three by Steve Evans, comprising a 1/72 Airfix F4F-4, a 1/48 Eduard F4F-3, and a 1/32 Trumpeter Martlet, along with a builds of the 1/72 Arma Hobby F4F-4 kit by Libor Jekl. These models are extremely well done, and it's nice to see a large scale contribution.

Chapter 7 is called Building a Collection, and features a series of annotated isometric 3D line drawings by Juraj Jankovic. These are designed to illustrate the salient differences between the various prototype and production airframes as the series developed, and form a perfect companion to the earlier 'evolution' chapters. This is one of my favourite sections with the Airframe & Miniature series, as the information contained within really does make it easy to identify the distinguishing features of any particular variant at a glance.

Chapter 8, In Detail, features an extensive selections of archival and contemporary photographs and diagrams, including a series of walkaround detail photos of surviving airframes. The walkaround photos have been selected with a modeller's eye, which is not only welcome, but very handy.

The four appendices cover the usual list of available kits, aftermarket, decals, and mask sets, as well as a concise bibliography for further research.

The scale plans included at the very back of the book are to 1/48 scale, and presented in gatefold format. They're printed on heavy, non-glossy plain stock, covering the following airframes:

These are drawn by Richard Caruana and look very nicely done. Note that many of these variations are rendered only as scrap views that show pertinent differences between the models, rather than as separate full plans.

Conclusion

Not being a Wildcat expert, I can't give a considered evaluation of the accuracy or veracity of the text itself, and so will leave that to more knowledgeable readers. All other elements of the book ooze quality however, from the clear photography to the beautiful profiles and the detailed scale plans. Contemporary photographs are plentiful and very nicely reproduced. Overall it's an impressive attempt to be the Complete Guide the title alludes to. Recommended!

Thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for the review copy.

© Kevin Futter 2024

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This review was published on Sunday, February 11 2024; Last modified on Sunday, February 11 2024