Stalin's Steamroller

Historical Background

In 1937, the Red Army assigned engineer Mikhail Koshkin to design a replacement for the BT-series tanks at the Kharkov Komintern Locomotive Plant (KhPZ, later Zavod No.183). The specification include 20mm of armour, a 45mm gun and powered by a diesel-fuelled V-12 engine while using the same Christie-type suspension while incorporating sloped armour plates. Following the Red Army experience in the border clashes with the Japanese Army at the Battles of Lake Khasan and Khalkin Gol, in which the Soviet T-26, BT-5 and BT-7 tanks were easily destroyed by Japanese anti-tank teams armed with Molotov Cocktails and also by the Type 95 Ha-Go's 37 mm gun, Mikhail Koshkin sought the permission from Stalin to develop a  second prototype, named A-32. It was armed with a 76.2 mm L-10 gun, protected by 32 mm of armour whilst using the same engine.

A heavier version of the A-32, with 45 mm of armour and armed with an L-11 76.2 mm gun was approved for production as the T-34. The T-34 however faced initial resistance from the military with regards to its higher cost. However concerns about the performance of the Red Army tanks in the Finnish-Soviet Winter War coupled with the performance of the German tanks in Western Europe ended such resistance. The first T-34s entered service in September 1940. T-34s were built at State-owned factories: Kharkov Locomotive Factory No. 183 (KhPZ) at Kharkov (later evacuated to Nizhniy Tagil and combined with Dzerzhinsky Ural Railroad Car Works), Stalingrad Tractor Factory (STZ) at Stalingrad and Krasnoye Sormovo No.112 Factory at Gorky plus factories at Leningrad which were later transferred to Chelyabinsk (Tankograd) and at Ural Heavy Machinery Plant (UZTM) at Sverdlovsk. The L-11 gun were however inferior and was later replaced with the more powerful F-34.

The sloped armour of T-34 was effective in deflecting AP rounds, especially the 37mm rounds used by the Germans early in the war. The F-34 gun, firing APCR shells can pierce 92 mm of armour at 500 meters (to put it in perspective, the German Panzers III and IV have frontal armour of 50 to 60 mm). The wide tracks and Christie suspension gave good mobility, especially in the muddy and snowy battlefields of the Eastern Front. The T-34 however had some design deficiencies. The sloped armour, while causing headaches to the Germans, have overall build quality problem especially at the plate joints and welding.The F-34 gun lost its effectiveness when the Germans introduced their Panther and Tiger tanks. The main deficiency however was concerned with the two-man turret, a trait it shared with many tanks of the same time frame. This arrangement forced the tank commander to act as gunner, aiming and firing the gun, while at the same time having to command his own tank and coordinating with other tanks. The workload get heavier if he was a platoon commander or higher. The forward-opening turret hatch and lack of turret cupola also hinder the commander's job who only had a single viewing slit and a traversable periscope to view the battlefield. The gun's reduced performance against heavy German tanks was rectified by upgunning the T-34 with a 85mm gun in the T-34/85 variant. The visibility problem was rectified in August 1942 by replacing the single-piece hatch with separate hatches for the commander and loader and later still, a cupola. The commander workload problem was only rectified with the T-34/85 when the T-34 was fitted with a three-man turret.

The T-34 were a complete shock to the invading Germans when the latter launched Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941. The Soviets had 967 T-34s at the start of the hostilities and in one instance a single tank managed to cut a 14-kilometer trail of destruction before it was stopped by a 105mm howitzer at close range. The PaK 36 37 mm anti-tank gun was completely useless against it, forcing the usage of 105 mm howitzers or 88 mm Flak 36/37 in the direct fire role to counter it. Despite that, the Soviets lost large numbers of them, at least half were caused by mechanical failures or reasons other than enemy actions. With the Germans receiving more 75mm Pak 40 anti-tank guns and more 88s were used in the anti-tank role, the T-34s were also upgraded incrementally, receiving thicker armour and better transmission. T-34s are the second most manufactured tank in the world (the first place goes to the T-54/55 family): 34,780 76mm gun-armed and 22,559 85mm gun-armed models were built during the war.

The Kit

Dragon Kit #6479 follows a line of new-mold T-34/76 series from Dragon starting with the T-34/76 Model 1940 in 2003. The new 34s from Dragon are among the best of their product. In true Dragon tradition the box was packed with parts - 19 sprues, a set of Magic Track links, a rather sizeable (for Dragon's 'Smart Kit' concept) PE sheet and a turned aluminium barrel. Included are Factory 112 specific parts such as the turret. The are three versions of the gun, turned aluminium, plastic single piece and a two-part one. The breech and partial interior of the turret were also included.

Markings were provided for five tanks (technically four as one of the options is totally devoid of any markings!) :
- Unidentified Unit, Eastern Front 1943
- Unidentified Unit, Eastern Front 1943 (white 41/05)
- Unidentified Unit, Eastern Front 1943 (white 64)
- Polish 1st Tank Regiment, Oka River, Russia July 1943 (white Polish Eagle)
- 8th Estonian Infantry Corps, Eastern Front 1943 ('For Soviet Estonia!' in Russian and Estonian) 

Construction

As usual, construction starts with the lower hull. I follow the construction steps to the letter (almost). As per online reference material, I shaved off the row of bolts moulded on the forward lower hull as they were not present in this variant. The suspension were first glued in place. Then the running gears (idler and drive wheels) were added, but not yet glued to the chassis. This was followed by the road wheels but I left off the outside wheels at this time, to facilitate assembling the tracks. Since the T-34 used the Christie suspension with large road wheels and with no return rollers, assembly was quick, unlike assembling the 32 road wheels of a Panzer IV...maybe I should thank Mikhail Koshkin for choosing the Christie suspension! Also to facilitate painting, the completed lower hull was painted at this time. The next construction step deals with the upper hull. The plastic rear fender was cut off and were replaced with the PE substitute. For the engine deck, one can actually choose a solid plastic mesh or a better detailed one with PE components. In this case, the locating pin underneath the engine hatch had to be removed, as it interfered with the engine louvre locating tabs.

The rows of bolts on the engine deck also needed to be removed to ensure good fit. I however neglected to paint the engine louvres, thinking that the grille mesh can hide them...how wrong I were! And speaking of the grill mesh, it was located on the curve of the rear deck. To help the metal part conform to the slope, I annealeate the relevant PE parts before gluing them. Easy! As for the intake grills, two styles were provided but internet sources suggest using Parts G20/21 as it was more appropriate. Afterwards came the almost surgical-like precision when building this model - attaching the scores of PE track grouser tie downs and grab handles. To make it harder for modelers, there is no positive locators for them and I had to resort to visual estimation based on the drawings. Going to the front, the hull machine gun was assembled, less the machine gun barrel. The driver's hatch was assembled in fully closed position and I left the vision blocks off as it can only be fitted in the open position. The headlight has an alternative PE post, which I used. This however mean that I have to putty over the hole for the plastic one.

On to the turret. Before assembling it, I decided to paint the interior parts first. There is no colour call-out for the turret interior so I had to guess, based on photos on the internet. I decided to use Tamiya XF-71 Japanese Interior Green. The gun shield and housing feature nice details while there were three options for the gun barrel - turned aluminium, single-piece plastic and two-part plastic. I chose the former because of its better shape plus there is no need to clean out the seams. There is also option (sort of) for the turret roof as Dragon included the turret roof from the earlier T-34/76 Model 1941 Cast Turret. The instructions however show that the proper part would be the new Part U14. The single Part R sprue held the turret hatch and one can retain the moulded-on details or remove them and add the PE parts. I decided to have the hatch open, so I added the PE parts. While test-fitting the hatch, I found that the bracket holding the hatch in the open position interfered with the fit so some trimming had to be done.

Going back to the lower hull, it's time to assemble the tracks. Dragon provided their tried and trusted Magic Track links. The track links were not 'handed' like the Magic Track track links for the German AFVs, just plain and toothed links, to be linked alternately. I did not count how many were needed to make one track run but suffice to say that there were enough of them (plus some spare). They were cemented using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement and once near-dry, they were wrapped around the wheels. Once properly cured they were removed and set aside. Before painting, I decided to add the tankoviy desant handrails - 4 on the turret and 10 on the upper hull. The instructions however swapped the positions for the turret handrails, causing awkward-looking rails, which was fortunately realized early. I pulled them off and reposition them at their actual locations.

Painting and decaling

Basic painting of Soviet tanks of World War 2 is relatively easy - green overall. There were various formulas and mixtures for the Russian green (also known as 4BO Green) but I clung to a mixture I found years ago on the Internet - six parts XF-61 Dark Green (I used XF-13 for this build however), 3 parts XF-2 Flat White and one part XF-3 Flat Yellow plus 20% white for scale effect. But before painting, the model was subjected to a coat of Tamiya Surface Primer. Once the primer had dried, I checked for any (major only) imperfections. Finding none (or minor enough to be unnoticed) I proceeded with the green. Once the paint has cured, I added chips and scratches to the paint using XF-62 Olive Drab and HB pencil. The exhaust pipe was painted XF-64 Red Brown and was later enhanced using Tamiya Weathering Master Rust.

I decided to use the decals for the 8th Estonian Infantry Corps with its 'For Soviet Estonia!' slogan. There were actually extra decals on the sheet - a pair of Guards badge and a slogan (something about Kazakhstan) but there were no colour scheme which uses them, I guess they were a carryover from an earlier release. The decals were printed by Cartograf and were agreeably thin and opaque. They went on without a problem and there is no need to use decal solutions on them. I then painted the tracks using XF-64 and dry-brushed the guide teeth silver.  The track face received some 'polished metal' effect, using HB pencil.

Finishing

The  tracks can now be permanently fixed to the hull. The outer road wheel and the drive and idler wheel neatly trapped the track in place ( I glued the tracks to the upper surface of the road wheels anyway).To place the track grousers on the sponson, the PE straps were threaded through the tie-down brackets first. The track grousers were then put into place and the loose ends of the straps were mated - it should work like putting on a belt although I only managed to do that for a couple of straps only. The rest were simply superimposed or left untied. The tow cable, consisting of plastic eyes and braided steel wire was assembled, painted and placed on the right sponson. I also added a wooden box, taken from my earlier (waay earlier) Tamiya T-34/76 Model 1943. For further weathering, I decided to apply MiG Productions Rubble Dust. Mixed with tap water, the pigment was applied liberally to the lower hull, tracks and wheels. Once dry, excess pigment were removed using an old, stiff brush. I then add a bit more of the pigments, this time 'dry' randomly on the wheels and on the lower hull. It was then fixed in place (more or less) using Tamiya Enamel Thinner. Finally, using Tamiya X-19 Smoke, I added some oily residue on the exhausts and the area directly underneath them.

To illustrate the size of the vehicle, I added a crew figure from Miniart's Soviet Tank Crew At Rest set.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Dragon is one of the leading (if not actually the leader of) manufacturers of fine armour kits. They constantly come out with amazing kits of various combat vehicles of World War 2 and the T-34/76 'Krasnoye Sormovo' Late kit was merely one of them. The kit builds up fairly easy and the 'Smart Kit' concept helped in reducing the number of PE parts as compared to the 'Premium Edition' kits. Whilst it may not be every one's cup of tea, the Magic track links also helped considerably in easing the build. This kit is highly recommended. 

Dinah The B-29 Hunter

Historical Background

In December 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army air Force issued a specification to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft to replace the same company's Ki-15 'Babs'. The request specifically stated an endurance of six hours and sufficient speed (600km/h) to evade interception by any fighters then in existence or under development, but the rest of the specification were open-ended. The result was a twin-engined low-wing aircraft. It had a slim fuselage accomodating a crew of two (pilot and observer) in cockpits separated by a large fuel tank. Further fuel tanks inboard and outboard of the engines gave a total fuel tankage of 1,490 l. The engines were housed in a close-fitting cowlings developed by the Aeronautical Research Institute of the Tokyo Imperial University. The first prototype of the aircraft, designated Ki-46, first flew in November 1939. While successful in many respects, tests showed that it was underpowered and it could only reach 540km/h. Still, it was faster than the latest Japanese fighters at the time, the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa and Mitsubishi's own A6M2 Reisen. The Ki-46 was accepted into limited production as Army Type 100 Command Reconaissance Plane Model 1 or Ki-46-I. The Ki-46 gained the Allied reporting name of 'Dinah'.

To solve the problems, Mitsubishi replaced the original Mitsubishi Ha-26 engines with Ha-102 Zuisei, delivering 1,080 hp at take-off. At the same time the weight was reduced whilst fuel capacity was increased. This new variant, the Ki-46-II was first flown in March 1941 and was ordered into full-scale production with deliveries beginning July 1941. While the Ki-46-I and -II were immune from interception by Allied fighters early in the Pacific War, the IJAAF realised that higher performance fighters such as the Supermarine Spitfire and Lockheed P-38 could change the situation. In July 1942, Mitsubishi was instructed to build an even better performing version, the Ki-46-III. The -III was powered by Mitsubishi Ha-112 Kinsei engines of 1,800hp and featured a redesigned nose and canopy, which was smoothly faired from the extreme nose, eliminating the 'step' in earlier versions. The new variant first flew in December 1942.

Also in 1942, following the Doolittle Raid, the Japanese realised the problem of dealing with future American high-altitude bombers hitting the Home Islands. Advanced interceptors for army and navy aviation would not appear before 1944, so interim interceptors would have to be developed from existing aircraft. There weren't many aircraft in the IJAAF inventory that can fit the bill. The IJAAF's version of the heavy fighter was the twin-engined Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu. The Toryu was capable of carrying powerful weapons, but had insufficient ceiling, and its performance characteristics are not terribly better than its intended victim On the other hand was the Ki-46. At the turn of 1942-43 it was the fastest plane in the Japanese inventory with good altitude performance. The Army decided to turn the recon planes into fighters. The Ki-46-II was selected and the Tachikawa Techical Research Institute installed a Type 98 37mm gun in the nose with the breech under the pilot's legs. The gun was manually loaded and in a relatively cramped cockpit was a big problem, dividing the pilot's attention. The gun has a rate of fire of one shot every three minutes. The 644-gram shell was theoretically able to down a B-17-sized target with a single shot. 

The first conversion was completed in January 1943 and the tests were satisfactory. Seventeen aircraft (including the prototype) were converted, enough to form a Chutai (squadron). On February 1, 1943 the new interceptors were loaded on board the escort carrier Taiyo and were sent to Truk where they worked out tactics of the new interceptor. As reported by pilots, the heavy gun and reinforced nose portion shifted the CG of the aircraft making it extremely unstable. As a result, only six of the 17 modified aircraft were transferred, in late February, to the 10th Sentai staffed by the recon crews of the standard Ki-46. Despite the apparent failure of the Ki-46 as a fighter, the Army Command still felt the need for such fighters. In February 1943, when the air battles over Rabaul entered a critical stage, the reconnaissance Dinah were used as a stop-gap air defence aircraft. Since they were unarmed, save for a single self-defence machine gun, the Dinah used 'Ta-Dan' aerial bombs. The Ta-Dan contained thirty 300g cluster bombs and were released over the enemy bomber formation. The pilots claimed six B-24 Liberators and two B-25 Mitchells. 

The next attempt to create an interceptor based on the 'Dinah' were begun in May 1944 , when a dedicated interceptor based on the Ki-46-III was developed. The nose was reworked again and two 20-mm cannons were installed with 200 rounds of ammunition per gun. Due to the lack of space in the nose of the aircraft, the left gun was placed slightly forward. All recon equipment were removed and individual exhaust pipes were replaced by a common collector, to give less glow at night. Also, there was an additional fuel pump, to allow a sharp climb without 'choking' the engine. The fighter version received official designation Ki-46-III KAI Otsu or Army Type 100 Model III Modified Air Defence Fighter. The 1st Army Arsenal in Tachikawa modified 55 regular 'Dinah', with another 20 directly converted on the assembly line. In July 1944, the IJAAF introduced the Ki-46-III KAI Otsu-Hei. The fuselage fuel tank was replaced with a 37mm, angled 70 degrees forward and upward a la the Luftwaffe's Schräge Musik installation. Up to sixty 37mm rounds can be carried. Only 15 Otsu-Heis were built.  

In parallel with the field-modified Ki-46 interceptors, the 17th Dokuritsu Hikotai (independent squadron) equipped with Ki-46-II and -III, stationed in Chofu, modified a number of their aircraft in the field. In November 1944, six Ki-46-IIs and one Ki-46-III were fitted with a 37 mm gun in a similar manner as the official Ki-46 KAI Otsu-Hei. All the fighter (and also the reconnaissance) Dinahs can carry the Ta Dan aerial bombs. The Otsu-Hei were only used by by the 16th and 17th Dokoritsu Hikotais. Despite originally having superb performance as a reconnaissance aircraft, the Dinah were weighed down by the 20mm and 37mm  (in the Otsu-Hei variant) cannons and their ammo. This in turn affected its climb rate, making it hard to catch the B-29s. The Dinah also lacked armour and self-sealing fuel tanks, making it an easy meat for the bombers' defensive fire (and later, escort fighters). The structural lightness of the designed also caused problems when the 37mm gun is fired. When the B-29s shifted to low-level, night operations, the Dinah became virtually useless as it had no radar. The pilots were also picked from among the recon crews, who were not trained in fighter tactics and lacked combat experience. They tend to rely more on Ta-Dan bombs rather than the cannons when attacking the Superfortress formations. On the other hand, the reconnaissance Dinah were used to report the incoming raids as they had the altitude and speed necessary to track the B-29s.

The Kit

Tamiya styled its kit of the Ki-46-III KAI as 'Hyakushiki Shitei III Kai Air Defence Fighter'. The kit was first released in 1997 and was the second 1/48 kit of the Ki-46 in their catalogue. The kit parts were spread among five light grey and one clear sprues and one decal sheet, printed by ScaleMaster. Most of the parts share the same parts with the recon Dinah kit, with the extreme nose separately moulded. The new 37mm cannon parts looked rather simplified though. While parts for the recon version were omitted, perhaps some more common items such as radio and oxygen bottles can be retained, plus additional items such as ammo racks. Also included were two Ta-Dan aerial bombs. Decals were provided for three aircraft - two of them were Otsu-Hei variant and the other is an Otsu. The Otsu-Heis were from the 16th and 17th Dokoritsu Hikotai while the Otsu was from the 28th Hiko Sentai.

Construction

Construction starts with the wings...just kidding. The cockpit parts were painted Japanese interior green using the mixture recommended by Tamiya with the details painted XF-57 Buff and X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. As for the rear cockpit, I decided to build the Otsu-Hei. As mentioned before, the gun parts were simplified, consisting of just two parts. and, as stated before, the rear cockpit looked empty. It would look even more empty (some modelers said it actually looked unfinished) if one builds the Otsu version with just the mount for the 37mm gun sticking out of the floor. The fuselage halves were also painted the interior green and once dry, the cockpits were trapped between them and Tamiya Extra Thin Cement were used to seal the fuselage. But wait, did I say I wanted to build the Otsu-Hei version with the slanted 37mm gun? Yep, I forgot to drill the hole for the gun barrel mount!

The next step is concerned with the wings. First, I assembled the landing gears. The kit's engineering splits the wheel well, resulting in a seam down the middle. The seam was hard to remove as the landing gear, which is to be sandwiched between the well halves, were in the way. The completed wheel wells were then inserted into their places in the lower wing. The wheels were however left off at this time. I also decided to fit the Ta-Dan bombs, so the holes for the pylons were drilled. The upper wing halves were then cemented together. After the cement has cured and while preparing for the next step, I realised that I forget to open up the recess for the spotlight! Something else have to be done to make up for this error (more on this later). The wing assembly and the tailplanes were then attached to the fuselage. Like the main wheels, the tail wheel was left off until after painting. The engines were then assembled and attched to the model while all clear parts were also left off save for parts C4 and C7, which was shown to be painted over in the instructions.

Painting and Decaling

I actually built this model several years ago. At the time, I decided to finish the model in the colours of the 17th Dokoritsu Hikotai, just to be different from the other Japanese aircraft in my collection. However after several years, the ID panel and the air defence 'bandage' decals started to crack. I decided to repaint the model, using the leftover decals. The paint were stripped off using window cleaner and isopropyl alcohol. The interior colour was repainted XF71 Japanese Interior Green whilst the lower colour was painted using the same mixture as suggested. It was the upper colour however that I faced some problems, chiefly, I had run out of XF13 JA Green (should have checked beforehand). To get the JA Green shade, I experimented using Tamiya XF11 JN Green into which was added a few drops of XF3 Flat Yellow. The shade somewhat looked like JA Green and having satisfied with the colour, I added XF-69 NATO Black (instead of XF-1 Flat Black as suggested) and some XF-2 Flat White for scale......or so I thought. The resulting colour, while darker than scale-effect JA Green, wasn't dark enough. By this time, I'm no longer interested in repainting the model and left it as it is. Besides, some online reviews mention that the 16th Dokoritsu Hikotai's aircraft were painted the 'normal' JA Green. The ID panel on the wing leading edge were painted using a mixture of XF-3 Flat Yellow and XF-7 Red.

The model was then re-decalled and I have to say that, at least for this kit, the Scalemaster decals behaved almost like cardboard rather than decal. They don't conform to bumps and bulges (the wing Hinomarus, in both builds, were torn when I tried to force them over the aileron mechanism) and they didn't react well even to Mr Mark Softer. The wing Hinomarus were then touched up with XF2 Flat White and X-7 Red. I however couldn't find the numeral '24' and couldn't any suitable substitute (the decals from my Hasegawa A6M5c can be used but I only discovered them in another box, used for spare parts after the model has been completed). Browsing the internet, I found that the only photos and profiles for the Otsu-Hei variant were those for the brown 16th Dokuritsu Hikotai and aircraft numbered '17' and '24' of the 17th. So applying artistic license, I cut off number 16 (it was about the same font type and size) from my Hasegawa N1K2 Shiden decal sheet and applied it to the model.

Finishing

The rest of the parts can now be cemented. These include the propellers, nose cannons, main wheel tyres, pitot tube, the tail wheel and the Ta-Dan bombs. The oblique cannon were glued into place using superglue, after the placement tab was shaved off. The cockpit transparencies fit nicely for the pilot's but the rear cockpit has some fit problem, especially for the sliding part. The model was then subjected to the usual sludge wash and the final spray of flat clear.

Conclusion

Well, it's a Tamiya. Just place a tube or a bottle of cement and a sprue inside the kit box, give it a good shake and out comes a fully assembled model. Apart from some goofs, such as incomplete rear fuselage, the fit of the canopy and the crap decal sheet, the kit came together easily. Highly recommended for aircraft modelers especially those who have great interest in Japanese aircraft of World War 2.

The Original Blue Blanket

Historical Background

Leroy Grumman's fourth fighter design for the US Navy can trace its genesis to the biplane Grumman FF, F2F and F3F. Despite being biplanes, all of the designs feature retractable undercarriage. In 1935, Grumman started work on its next biplane design, known in-house as the G-16. At the time however, the US Navy preferred a monoplane design, ordering Brewster's F2A Buffalo. Despite that, an order was also made for the G-16 (Navy designation XF4F-1) in case of unsatisfactory performance by the F2A. By this time, it was clear that the biplane XF4F-1 would be inferior to the monoplane F2A so Grumman abandoned the XF4F-1 and designed a monoplane XF4F-2 while retaining the hand-cranked, fuselage mounted landing gear. Despite the redesign, the XF4F-2 was still inferior to the Brewster. The F2A was more maneuverable even though the XF4F-2 was marginally faster; the F2A was selected by the US Navy.

The Grumman team did not give up however. After losing out to Brewster, they rebuild the prototype as the XF4F-3 with new wings and tail and was powered by a supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engine. This led to the production version, the F4F-3, the first of which was completed in February 1940. France took interest in the new aircraft and ordered 81, designated G-36 by Grumman, powered by Wright R-1820 Cyclone for the Marine Nationale. However the fall of France in June 1940 caused this order to be diverted to the Royal Navy, who called their aircraft 'Martlet'. The US Navy adopted the F4F-3 in October 1941 and called them Wildcat (starting the famous Grumman 'Cats' family). The F4F-3 was armed with four Browning M2 12.7mm machine guns in the wing. While the guns were very reliable, the poor design installation frequently caused the guns to jam in action. 

The Wildcat saw combat before the United States entered the war and the first kill was made on Christmas Day 1940 when a land-based Martlet shot down a Ju 88 over Scapa Flow. They also helped prove the concept of the escort carrier when six of them were aboard HMS Audacity, the first escort carrier. The Martlets shot down a number of long-range Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor maritime patrol aircraft, then considered a greater menace than the U-Boats. In the Pacific the Wildcat can hold its own against the formidable Mitsubishi A6M Zeke, thanks to its armour and self-sealing tanks. The Japanese ace, Saburo Sakai commented that, once, he switched off his cannons during a dogfight with a Wildcat, intending to finish it off with just his machine guns. He estimated that he poured some 500 rounds into the Wildcat but the plane just flew on, disengaging. He decided to get closer to his target and to his amazement, he found that the tail and rudder were torn to shreds causing the pilot to break off. He further added that a Zero would be a ball of fire by then. Such strength, coupled with tactics such as the Thach Weave, allowed the Wildcat to face the Zero more or less on equal terms. The Wildcat played a prominent role in the defence of Wake Island when the four surviving Marine Corps Wildcats (out of 12 on 8 December 1941) of VMF-211 managed to shot down eight enemy planes and also sank the destroyer Kisaragi. The Wildcat was the main air defence fighter for the Navy during the battles of Coral Sea and Midway and played a large part during the Guadalcanal campaign.

Other variants of the Wildcat include the F4F-4, with six machine guns and folding wing; the one-off XF4F-3S Wildcatfish floatplane, and General Motors-built FM-1 (similar to F4F-4 but with four guns) and the FM-2 with the more powerful Wright R-1820-56 and taller tail to counteract the torque). Grumman's Wildcat production continued until 1943 when it was replaced by the F6F Hellcat but GM continued to build FM-1s and -2s for service on board escort carriers.

The Kit

The Hobby Boss kit of the late version of the F4F-3 came out in early 2008. Although not explicitly stated anywhere, I believe that this kit is the 1/48 version of Trumpeter's 1/32 F4F-3 (after all Hobby Boss and Trumpeter were subsidiaries, or something like that, of the same parent company). The kit came in four light grey and one clear sprues, with the delicate landing gear parts padded to prevent damage whilst still in the box. The kit feature fine engraving and recessed rivet detail. Whilst the latter look nice, it was actually wrong as the Wildcat had raised rivets - the Tamiya kit was right in this instance. The cowl was a one-piece affair with opened flaps and the engine was nicely detailed. Hobby Boss included underwing stores for the kit, namely a pair of fuel tanks. The tanks were not needed actually as the -3 was never fitted for them. Hobby Boss however had already pre-drilled the holes for them on the wings, which would have to be filled.

Decals were provided for two aircraft - one for Lt. 'Edward H.' ('Butch' O'Hare's first and middle name), VF-3 USS Lexington and the other for Major R.E. Galer, 1942. One interesting note here is that the victory markings for Major Galer's plane has been blacked out on the instruction sheet. I think that was caused by modern research which showed that many pilots used 'hangar queen' aircraft, rather than their own, for publicity /propaganda photos. The substitute plane was marked with such markings whilst the real ones were often bare of such marks. In my boxing at least, not only the victory flags in the instruction sheet, but even the ones on the actual decal sheet was blacked out using marker pen! I wish Hobby Boss had left them alone as they could be useful some other day. 

Construction

The cockpit, as usual, was assembled first. The parts were painted whilst still on their parts tree and were touched up later. Hobby Boss suggested US Interior Green, no surprise there. However, while I was browsing the internet looking for the inspiration to build this kit, I found out that Grumman used Bronze Green to paint its aircraft interiors. To replicate the colour, I used Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green. The black-painted areas of the cockpit were painted Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black with details picked in silver (the rudder pedals) and red, yellow and white (various knobs and switches). The dashboard panel was a bit of a disappointment though. The dial faces were just empty, shallow recesses in the plastic with no raised detail whatsoever, and there is no decals to represent them. I simply paint them Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. Then came the first of the rather delicate parts of the build - the landing gear bay which consisted of the engine mount, intercoolers and the upper landing gear assembly. Again, internet resources tell you that these parts were not painted silver, but 'Grumman Grey'. I used Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey as suggested.

The completed cockpit and bay assemblies were then dry-fitted, not to the lower front fuselage as in the instructions, but the right fuselage half. While the landing gear bay fit nicely, I had to trim a bit of the rear cockpit bulkhead. Once happy with the fit, I glued them into place. The tailwheel and the arrester hook were also glued into their places at the right side of the fuselage. The fuselage halves were then mated together, with no fuss. Some online builds mention fit problems here but I guess, having made the necessary trimming beforehand, the fuselage halves went together easily. The bottom part of the forward fuselage were then glued onto the fuselage assembly after the relevant parts were painted Sky Grey and US Interior Green. Fit is good although there was a gap on the after part, which was puttied over. The engine was then painted and attached to the fuselage and was followed by the one-piece cowl.

The flying surfaces were next. I started off at the rear fuselage, attaching the horizontal tailplanes and the separate rudder. I started the wing assembly by first puttying over the holes for the drop tank.  The machine guns were glued to their posts. While trying to place the upper wings, I found that the arrangement made it hard for me to slip the gun muzzle openings for the outer guns. I ended up rising the guns a bit (the cement hadn't set fully yet), slip on the upper wings and push the guns back into place before cementing the upper and lower wing halves. The wings were then glued to the fuselage. Unlike the Tamiya kit of the F4F-4, which has the lower wings moulded together with the lower fuselage, HB have theirs separate (some modelers observed that this might be their effort to avoid copyright infringement - so similar was their F4F-3 kit engineering with Tamiya's F4F-4). This might cause wrong wing dihedral angle. The wings were test-fitted and photos were consulted to determine the proper angle (more-or-less) and only after that they were glued permanently. The fragile looking landing gear were assembled, with some nervousness on my part when cutting them off the sprue. It wasn't fully assembled however as I left off the wheels and the lower gear doors (Parts F24 and F25). The semi-completed gear was then dry-fitted to the fuselage. Part F18 was the key to good fit and I have to enlarge the slots in the fuselage to enable that part to fit snugly. Once satisfied, the landing gear assembly was put aside and the model was off to the 'paint shop'.

Painting and Decaling

Both marking options of the kit feature the same colour scheme; Blue Grey for the upper fuselage, wing and horizontal stabilizers and Light Grey for the bottom areas. The Light Grey is virtually similar, if not actually of the same tone as FS 36440 Light Gull Grey. So I decided to use my  stock of Tamiya Spray Paint for Aircraft. In my infinite wisdom, I got my USN Greys mixed up. While I did have a can of AS-16 (which had run out long ago), which can be used for Light Grey, I used AS-26 Light GHOST Grey! Good thing I realised the wrong colour after just one layer. I eventually used Tamiya's recipe of two parts XF-19 Sky Grey and one part XF-2 Flat White. The Blue Grey was mixed, also from the Tamiya recipe, from three parts XF-18 Medium Blue and one part XF-2 Flat White.

For markings, I chose LCDR Edward H. 'Butch' O'Hare's 'White F-15'. The particular aircraft was used by the-then Lt. O'Hare during USS Lexington's attempt to attack Japanese naval base at Rabaul in February 1942. On the 20th, just one day before the scheduled attack, Lexington and its Task Force (Task Force 11) was spotted by the Japanese off Bougainville. At 10.15 am, whilst still 390 nautical miles away from Rabaul, Lexington's radar picked up an unknown aircraft 35 miles from her. A flight led by LT John Thach (of the 'Thach Weave' fame) intercepted the bogey which turned out to be a Kawanishi H6K 'Mavis' flying boat. A second flight led by LT Don Lovelace shot another 'Mavis'. A third bandit was detected but it reversed course and flew away. The Task Force has now been discovered and Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inouye ordered a strike against the enemy. 17 Mitsubishi G4M1 'Betty' bombers of the 4th Kokutai were launched, heading towards TF 11in two groups of 9 and 8 respectively. The 8-plane group was detected by TF 11 at 1625. LCDR Lovelace's division, despite their low fuel status, attacked this formation. Also intercepting the Bettys was a division under LT Noel Gaylor. Two of the Wildcats were shot down by the Bettys' defensive fire and Thach was launched again, together with O'Hare and four others. While the rest of the CAP went after the still incoming Bettys, O'Hare and his wingman, LT (jg) Marion Dufilho were ordered to stay behind and orbit over the Lexington. by this time, 16  out 18 of Lexington's Wildcats has been launched.

At 1649, Lexington's radar picked the second formation, just 12 miles out on the disengaged side. O'Hare and Dufilho, the last unengaged CAP were ordered to intercept. Pushing the rather sluggish Wildcat, they arrived 1,500 feet above the incoming bombers at a distance of just 9 miles.While both of them lined up their targets, Dufilho peeled away with jammed guns (not an uncommon problem for early Wildcats as a result of the faulty gun feed) leaving just O'Hare to handle the Bettys. He made four diving passes and believed that he had shot down five of the Bettys. In actually managed to down three with two others damaged. The rest of the bombers managed to drop their bombs but all missed their targets. Despite the defensive fire, and also overzealous gunners on board the Lexington, White F-15 was only hit by a single bullet, which damaged the airspeed indicator. It was believed that O'Hare's action saved the Lexington from heavy damage or even from being sunk.

As a result of his action, he was awarded the Medal Of Honor. O'Hare did not fly on combat missions until early 1943, during he which he was involved in a hero's welcome stateside and also as instructor - a practice that reap benefits later on as veteran pilots share combat experience with the rookies. O'Hare went missing in action on 26 November 1943 after a night combat with Betty bombers attempting to attack USS Enterprise. He was either a victim of the Bettys' defensive fire or friendly fire from the Avenger radar plane. As for White F-15 (BuAer 4031), after Lexington returned to Pearl Harbor following the aborted attack on rabaul, VF-3 transferred its aircraft to USS Yorktown, including F-15. It was later crashed by its pilot after an unsuccessful take-off. The pilot was saved but the aircraft sank.

The kit decals depicted White F-15 during the 20 February mission. All the decals have good color density and register. They however are quite resistant to Mr Mark Softer. As a side note, if one wants to build Maj. Robert E. Galer's plane, you have to forgo the victory flags as they have been blacked out on the decal sheet. Also the BuAer No. on the fin was not correct as it was for White F-15 (number '4031' and also having 'Navy' rather than 'Marine' title).

Finishing

Final assembly started with the landing gear. As I have already test fitted the parts, I simply slot them into place without much problem, although I still have to guide the stalks into their recesses inside the bay. This was followed by the pitot tube and the aerials both on top and under the fuselage. The canopy and the windscreen were then glued onto their respective places. In some online builds, another major complaint about this kit is about the mismatch between canopy and windscreen - the canopy is lower than the windscreen. However, the canopy in my kit looked okay, with a barely noticeable height difference. The lower windows were also added at this time. The panel lines were then highlighted with 2B pencil and some soot effect were added using Tamiya Weathering Master. Finally a spray of Tamiya TS-80 Flat Clear finished off the build. And in afterhought, I have two models of planes flying from USS Lexington : this Wildcat and the SBD Dauntless.

Conclusion

Not a bad kit at all, and I think the kit only needs a seat belt. Preferably, the rivet detail should be of the raised kind but the existing recessed ones were OK. It's not a Tamiya but Hobby Boss' Wildcats (F4F-3 early and late, FM-1 and FM-2) complete the Wildcat family in 1/48 scale.