Lance,
The Gulfhawk 2 was basically an F3F-2 with F2F-1 wings. I know it's a "fun build", but if you want the definitive reference on the F3F, you should look up the Steve Ginter book on the F2F/ F3F. It is written by Rich Dann. I did have a small part in helping check details in the book.
The book has some new information about the F3F-3, which I had never read before. After the Brewster F2A-1 Buffalo was tested in the Navy's Full Scale Wind Tunnel at Langley, drag-reducing modifications were carried out, which increased top speed by 31 mph! The USN wanted to test other fighters, and the F3F was next. F3F-2 BuNo 1031 was tested, and retested with several modifications, mainly to the forward fuselage and engine cowling area. 1031 became the F3F-3 prototype. Many of these changes somehow escaped notice for many years, and I've never seen them accurately included in an F3F-3 kit. I'm actually in the process of making an F3F-3 from the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 F3F-2 kit; it's a slow process for me (nothing new there).
Also, a note on the Yellow Wings decals. In the 1/32 sheet, BuNo 1451 is shown as 6-F-15. It appears in the movie "Dive Bomber". I've researched this closely, and in the movie, 1451 is 6-F-14. Interestingly, on the 1/48 YW sheet "Planes of the movie 'Dive Bomber'", he corrected it to 6-F-14. 6-F-15, in the movie, was BuNo 0967, which was the very first production F3F-2! I have several screenshots I can share.
Rich and I discussed this, but the number 6-F-15 somehow slipped through the editing process. Some kits have also gotten this wrong before (including a later issue of the Revell kit). I haven't seen a photo in VF-5 colors, but BuNo 1451 had most likely been 5-F-7, prior to assignment to VF-6. During the short Fleet service of these airplanes, many were reassigned several times between the various squadrons.
I used to have a Photobucket account, and have not yet gone to another provider for photo storage. Here is a link to a post I have on another site, which allows photos to be posted directly from your computer. It shows the Navy's use of adjustable horizontal stabilizers in the 1930's, and shows how I've started to modify the kit to show this detail. The vast majority of photos I've found of parked F3F's shows the elevator trimmed out of the neutral position. There are also a couple of photos of the work I've done on the cockpit. Note that the F3F-3 had the forward sidewalls above the consoles painted flat black.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/viewtopic.php?p=2776211#p2776211If you'd like more information, feel free to send me a PM. One of the first things Rich said to me was that he didn't think there was anyone else as nuts about the F3F as he was! I've been off the bench for a while, but I think it's time to revisit this project.
Pete Hicks
P.S. - As if this isn't wordy enough, I wanted to add another note on the decals. There aren't a lot of photos of F3F-3's. I've only found 5 planes from VF-5 on Yorktown. However, there's a marking detail that everyone seems to have missed, including Yellow Wings. When 5-F-1 was photographed at the factory, the star in the squadron "diving eagle" emblem was upside down! It had been correct on F2F's. They apparently continued to paint the planes assigned to VF-5 in this way. The eagle is still diving, but in the VF-5 photos I've seen, the stars in the emblem were point down. If I choose to do one of these, I would try to use a mask for the star and circle, and hope I can cut out the eagle from the decal to apply over it. Could be tricky, but I have several extra decals to test it on.