Author Topic: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"  (Read 6050 times)

Offline lcarroll

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Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« on: June 29, 2021, 08:48:47 AM »
   I am taking a short break from WW.I subjects and a trip back in time to tackle this "oldie but goodie".  I always have been a great fan of the between the wars period of aviation and the US Navy's "yellow Wings" era. This Kit was released in 1962, a big year for me as I was enrolled in the RCAF that year. The kit is going to require a few scratch built additions to the spartan cockpit, substitute wheels and tires as the kit versions are far too narrow (to allow for the unique folding landing gear on the Kit) and detailed references are mostly from on-line sources.



    Just short of 60 years old!



   The instructions certainly aren't a Copper State or Wingnut Wings "keeper"!





   My only printed reference published in 1966. Fortunately there's an abundance of great  material on-line.



   I'll be using these "Yellow Wings" Decals for this Build, I've used them in the past and they are of excellent quality.



and finally the parts, minus the Instrument board and fuselage halfs which are just started and on my work bench.



   I am looking forward to this little adventure, next update will be the cockpit construction.
Cheers,
Lance

Offline Radarman

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2021, 11:34:53 AM »
Lance,
I’m looking forward to the build. It’s one of my favorite aircraft too.

                                                                             Kevin
We are all victims of history!

Offline kensar

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2021, 10:02:08 PM »
Was this the kit that Monogram derived the Grumman Gulfhawk from?

Offline Alexis

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2021, 10:54:04 PM »
I remember watching my Uncles build these when I was young , this sure brings back happy memories . Looking forward to this Lance  :)


Alexis
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Offline lcarroll

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2021, 11:05:30 PM »
Was this the kit that Monogram derived the Grumman Gulfhawk from?

    According to Scalemates it was the other way around; the Monogram Gulf Hawk was released in 1960 followed by the F3F with "modified parts" in 1962.
Cheers,
Lance

Offline DaveB

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2021, 11:06:51 PM »
Looks a really good project, Lance

Good luck!

Regards

Dave
As we say in fencing, what's the point!

Offline rhallinger

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2021, 12:38:43 AM »
I will follow with interest, Lance.  I have this one in the stash too.  Fond memories from the wayback machine. ;D

Best regards,

Bob

Offline Borsos

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2021, 05:44:15 AM »
Great stuff! I am building Trumpeters F4F-3 at the moment  :)
Andreas
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Offline lone modeller

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2021, 05:52:22 AM »
Golly Lance, those instructions look far too complicated for me!

A real trip down memory lane: the old Monogram kits set the standard for their time and still build into good models today provided some care and extra details are added. You will make a first class model from this I am sure, so I will be following along.

Stephen.

Offline Dave Brewer

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2021, 10:14:33 AM »
I understand the top wing is too short for a F3F-3,can't recall the details, but in fact Mike West produced a corrected resin one.

Offline pepperman42

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2021, 10:14:40 AM »
Great era!!

Steve

Offline dr 1 ace

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2021, 06:24:23 AM »
Looking forward to your build Lance !

Ed
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Offline lcarroll

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2021, 08:15:38 AM »
   Thanks for checking in on this Gents. Dave, I am aware of the wing span issue. According to the References the aircraft had a span of 32 feet thus an easy task even for me to convert that to exactly 1 foot on a 1:32 Scale model! The Kit's wing is just under 11 inches so short around 3 scale feet. I believe monogram had been accurate on the dimensions of the Gulf Hawk which had a span of 29 feet, and either didn't know or didn't care about the additional 3 feet when they released the F3F3 using the same wing. I'm going to choose the latter route as well, it's mostly a "fun" Build! ;)
Cheers,
Lance

Offline sobrien

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2021, 09:14:42 AM »
Mike of Lone Star Models had a set of corrected wings and interior for this kit. Not sure if it's still available. It's a fun kit

Offline Petie2nd

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Re: Monogram 1:32 Scale Grumman F3F-3 "Yellow Wings"
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2021, 12:49:32 PM »
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#p2776211

If 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.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2021, 01:25:50 PM by Petie2nd »