Author Topic: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)  (Read 1398 times)

Offline Borsos

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Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« on: September 09, 2021, 06:09:53 PM »
Dear all,
this is Ens. Elbert Scott McCuskey in his F4F-3 Wildcat from USS Yorktown (CV-5) in May 1942 during the Battle of the Coral Sea.
It is the Trumpeter Kit with Eduard PE and self cut masks for the markings (I never have wished to own and to be able to use a plotter like here...). There are no decals for this bird and I wanted to build a Wildcat with the huge early national markings of 1942.Trumpeter kits are generally fine, as much as I can say, but this here caused me some headache. The fit of the fuselage halves and the engine compartment was quite difficult. I added a micro engine and build it with wheels retracted which is no option in the kit and might have added to the troubles I had. The kit is fine for the F4F-3 version without foldable wings and with just 4 MGs, besides of the missing strut on the wind shield which I added from scratch.The tail wheel is scratchbuild as the kit only offers the air-filled tyre for land-based Wildcats. The base is blue painted plastic sheet with Vallejo Pacific blue ocean texture. The Japanese cruiser is 3D printed from shapeways in 1:4800 or so scale (yes, I know I messed up painting the eyes of the captain!).
I hope you like it (I really had fun with it -- and there are some great SBDs, TBDs, Vindicators, Hellcats, Helldivers, TBMs, Kates, Zeros, .... around to be build :) )







Best regards

Andreas
« Last Edit: September 09, 2021, 06:20:04 PM by Borsos »
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline rhallinger

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2021, 12:32:21 AM »
Andreas, that is fabulous!  What a great display using forced perspective with that tiny cruiser!  The early Pacific carrier war is a particular interest of mine, and I really like what you've done here.  The finish on the Wildcat is spot on, IMO, and it really looks the part.  Very well done all around!  Thanks for sharing this.

Best regards,

Bob

Offline Borsos

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2021, 08:30:31 PM »
Thank you very much, Bob! You are too kind.
Andreas
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline jeroen_R90S

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2021, 12:28:06 AM »
That is really cool!

I once did a painting of a Lockheed Starliner (the largest Constellation relative) from underneath, and had been thinking about doing something similiar with a plastic model and some of those tiny Shapeways models -there are also WWI and WWII aircraft, ships, balloons, airships and whatnot.

I believe Fundekals is due to come out with a new sheet for 1/32 Wildcats, including some with the big and smaller early insignia.

Offline Borsos

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2021, 03:37:50 AM »
Thank you very much, Jeroen. I also tend to go on experimenting like that. Thanks also for the hint regarding Fundekals! For this one it is too late, but there‘s a F4F-4 waiting in the stash  :)
Andreas
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline gedmundson

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2021, 10:23:36 AM »
Spectacular work Andreas - I love the patchy looking scheme of the early-war Grumman aircraft and you've done a superb job with that. The feel of the flying aircraft over the ocean with the ship in the distance is amazing. Well done, sir.
Cheers,
Gary

Offline Monty

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2021, 09:15:11 PM »
Quite an amazing diorama, Andreas! Wonderful use of colour and beautiful shading, imaginative and a wonderful sense of drama! Just great! Marc.

Bughunter

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #7 on: September 12, 2021, 04:17:38 AM »
Fantastic little dio! With that very small ship you are able to convert a plastic model in a story telling dio, wonderful as always.
Thanks for showing!

Cheers,
Frank

Offline lone modeller

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2021, 05:05:52 AM »
Andreas,

Your dioramas are always interesting and original. This one is no exception and as always, modelled to the very highest standard. The pilot is exceptionally well done and the colour scheme of the aircraft captures the worn look of a carrier-bourne aircraft. The idea of using the ship is brilliant, but next time I will expect that you will have painted the captain's eyes!

Stephen.

Offline Borsos

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2021, 02:42:31 AM »
Gary, Monty, Frank and Stephen, thank you very much for your kind, encouraging words. I really appreciate them. Stephen, promised, the eyes of the captain will be taken into special care next time!
Andreas
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline PrzemoL

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2021, 09:14:15 PM »
A very fine model with subtle finish. And a very interesting way of presentation. Congratulations!
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatuluk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

Offline macsporran

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2021, 09:56:00 PM »
Lovely display Andreas, beautiful subtle shading and weathering.
Sandy
(I bet the Nippon Cruiser Captain is saying "Oh for Shinto's sake, look at the size of that american plane! We should never have woken the sleeping tiger, their factories really can churn out massively bigger production than we can cope with."

Offline lcarroll

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2021, 11:37:51 PM »
    Very nicely done Andreas, the finish is absolutely "real" looking and the diorama's effect as well. Did you use a sprayed filter to get the overall "dusty" and used appearance, it's very effective.
Cheers,
Lance

Offline Borsos

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Re: Grumman F4F-3 E. S. McCuskey, May 1942 (Trumpeter 1:32)
« Reply #13 on: September 15, 2021, 08:22:47 PM »
Przemo, Sandy and Lance Thank you very much for looking in and commenting so kindly!
Sandy, I am sure they called Godzilla for help…
Lance, …well.. it’s not really that dusty, I am just a lousy photographer. And I used dead flat clear over it to set a contrast to the glossy ocean.
Andreas
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.