Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat by Tamiya
1/48 scale
Kit No. 61034 (1/48 Aircraft Series No. 34)
Retail: $28.00
Decals: Four versions – three U.S. Navy, one U.S. Marine Corps
Comments: Engraved panel lines, detailed cockpit and landing gear, two-part canopy
History
Leroy Grumman’s F4F Wildcat was not the fastest or most advanced fighter of World War II, but during the first dark months after Pearl Harbor, Wildcat pilots held the line and stopped the Imperial Japanese military air forces when they seemed invincible. Once war erupted in the Pacific, the Grumman F4F Wildcat was the primary fighter aircraft operated by the United States Navy and the Marine Corps. By 1942 every American Navy fighter squadron flew the F4F. Wildcat pilots encountered Japanese pilots flying the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the premiere fighter of the Imperial Japanese Navy, more than any other enemy aircraft. The Zero could outmaneuver the F4F, but the Wildcat’s heavy armament and ruggedness gave it an advantage when flown by skilled pilots.
The Grumman F4F Wildcat had its origins in the Grumman F3F-2, the last biplane fighter to serve with the U.S. Navy. On November 15, 1935, the U.S. Navy issued a requirement for a fighter to replace the Grumman F3F biplane, specifying that it had to be capable of 300 mph (483km/h). Three companies applied: Seversky with the XFN-1, a navalized version of its P-35; Grumman with the XF4F-1 biplane; and Brewster with an entirely new monoplane design.
From 1931 to 1936, Grumman had designed for the Navy a series of biplane fighters that included the FF1, F2F, and the F3F. The XF4F-1 (Model G-16) would be the last of the series of biplane fighters designed by Grumman. It ultimately lost out to the Brewster Model B-139, what would become the F2A Buffalo. The Brewster Buffalo was a monoplane design with a fully enclosed cockpit, hydraulically controlled retractable landing gear, and .50 caliber machine gun armament (a single gun, paired with the standard .30 caliber machine gun in the nose)– all representing innovations never before seen on American naval fighters.
Early flight tests exposed the Buffalo’s deficiencies, the biggest of which was it could not meet the Navy’s speed specification of 300 mph, but this was corrected after wind tunnel tests and modifications to the cowling and engine intakes allowed it to reach 304 mph (482 km/h). Originally, the Navy ordered Grumman’s XF4F-1 as a backup to the Buffalo, but data from flight tests demonstrated that biplane fighters could no longer match the performance of the latest monoplanes. Grumman and the Navy both realized that the biplane fighter’s days were numbered. The XF4F-1 would perform no better than the re-engined F3F, which the Navy was determined to phase out, so that design never went further than the drawing board. The Navy dropped the idea that biplanes could fulfill future fighter orders, and Grumman changed its design in favor of a new prototype, designated the XF4F-2 (Model G-18).
The XF4F-2 was an improvement in multiple areas: It was a a cantilever mid-wing all-metal monoplane, with fabric covered control surfaces, a fully enclosed canopy, and was powered by a 1,050 hp (780 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-66 Twin Wasp engine featuring a single-speed supercharger, and a Hamilton Standard constant speed propeller. Its wing was the newly-developed NACA 230-series airfoil capable of a maximum speed of 290 mph (466 km/h). It had the same retracting landing gear design as previous Grumman fighters, operated by a hand crank requiring thirty turns, and if the pilot’s hand slipped he could seriously injure his wrist. Fuel capacity was 110 gallons (415 liters), located beneath the cockpit, with a 20 gallon (75 liter) reserve tank behind the pilot’s seat. Armament consisted of two .30 caliber guns in the fuselage, two .50 caliber machine guns in the wings, and provision for two 100 lb (45 kg) bombs beneath the wings.
In April 1938 at the Naval Air Factory in Philadelphia, the XF4F-2 was evaluated against the XF2A-1 Brewster Buffalo and a Seversky P-35, converted by the Naval Aircraft Factory as the XFN-1 . The maximum airspeed for each aircraft was:
• Grumman XF4F-2, 290 mph (466 km/h).
• Brewster XF2A-1, 280 mph (450 km/h).
• Seversky XFN-1, 250 mph (402 km/h).
No aircraft had reached the Navy’s desired maximum speed of 300 mph (482 km/h) and although the Grumman XF4F-2 was 10 mph faster than the Brewster XF2A-1, the XF4F-2 was less satisfactory in other areas: The Buffalo handled better than the Wildcat, the Twin Wasp engine was more complicated than the Buffalo’s Cyclone engine, and the Buffalo had a hydraulic landing gear, whereas the Wildcat used a mechanical crank. Grumman received no orders for its aircraft.
The Brewster Company was awarded a contract for 54 production F2A-1s, but the X4F-2 showed enough promise not to be discarded entirely. The Navy provided funds for Grumman to begin work on a new prototype, the XF4F-3. The XF3F-3 (Grumman G-36) was initially base on the XF4F-2, but the only original portions of the aircraft that remained were the fuselage (lengthened to 28 feet), and the landing gear. The wingspan was lengthened by 4 feet to 38 feet with squared off tips. It was powered by a Pratt & Whitney XR-1830-76 engine, and was heavier that then XF3F-2 by 600 lbs. It flew for the first time on February 12, 1939, and achieved a speed of 333.5 mph at 21,300 ft.
Grumman’s fortunes changed when by the end of 1939 Brewster had delivered only 11 F2A Buffalos to the Navy, which reponded by placing an order for 54 Grumman XF3F-3’s. The first planes were delivered in February 1940. The production F4F-3s deleted the fuselage guns, replacing them with a standard complement of four .50 caliber wing guns and all production aircraft used a new high tailplane position.
The F4F-4
The F4F-4 was the first version produced in substantial numbers and made its first flight on April 14, 1941. Along with the Sto-Wing, it had an increased fuel capacity of 117 gallons, a 27-gallon reserve tank, with provisions for 50 or 58 gallon drop tanks beneath the wing on hard points. It was powered by R-1830-86 Twin Wasp engine, driving a Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller. Armament consisted of six 0.50 caliber machine guns in the wings with 240 rounds per gun.
Wildcats went to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and were ordered by the French, who desperately needed military aircraft. But France capitulated before the F4F was available, and the British Purchasing Commission assumed the French production contract. The F4F was named the Martlet in British service and it served with the Fleet Air Arm. It became the first U.S. aircraft flown by a British pilot to shoot down a German aircraft in World War II, a Junkers Ju 88 twin-engine bomber that fell over the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, Scotland, on Christmas Day, 1940.
No Sto-Wing Wildcats had reached US Navy squadrons by the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The F4F-3s from VMF-121, VMF-211 and F4F-3As of VMF-111 fixed-wing Wildcats at Pearl Harbor, were destroyed on the ground. During the Wake Island attack on December 8, 1941, eight Wildcats were destroyed on the ground and the remaining Wildcats, repaired from salvaged parts of the destroyed aircraft, fought heroically for two weeks. They broke up a number of attacks, sank one Japanese destroyer and damaged a medium transport, but despite their valiant efforts, the island finally fell to the Japanese. From that point, the Wildcat was never out of the fray, forming the fighting spearhead of the US carriers involved in the great sea battles of the Coral Sea and Midway.
In the Pacific during December 1941, American Wildcat pilots finally met the enemy as they tried to defend Wake Island. On December 8, the first day of the battle, Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-211 lost eight of its twelve F4F-3 Wildcats. The remaining four fighters flew day and night, fighting heroically for two weeks, breaking up many air attacks and sinking a cruiser and a submarine with 100-pound bombs before the last two Wildcats were destroyed on December 22. That day, the Japanese landed on Wake.
Despite similar losses throughout the Pacific, pilots flying this tough fighter destroyed an average of seven enemy aircraft for every Wildcat lost. During February 1942, Wildcats from Task Force 8 and 17, built around the USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown attacked Japanese forces on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. F4F-3s of VF-6 destroyed two Japanese aircraft in the first attack and Lieut. Edward H. O’Hare of VF-42 of the USS Lexington shot down five G4M1 bombers within the space of a few minutes.
By 1943, Grumman was ready to introduce a new naval fighter, the F6F Hellcat, but the Navy still needed the F4F. The Wildcat’s small size and modest weight made it suitable to operate aboard convoy escort carriers, which were produced in large numbers to facilitate the Navy’s island hopping campaign on the road to Tokyo. Despite the fact that it was neither as fast nor as maneueverable as the Japanese Zero, its chief opponent, it is a tribute to the Wildcat’s ruggedness and continuing utility as a fighter that the U.S. Navy never phased it out and kept the Wildcat production lines Grumman and General Motors open for the duration of the war.
An early production F4F-3 in the pre-war yellow wings paint scheme, seen here in the Summer of 1940.
The Kit
Tamiya’s Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat is injection molded in light grey plastic and consists of 63 parts, including 7 clear parts for the canopy, gun sight, and windows on the ventral surface of the fuselage below the detailed cockpit. The kit has engraved panel lines and features raised sidewall detail on the fuselage interiors for the cockpit, in addition to detailed main and side instrument panels, complemented the bucket seat, rear bulkhead and separately mounted control yoke.
There is raised detail on, and a paint guide for, the engine firewall immediately forward of the cockpit, as well as separate parts for the oil cooler vents mounted beneath the wing. The radial engine consists of four parts including a poly cap for the propeller. The engine assembly is mounted to the front of the fuselage, and the separately mounted cowling follows. The kit faithfully recreates the Wildcat’s unique landing gear, consisting of ten parts including the wheels and tires. There are two detailed drop tanks, one to be mounted under each wing, along with separately mounted pitot tube, propeller, gun sight and dorsal antenna in the final stage of construction, along with the canopy itself.
Markings
Decals are provided for four versions of the Wildcat. First is a Navy fighter of VF-41 aboard the U.S.S. Ranger; second is a Marine Corps aircraft of VMF-223; third is a Navy fighter of VGF-29 aboard the U.S.S. Santee. For each of these versions the paint scheme is Blue Grey or Intermediate Blue upper surfaces with under surfaces painted a Pale Grey that is close to White. According to the kit instructions, this was an early war paint scheme employed from December 1940 through February of 1943. The fourth version for which decals are provided — a Navy fighter of VF -22 aboard the U.S.S. Independence — bears the mid-war paint scheme used from February 1943 of wings and upper surfaces painted Sea Blue, fuselage sides in Intermediate Blue, and under surfaces in Insignia White.
Conclusion
The F4F-4 Wildcat is an excellent example of Tamiya engineering, detailed yet marked by simple construction.
Highly recommended
References
- www.aviation-history.com
- “How the Rugged F4F Wildcat Held the Line During World War II,” by David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, January 22, 2021.
- Eastern Division FM-1 (Grumman F4F-4) Wildcat, National Air and Space Museum Online
- The Aviation History Online Museum ~ http://www.aviation-history.com