The F4F-4 Wildcat flown by Captain Marion Carl, Guadalcanal, 1942.

Carl finished WWII as the first Marine ace, with 16.5 kills in Wildcats and 2 in Corsairs.

Carl would eventually achieve several postwar performance records in early jet aircraft, lead a Marine amphibious landing ashore in Vietnam and retire as a major general.

The kit is a dream to build. All I added was some PE seatbelts from Eduard and decals from Techmond. Painted with MM Acryl USN Blue-Grey over Flat Gull Grey and weathered with a watercolor wash and some drybrushing, silver pencil for the paint chipping and chalk pastels; black and brown for dirt and grime and an experimental light dusting of white to get a faded effect. Pretty pleased all the way around.

I cracked the original canopy and had to replace it with a squadron vac. I'll need a little more practice with them as I found it difficult to mask. Eventually used Parafilm with some success.

Photos and text © 2005 by Alan Lacey

July 05, 2005

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