US Navy planes of WW II

Trumpeters Chance Vought F4U-4 Corsair. This is my first Trumpeter model, and it was pretty good, but had some strange issues. Tail Hook and wheel made to move beautifully, but wheelwell dors fixed and also the main wheels are fixed. Flaps, ailerons rudder and elevator is moveable with steel hinges that ar difficult to use – and then they most are “frozen” in neutral by the external push/pull rods, something I changed.

Hasegawas Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat. This one is portraying a plane from USS Princeton where the Catmouth motif were used for a short while before the carrier was sunk and the planes redeployed to other carriers. Not many USN planed carried noseart, so I thought this one would be nice.

I have just finished a Eastern Motors FM-2 Wildcat converted from Revells old F4F-4/FM-1 kit. I did a FM-1 a long time ago from the same kit, and there is some discussion on weather it is a FM-1 (normally 4 guns) or a Grumman F4F-4 with 6 guns. I have pictures of the plane number 3 showing the six guns, so I decided to keep it as such.

To build a FM-2 I had to extend the tail, change the engine from a P&W R-1830 14 cylinder to a Wright R-1820 9 cylinder.

I used some of the Eduard PE for the Wildcat. The FM-2 was the most produced version and primarily used on the smaller escort carriers, active in both Atlantic and Pacific areas.

I removed the outer guns, redid the panels for the Ammo, added rocketstubs and bombracks. The FM-2 did not have the underwing oilcoolers, so they were removed and the new exhaustports were added on the side and under the nose.