Eduard 11166. "Midway" - Grumman F4F. Limited Edition Dual Combo. 1:48 Scale

MIDWAY. Grumman F4F-3 & F4F-4. Limited Edition Dual Combo. 1:48 Scale

11166 - Eduard

This is a Limited Edition Dual Combo model Kit presenting US carrier based Grumman F4F-3 and F4F-4 Wildcats, from the United States Navy and Marine Corps from pre-war service to the Battle of Midway.

The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atlantic, the Wildcat was the only effective fighter available to the United States Navy and Marine Corps in the Pacific Theatre during the early part of the Second World War.

With a top speed of 318 mph (512 km/h), the Wildcat was outperformed by the faster (331 mph (533 km/h)), more manoeuvrable, and longer-ranged Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

US Navy pilots, including John "Jimmy" Thach, a pioneer of fighter tactics to deal with the A6M Zero, were greatly dissatisfied with the Wildcat's inferior performance against the Zero in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The Wildcat has a claimed air combat kill-to-loss ratio of 5.9:1 in 1942 and 6.9:1 for the entire war.

Although the Wildcat was generally outperformed by the Mitsubishi Zero, it held its own partly because, with relatively heavy armour and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Grumman airframe could survive far more damage than its lightweight, unarmored Japanese rival.

 Many U.S. Navy fighter pilots were saved by the Wildcat's ZB homing device, which allowed them to find their carriers in poor visibility, provided they could get within the 30 mi (48 km) range of the homing beacon. (However, the Zed Baker was wildly inconsistent in practice, especially during the Battle of Midway, when an entire squadron of Wildcats crashed in the sea after failing to locate their carriers).

A new version, the F4F-4, entered service in 1941 with six machine guns and the Grumman-patented Sto-Wing folding wing system, which allowed more aircraft to be stored on an aircraft carrier, increasing the number of fighters that could be parked on a surface by more than a factor of 2. The F4F-4 was the definitive version that saw the most combat service in the early war years, including the Battle of Midway. Navy F4F-3s were replaced by F4F-4s in June 1942.

During the Battle of Midway, only VMF-221 still used F4F-3s. VF-42 of the Yorktown was the last carrier group converted to the F4F-4, and that was done as it left Pearl Harbour on the way to the Battle of Midway as VF-3 flew in new F4F-4s with Commander Thach.

Model Kit Features:

• plastic parts:Eduard
• marking options: 10
• decals: Eduard
• PE parts: pre-painted
• painting mask: yes

Glue and paint are required but are not included.