Tamiya FM-1 Wildcat

Just completed the Tamiya FM-1 Wildcat and I thoroughly enjoyed the build. I chose the USS Guadalcanal Atlantic theater since all my other Navy builds are Pacific theater. I also included a photo of this one with a F4F I built. Hope you enjoy.

Nice finish! Yeah, Tamiya's Wildcats are nice kits, well-engineered, and go together well.
And I'm fairly certain that HobbyBoss liked it so much that theirs is a copy!

the Baron said:

Nice finish! Yeah, Tamiya's Wildcats are nice kits, well-engineered, and go together well.
And I'm fairly certain that HobbyBoss liked it so much that theirs is a copy!

Click to expand...

Thank you.

This is a nice clean build. Very smooth. Love the panel lines and rivet highlights. Great job

TimM63 said:

This is a nice clean build. Very smooth. Love the panel lines and rivet highlights. Great job

Click to expand...

Thanks. Lately I've been into clean builds mainly because my weathering aircraft never pleases me. I also started pre-shading panel lines and rivets with Tamiya panel liner directly on the plastic, no primer, then thin my paint enough to get it to show through. It's hit and miss but I am really enjoying this process.

Great work!

blakeh1 said:

Great work!

Click to expand...

Thank you

Wow nice work, those decals are huge, i guess back then they really meant "one size fits all" lol

The insignias are painted are they not? I'm guessing they are the correct size and the Wildcat is just so small it makes them look larger than they'd be on a Corsair or Hellcat.

I did not know the FM-1 saw action, the FM-2s (improved engine and reduced weight with four .50s not six) did see combat in the PTO, but I love learning more history via means like this.

durangod said:

Wow nice work, those decals are huge, i guess back then they really meant "one size fits all" lol

Click to expand...

They are painted and they are the same size as the decals in the kit.

Edbert said:

The insignias are painted are they not? I'm guessing they are the correct size and the Wildcat is just so small it makes them look larger than they'd be on a Corsair or Hellcat.

I did not know the FM-1 saw action, the FM-2s (improved engine and reduced weight with four .50s not six) did see combat in the PTO, but I love learning more history via means like this.

Click to expand...

Yes they are painted the same size as the decals that came with the kit. I ruined one of the decals because they were more thin than what Tamiya decals normally are and I got a little to aggressive and the raised rivets came through. But it made me get back into the cricut machine which I hadn't used in some time. I prefer painting them anyway. According to the instructions, which aren't always correct this was on the USS Guadalcanal.

I think they look better painted, I just too skeered to try. Your masking handled those rivets very well, I think mine would bleed all over, or I'd have to add the rivets afterwards and paint them to match...yikes!