This is the Academy 1/72nd scale model of the early WWII naval fighter.
This was the
first of the U.S. Navy's single wing carrier based fighters. Just before
Pearl Harbor the
Navy still had biplanes because they felt they were more maneuverable and
more
rugged than monplanes. This plane at the beginning of the war was no match
for the
Zero. (Imagine how outclassed a biplane would have been!!!) This model
depicts the
plane of Lt Cmdr Thatch from the carrier Yorktown at the Battle of Midway.
He provided
fighter cover in the first wave attack on the Japanese task force. He
scored several
victories in the battle, but the Yorktown was so badly damaged that he was
forced to
land on the Hornet and stayed there throughout the remainer of the battle.
This was an
earlier Academy kit and required a lot of scratchbuilding like the whole
cockpit and
wheel well area. Despite this the surface detail and fit were quite good.
Not bad for a
$4.00 kit. The decals were Aeromaster as was the paint. The numbers were
cobbled up
from other decal sheets and black trim sheet for the "1's". I left the
canopy closed
because I did not spend a lot of time detailing the interior.
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