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WIldcat vs Val in 1/72

Flyingbabydoc

Flyingbabydoc

Well-known member
Dear friends,

Here I begin my contribution to the campaign.

The first one to be built will be a 1/72 Cybermodel Aichi D3A1 type 99 "Val" using PE and masks from Eduard and decals from Print Scale. I will be using acrylic paints from Mr. Color for the painting, mostly my own blend of IJN grey and Cowl-Black colour.

The plane will reproduce that flown by Akira Sakamoto (pilot) and Yoshio Izuka (Observer) in the first attack wave in Pearl Harbor. This plane (EII-201) was based on the carrier Zuikaku and dropped the first bomb of the pacific war when attacking Wheeler field. Sakamoto was KIA at the battle of Santa Cruz when crashing his Val agains the flight deck of the USS Hornet.

The first pictures. More to come. Bare with me on this one! :drinks

Cheers all,

Alex



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(y)

Val most definitely qualifies for Pearl. I do question if Wildcats were there as the Carriers were at sea during the attack.
 
moon puppy said:
(y)

Val most definitely qualifies for Pearl. I do question if Wildcats were there as the Carriers were at sea during the attack.
Click to expand...

USN Air Battle Force
Pearl Harbor (Ford Island) NAS
(spares, repairs, replacement, and training)
8 Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo fighter, 1939
5 Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter, 1940
5 Grumman F4F-3A Wildcat fighter, 1941
3 Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless scout/dive-bomber, 1941

SBD scout bombers from Enterprise arrived during the attack. They had flown ahead of the returning task force that had just reinforced Wake Island. About five were lost to Japanese or ground fire and an equal number damaged.

Fleet float planes, normally 2 for a cruiser and 4 per BB, are not shown. These were typically Curtiss SOC Seagull or the newer Vought OS2U Kingfisher. Japanese photos of battleship row show planes aboard CA, OK, WV. There were probably 20-30 floatplanes ashore that are not included in landbase counts.
USAAC Aircraft Types
 
OK, Here's someinfo
In the United States, no Sto-Wing Wildcats had reached US Navy squadrons before the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. The F3F-3s from VMF-121, VMF-211 and F3F-3As of VMF-111 fixed-wing Wildcats at Pearl Harbor, were destroyed on the ground. During the Wake Island attack on December 8, 1941, eight Wildcats were destroyed on the ground and the remaining Wildcats, repaired from salvaged parts of the destroyed aircraft, fought heroically for two weeks.

found it here http://www.aviation-history.com/grumman/f4f.html
 
Thanks for the Info so far!

In the other topic of the campaign Helios adressed Bob's concern (which was mine too): the wildcats from the Big E did indeed participate in the Pearl Harbor attack.

Quote from Helios:

"The Enterprise may not have been in dock during Pearl, she was most certainly in the area. Her Air Wing was deployed trying to locate the carriers the Japanese aircraft came from. VF-6 played a prominent role in escorting the attack/scout aircraft of VB-6 & VS-6."

If you follow his link:

http://www.cv6.org/ship/logs/ph/org-vf6-19411207.htm

You will see that they were indeed launched to try and attack the Japanese fleet. More tragically, upon their return to Pearl they were attacked by friendly fire, resulting in 3 deaths.

Here is another link to the actions of Dec. 7th, 1941

http://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/pearl-harbor-blog/vf-6-the-deadly-night-of-december-7-1941


I will be building, in honour of these airmen, the 6-F-1 from Lt. Hebel.

Cheers

Alex

P.S. Many thanks to Helios for the information!
 
Thanks everyone.

The Wildcat will have to wait a bit, I still haven't received the PE from Eduard. Until then, here is the progress on the VAL. All PE is assembled, now I will start adding some color. I must say (Disclaimer: I have no endorsment from Gunze Sangyo) - ever since I started using the Mr. Color line of products the quality of the models has increased exponentially IMHO...

SO here is the VAL. I am proud of the gunsight assembly, everything fit perfectly.

Thanks for looking and cheers,

Alex


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Thanks everyone..

I guess I am getting the hang of it. Now everything is painted and pre-assembled. I must say that using that Mr. Cement Glue was a HUGE improvement. Maybe now there will be less seam lines ;)

See for yourself. I hope I will have more time next week to put some work into the VAL.

Have a great weekend and thanks for looking! :v

Cheers

Alex


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