Starfighter Decals 1/72 Grumman F4F-3 "Pre-War Wildcats"
By Matt Bittner
This set of Starfighter Decals is to be used with the Hasegawa F4F coupled with the Quickboost -3 wings and cowl (unless you want to make those modifications yourself). The first sheet, #72-112 has decals for the following:
- F4F-3, Bu.No. 2526, which is one of the machines recently exposed thanks to Google publishing the images associated with Life magazine. It is finished in light gray with natural metal wings, has a willow-green tail
- F4F-3 Bu.No. Unk, VF-41, Neutrality Patrol, USS Ranger 1940 with a blue fuselage stripe and banded cowl, and yellow wings
- F4F-3 Bu.No. Unk, VF-5, 1940 in overall gray
- F4F-3 Bu.No. Unk, VF-71, Chambers Field, NAS Norfolk, March 1940
- F4F-3A Bu.No. 3973, VF-3, USS Saratoga, October 1941 in two-tone gray
- F4F-3A Bu.No. 3973, VF-3, USS Saratoga, October 1941 in two-tone gray
- F4F-3 Bu.No. Unk, VF-72, Pungo Airfield, NC, Late 1941 in two-tone gray
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The second sheet, #72-1113, is more for the pre-war, yellow-wing era and has four aircraft on the sheet:
- F4F-3 Bu.No. 1863, Worlds Fair US Naval Aviation Display in New York City 1940, with red cowl, spinner and fuselage stripe, and a willow-green tail
- F4F-3 Bu.No. 1848, VF-42, USS Ranger, December 1040 with a willow-green tail and half of a red cowl
- F4F-3 Bu.No. 3872, National Naval Aviation Museum, VF-72 with a blue cowl and fuselage stripe, and a black tail
- F4F-3 Bu.No 2527, Chambers Field, NAS Norfolk, March 1940 with what might be NMF wings (or yellow), a willow-green tail, and possibly a half-blue cowl
These sheets - as are all new 1/72 sheets by Starfighter - are printed by Cartograf and look excellent and in registration. If you're looking for pre-war decals for your Hasegawa Wildcat, then by all means pick these up.
My thanks to Starfighter Decals for the review samples.