Small Scale Military Headquarters

I was talking to my neighbor the other day, which is a fairly rare occurance. He's a nice guy, we just don't cross paths that often. But he's gotten a new "nurse" who comes buy a couple of times a week and it has really made a difference. But that's all neither here nor there. I was talking to him about WWII, I knew he was a pilot, but had never been able to find out much more. Well last weekend we got talking and he told me he flew F4F's and later F6F's, he also told me the name of one ship he was on, but it slipped my mind before I could Google it. I'm looking forward to talking to him more about it, when I can.

But in the meanwhile, I'd like to purchase either a F4F or F6F in 1:32 or so, and give it to him. In a perfect world, I'd find out what ship and what unit he was with, and try to employ someone here with greater skills than I to paint and detail the plane to match one of his old ones. But that's in a perfect world, and since he is actually a WWII pilot, I'm sure you can do the math and see that he might not have all the time it would take for me to pull of that sort of project. But I can manage to order a plane without too much delay.

So the question is, which plane to get? F4F or F6F? Made by who? What scale (older eyes might not like much smaller than 1:48)? I'm going to try to find out a little more so I can choose a color scheme better, but in the meanwhile, what ideas do you all have?

MV

Hellcats and Wildcats are only available right now in 1/72 and 1/48

Corgi, Hobbymaster make Hellcats in 1/72
Franklin Mint/Armour makes Hellcats and Wildcats in 1/48
Dragon makes Wildcats/Hellcats in 1/72

The Wildcat is coming from BBI in 1/32, but not anytime soon.

Ruger, I am going to make some pretty serious assumptions and recommend an F-6. Why?

1) Early war was tough on the naval aviators and the Wildcat wasn't a fair match vs. the Zero when the pilots were equal. I know lots of pilots had success but the reading I have done on early Pacific war talks about the fear that overcame many pilots when they were up against Japan's best. Japan was at their strongest both in technical advantage and trained, experienced personnel. These were some dark days and if your neighbor lived through them he may not want to remember that part of the war.

2) The Hellcat was a huge leap forward and was known as a "hot" plane. I may fondly remember my VW Bug but it doesn't have the same spot in my memory as my souped up Miata (go ahead, joke away!). My guess is his time in the Hellcat was much more memorable than in the Wildcat.

I'd love to help you out but my painting skills are not really up to snuff for stuff like this. I think it is a really cool gesture you want to make and hope it makes his day.

21c also makes a 1:48 Hellcat that is more affordable than the Franklin Mint version. From the pictures on Badcat's website, they look pretty good and have the ship/squadron ID info. You could also go the large route and get your friend the BBI 1:18 scale Hellcat (the Hobbytown in Fresno has the "Catmouth" version). That should really impress your neighbor

Well, I've looked over the offerings, and examined some other planes in 1:48, and think that 1:48 will do fine. 1:18 is nice, but takes up too much space, I'd have prefered 1:32, but 1:48 will make a nice shelf sitter also.

I had thought about the Wildcat vs. Hellcat question, and I'm still not sure. Myself, I'm agreeing that the Hellcat was the hotter ride, and would be the one more desirable choice, but when talking with Al, he seemed to have more to say about the Wildcat. Although, as an interesting note, he was a bit vague on the names themselves, he knew F4F and F6F and kept them straight, but mentioned that he never paid a lot of attention to the names. I wonder how commonly used the names were at the time? I hear pilots now saying they fly Hornets (or Super Hornets) instead of F/A-18's, but I never hear anyone say they fly Falcons, it's always F-16's. A-10 and Warthog seem equally used, but never Thunderbolt II. Hmmmm...

I'm going to try to talk to him more next time I see him outside, see if I can find out a little bit more. But with the 21st F6F's out, I think I can go ahead and get one on it's way.

MV