F4F & FM Wildcat

It is a great time to be a fan of Grumman Wildcat. Between Arma Hobby in 1/72 scale and Eduard in 1/48, it appears that every major variant of the Navy fighter will soon be available in terrific plastic kits.

If you are building any of them, you’ll want F4F & FM Wildcat in Detail & Scale at the workbench with you. It has everything necessary to guide you to a great looking model. The 108-page softcover starts with a history of the fighter from conception and development to its service throughout World War II. Next, author Bert Kinzey describes each variant, using photos, line drawings by Lloyd S. Jones, and color profiles by Rock Roszak to point out changes and differences. The French G-36A and British Martlet are included.

As with all In Detail & Scale books, the core of this book is pages of detail images taken from archival sources and of preserved examples. Aircraft sections called out include the cockpits of different variants, windscreen and canopy, engines and cowls, fuselage details, landing gear, both rigid and folding wings, armament, external stores, and tails. A detailed description of the paint applied to Wildcats follows complemented by plenty of Roszak’s terrific profiles. Finally, the Modelers Section reviews and calls out necessary corrections for the Wildcat kits available when this book was published in 2018. As such the book predates the aforementioned Arma and Eduard kits.

No matter. The photos and illustrations along with detailed captions that this book brims with make F4F & FM Wildcat in Detail & Scale an essential companion for any Wildcat builder.