FineScale Modeler – October 2019

Then I re-shaped a spare seat with emery boards and files. The rudder

pedals were made from scrap plastic, HO scale fencing, and spare parts.

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build it in a wheels-up in-flight display, seating

the kit’s pilot figure in a basic cockpit.

I would paint it as an FM-1 built by the

Eastern Aircraft division of General Motors and

adorn it in the Atlantic scheme used by antisub-

marine escort carrier groups. (You can read about

the painting process online.) After painting, I

drew each and every panel line on the exterior to

replace the raised surface detail.

While taking this modeling journey I had to

improvise a bit from my original plan due to

unforeseeable problems, but, I still managed to

achieve a desirable result with this classic kit!

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I removed the right fuselage half to glue the panel to the left fuselage,

insuring that it securely “jigged” the wing to the fuselage half. I cobbled

together a basic Wildcat cockpit interior made of styrene sheet, spare

parts, Plastruct angles, and channel stock.

To position the wing center section, I temporarily connected the

fuselages halves. Here, I discovered that the wing openings were too

large and would have to be filled with shims later. In the meantime, I

secured the wing center section to the left fuselage with weld cement.