Accurate Miniatures' 1/48 scale
Grumman F3F-1

by Tomasz Golec

Accurate Miniatures' 1/48 scale Grumman F3F-1 is available online at Squadron.com
 

The 1930s was an interesting period in the development of aviation in technical aspects as well as the magnificent paint finishes and colorful camouflages of the aircraft of the USAAF and the US Navy.

A typical representative of this era is the Grumman F3F-1, a biplane fighter, which as late as late thirties and early forties was in service with the US Navy and Marines, still wearing the colorful livery.

It is in this interesting painting that I decided to model my Grumman F3F1 in 1/48 scale.

Accurate Miniatures’ F3F-1 model is not large or overly complicated. Successive steps of construction are well explained in the instructions in a typical fashion to Accurate Miniatures. Simply but clearly it allows to reach each step.

The model is engineered at a very high level and during construction I did not come across any particular difficulties.

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The painted cockpit fit into the fuselage with no problems as well as all other elements fit into the two fuselage halves ideally. The assembly of the undercarriage required some patience. The wings and the rest of the body mainly required some sanding.

The fuselage is painted in Citradella Yellow, the wings XF – 16 from Tamiya.

The yellow is a glossy Pactra with a little bit of red added. The section colors are also painted red. The black tail signifies which carrier the plane was assigned to.

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After finishing the painting I applied wonderful quality decals and sealed the plane with a clear coat.

My model represents the aircraft of the leader of the first section of USS Wasp CV 7.

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Model and Images Copyright © 2006 by Tomasz Golec
Page Created 04 April, 2006
Last Updated 21 February, 2007

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