Posted 6 years ago
fortapache
(3420 items)
I know I said I was going to post WWII mini-planes next but I thought this would be a good segue plane. This was the last biplane used by the US military, this one was a Navy plane. First made in 1936 and served until 1941, only 147 were made. This may seem like a very unimportant plane but it is the direct ancestor of the F4 Wildcat. Check out the landing gear in the last photo which is the 1:1 version (located at the Planes of Fame museum in Chino). It has a top speed of 245 MPH, twice as fast as a WWI fighter but almost twice as slow as the WWII fighters soon to come. Also the armament was a bit archaic, a .30 caliber and .50 caliber machine gun firing through the propellers just like a WWI fighter. Although the .50 wasn't around in WWI . It did have retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit which were major advancements over WWI planes.
As for this model it is one of the best detailed of the mini-planes. The machine guns can be seen poking out form the engine cowls.
I do have a couple more of the pre-war fighters should there be any interest.
Terrific vintage plane repro, love the 'bubble' roof & guns, and the museum plane is super cool
Monogram made a F3F in 1/32. It was nice kit that had the bright between war colors like this one. I don't know if it ever had a desiginated name like Wildcat, Hellcat etc. but it was called The Flying Barrel by the crews and airdales. You are correct about the Wildcat landing gear(hand cranked) and you can see the stubby Wildcat lines in the fuselage. This was the last biplsne USN carrier fighter. The US had the coolest pre war colors I'm glad uou shared it and look forward to some more pre-war plabes.
Much interest.
You have quite a toy collection Brian love old by-planes
I can love stuff still cannot follow anyone or categorize stuff never get notified when someone comments
Thank you very much Newfld.
Thank you very much Toyrebel. You did a better description than I did. My F4 mini-plane has the same paint scheme.
Thank you very much fattytail. More to come.
Thank you very much OLECODY. I have some of those same problems plus can not add to collections.
Thank you
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