FM-2 Wildcat

Sweet 1/144
Pictures by Massimo Ginesi

The model is really small!

As usual, Sweet has produced another little gem. Their FM-2 Wildcat is a little plane you can build right off the box and enjoy a few hours of pure relax. The box includes all you need to make two planes.

The deck was printed on cardboard with a jet-ink printer

Decals are provided for five different machines in interesting paint schemes; also a section of landing deck is provided as a decal.

The cockpit is hollow and a clear canopy is provided, so clever modellers will be able to cram the tub with realistic cockpit interiors and cut the sliding section of the canopy to leave it open. I just added the seat belts and glued the canopy.

I elected to represent an FM-2 in the classical three tones camouflage

Detail is very good and sometimes you forget it's an 1/144 model. Just assemble, paint, weather and you will end up with a pleasant model.

The landing gear is well represented, maybe a little thick, but acceptable.

The propeller is thick and the blades in my kit were bent like bananas, it should be thinned and straightened to look right. Remember to sand off the lines on the tips, you will not need a guide to paint the yellow ends, you just need masking tape!

Assembly was a straightforward matter, then I coated the model overall with matt white.

Oh yes, the object top left is a key!

Next I masked with some blu-tack and airbrushed the two blues, choosen from the Gunze range of acrylic paints. A coat of Future, decals, panel line enhancement with enamels then a coat of Aeromaster flat clear.

Then I painted the black walkways on both wings, touched the lights with appropriate colours and installed the wire antenna.

It took me about 20 hours to complete the model and enjoyed every minute. Very recommended to all stressed modelers.

I wish to thank my friend Massimo Ginesi for the kind help with the pictures.