Angel Exposito Gonzales is here with us again with one of his latest builds...An Greek Martlet III, diverted to british hands in Nort Africa...This Little but precius model of the British Martlet III, is excellent represented by Angel. Amazing weathering and painting job! Well done my friend!!! 

1/72 Academy Grumman Martlet Mk.III

by Angel Exposito Gonzales

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that began service with both the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy in 1940. Although first used in combat by the British in Europe, the Wildcat was the only United States Navy or Marine fighter in World War II 1941–42 in the Pacific Theater besides the brief appearance of the F2A Buffalo. With a top speed of 318 mph (512 km/h), the Wildcat was outperformed by the more nimble 331 mph (533 km/h) Mitsubishi Zero, but its ruggedness and tactics such as the Thach Weave resulted in an air combat kill-to-loss ratio of 5.9:1 in 1942 and 6.9:1 for the entire war.[1]

Lessons learned from the Wildcat were applied to the faster F6F Hellcat which could outperform the Zero on its own terms. The FM Wildcat continued to be built by General Motors throughout the remainder of the war to serve on escort carriers, where larger and heavier fighters could not be used.

MARTLET III

The first 30 F4F-3As were released for sale to Greece, after the Italian invasion in November 1940. However, at the defeat of Greece in April 1941 the aircraft had only reached Gibraltar. They were taken over by the FAA as Martlet Mk III. Because these aircraft did not have folding wings, they were only used from land bases. They were diverted to British hands in North Africa. There they operated with the Fleet Air Arm, but from land bases.

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F4F_Wildcat)

Hi, everybody! This is my latest little monster, an old kit not so good like others from Academy, but with a bit effort you may achieve an optimus result.  The kit is built straight from the box.  I just added putty over the lines which simulate the wing fold system.  I also rebuilt the little windows on the bottom surfaces. The decals and paints are from Aeromaster, excellent.

To weather the model, I used paste chalks and artists oils.

 

I hope you like it.

 

Regards from Tenerife, Canary Islands.

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Text & Photos by Angel Exposito Gonzales