It is the Italeri
1/72 kit with Hasegawa kit seats added, plus Hasegawa gun gas purge vents
fitted, along with one closed "Old Tool" Hasegawa afterburner.
Also the lights are transparent, made of cured superglue filed and sanded and
painted clear colors. But, these modifications are very secondary to the
paint scheme.
For me, this is the WWII commemorative scheme that never was but should have
been, in the tricolor scheme used throughout most of the war by the US
Navy.
I was originally going to do this featuring all Tomcat squadrons that could
trace their roots/emblems back to WW2 or before. When the logistics of those
markings got out of my reach, I settled back to my own true love, the Jolly
Rogers.
Click on
images below to see larger images
This is not
timeframe specific. It was inspired by the 1930's style retro scheme Darren
Roberts put on one of his Hornets, now in the ARC gallery. As you can see,
it features WW2 insignia, along with the WW2 style Jolly Rogers emblem, and some
markings from Cdr Blackburn's "Big Hog" in tribute.
Originally I was thinking of doing it as a tribute to all the squadrons going
back to WW2...Felix et al...maybe something like all the emblems arranged in a
circle on the tail. But as this quickly became not-too-feasible, I defaulted to
my true love.
Notice if you will
the Hamilton Standard Propeller emblem on the intake instead of the usual
warning chevrons....these and the Jolly Roger flag came from the old Revell 1/32
Corsair kit, with eternal thanks to ARC member Otis252! I owe you BIG!!!
Also, the glove pylons are Intermediate Blue on the outside. The reason is
simple; the Tricolor camouflage was to be effective against subs and aircraft
while the aircraft was on the ship; dark above, haze-sky-blue on the sides. This
is why Corsairs had the outer wing panels' undersides done in this color, due to
its wingfolded configuration. Yet strangely they left gear doors and the like in
white, even though they were clearly "vertical" surfaces when parked.
Go figure. So I followed the same spirit of this rule.
Andrew
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