Converting Tamiya F4F-4 to a F4F-3

The wing panel line and the gun arrangement is different, as the wings did not fold.  There were several different cowling scoop arrangements for the -3 Wildcats.

As John pointed out, the non-folding versus folding wings is the biggest difference. Aside from the engine itself, the differences in scoops...and number and arrangement of cowl flaps...were also distinctive.

You might do well to compare the line-drawing profiles and other illustrations on this page:

https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2020/05/28/grumman-f4f-wildcat/amp/

I did the same conversion you're looking at with the Revell F4F-4 some years ago. Not terribly difficult...but a lot of rescribing of panel lines!

Good luck.

Depending on what scale you want, and how much time you want to invest getting to how accurate you want it.  If 1/32 would work for you, take a look at the -3's from Trumpeter.  Well designed, And the engines are pretty well detailed oob.  Not really that spendy, and IIRC, they have both early and late versions.

George,

As a heads up, Eduard is coming out with a limited edition F4F-3 for the Battle of Midway.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/eduard-tba202206-grumman-f4f-3-wildcat-battle-midway--1379231

June 4-6 will be the 80th anniversary. Maybe look for it around April? Just a scientific wild a$$ guess.

Carl

Just for clarification, the US carriers at Midway had F4F-4s in their air groups, while only a half dozen or so F4F-3s were on Midway air station with VMF-221. If you're planning to build one of the carrier based Wildcats, you'll need a -4.

Thanks for the info. I wonder what markings the plane will have? Eduard are great kits.

George