Wildcat

That ought to be "Midway quartet" You're going to need a 1:48 Martin B-26
Marauder to make it complete. There were 4 of them with torpedos slung
under the belly. http://www.redraiders22bg.com/stories/b_26_midway.html
Ray

Only one in town nowadays is the Tamiya one.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ray Marotta That ought to be "Midway quartet" You're going to need a 1:48 Martin B-26 Marauder to make it complete. There were 4 of them with torpedos slung under the belly. http://www.redraiders22bg.com/stories/b_26_midway.html Ray

... quintet, you're forgetting perhaps the most important a/c, the TBD Devestator -- vital not for the damage they caused, but that their attack drew the fighter cover down to the wavetops, opening the way for the Dauntless attacks.

For sure is the Tamiya Wildcat. I've just finished it and it is excellent. But you will need aftermarket decals. I've heard the Accurate Miniture 1/48 Dauntless is actually better(way better) than Hasegawa one and I believe it. Beside the Devestator, you also need the F2A3 Buffalo(flown by heroic US Marines pilots despite it's inferior performance). Tamiya 1/48 old F2A2 Bufflalo is still quite good even it was designed in 1975. Yon will need aftermarket decals and may need some minor conversion. If you also want to do the Japanese side, you need Hasegawa 1/48 Zero (A6M2), 1/48 Aichi D3A 'Val" and Nakajima B5N 'Kate". The Val and Kate might be from the older mold from Fujimi in later 1970's, but they are excelent.

You guys are also forgetting the Marine Brewster Buffalos that launched from Midway, and the Vindicators. Looks like you have your work cut out for you. :)

As long as we're nitpicking history here, you'll need a B-17 too. A flight of them
from Midway made an (unsuccessful) high-level attack on the Japanese fleet.

What?!!! No Catalinas?? Jeez-- they are the ones that spottd the carriers ;-)

Apparently Tamiya thought they could do a better job of engineering than Grumman when it comes to the wildcat. They put a floor in the cockpit of it . That is the only flaw in the kit, be it a big one though. The cockpit details are a bit heavy handed and over simplified...Hey for the money you pay for Tamiya, there should not be parts in the kit that were not on the airplane.

They did an excellent job of capturing the details of the firewall and landing gear. With the open whell wells theres a lot to see in there...very well done.

Darren

Aren't you going to build examples of the Japanese A/C from the battle too. And what about the ships?

If your serious about this Midway thing hold tight I think Accurate Miniatures is working on a series of Models for the Battle of Midway.

Coming back to Wildcats - in the couple of weeks/months MIRAGE will do them - hope good ones ! Aleksander