Here's the second project I have going on since my journey back from WWI armor. I'm going back to an old favorite, the Tamiya Wildcat dash 4. Compared to the Hobby Boss dash 3 I just finished, this will be a walk in the park. This is one of the first kits I built when I returned to the hobby years ago, so I have sentimental attachment.
I'm going with John "Jimmy" Thach's VF-3 Yorktown machine during the Battle of Midway. On the morning of June 4th 1942, Thach led six Wildcats in escort of VT-3 Yorktown Devastators. On discovery of the main Japanese fleet, they were promptly attacked by 15 to 20 Zero fighters. Thach atempted his namesake maneuver, the "Thach Weave", and he manage to shoot down three of them himself. This was reported to be the maneuver's first use in combat. Thach would score six kills in the war.
As I said, the Tamiya Wildcat is an awesome kit out of the box. I've built it several times and I will make minor improvements. I started with the pit. First I cut out the floor since the Wildcat didn't actually have one. I had the pleasant surprise of an Eduard color PE set in the box, so I used some of it. The instrument panel, seatbelts, and the seat itself are all PE. I used my own concoction of interior green, which is essentially XF-58 Olive Green, XF-4 Yellow Green, and XF-49 Khaki.
The PE instrument panel looks ok.
A test fit....no issues.
I have to build the gear next then close it up.