This was my introduction to limited production models, and it was an interesting change from the few cheaper, mass produced kits I have built so far. I built the FM-2 OTB with the addition of True Detail wheels, Aeromaster decals, Black Magic canopy mask and some Invisible thread and brass wire for the antennas. The cockpit details are sharply cast, so most of the work there went to trimming off the urethane castings and painting. This time I tried doing all the painting was with Model Master Acrylics. After painting the panels flat black and associated areas Interior Green, I picked out the details using a silver and a white colored pencil, with a few touches of Red paint as appropriate by following Kinsey's F4F Wildcat in detail photos. I added a dab of Future to the instrument faces which helped set them off. Before assembling the floor and seat, I cut away the floor on either side of the rudder pedal troughs. (FM-2's did not have the windows in the bottom of the fuselage like the F4F's but still retained the holes in the floor). When you assemble the rudder pedals, you need to supply a bit of rod to connect them to the center post.

After sub assembling the cockpit I painted and assembled the engine. It is pretty cleanly molded with good looking cylinder heads. I didn't bother to go the extra mile and add harness or rod details, though there is room in the cowl if you want to add it.

The detail of the Wildcat's unique landing gear is very good. I followed the kit's directions and prepainted the wheel well parts flat white, In his review, Scott mentioned doubts about the white, but it does show off the chain detail and interior mechanism well through the large openings on the sides of the fuselage. I picked out the molded-on chain drive detail with black. The lower gear struts were painted Dark Sea Blue (the exterior color for the plane I was following). By the time you have finished these sub assemblies, there isn't much left on the sprues!

Up to this point, I had been using Model Master Liquid cement... but when I glued everything together in between the fuselage halves I ran into a serious fit problem and had to resort to gluing it up bit by bit with Zap-A-Gap, accelerator and a lot of pressure!

Although I did dry fit the sidewall detail and the assembled cockpit and wheelwell parts to the fuselage halves several times, I still managed to have some fit problems. Maybe a misalignment of the firewall or landing gear bulkhead? Part of the learning curve I guess. With enough "urging" I got it down to a 1/16" gap on the bottom, just aft of the landing gear, which the zap-a-gap filled up nicely! BTW: I used an Auger Bit file, it is a small, fine file for sharpening drill bits that has teeth on the flat faces at one end and on the edges on the other. It is tapered at both ends too. VERY useful. (See Lee Valley Tools below)