The
history: When at last things returned to close to normal and countries
once again looked to things other than survival rather than redesigning
aircraft from scratch designers fell back on tried and true designs making
adaptations to allow for the available technology. The F4F (originally
designed for the USN around 1940) was chosen due to it's ability to land
on small carriers and because extensive technical information and airframes
were available for study by the aeronautical redevelopment task force
(ARDF). The original radial engine was reengineered using modern materials
and burning methanol (can be brewed up from rice, cane sugar, etc.) with
nitrous injection to give a maximum combat power of 3000 hp for short
periods. A butterfly tail was added in place on the original unit to reduce
weight and drag. Modern electricals and power-assisted controls were also
added to increase manuverability at high speed. Due to a lack of conventional
weapons or means of manufacturing ammunition something known as the ominous
cannon was fitted. The ominous cannon is a kind of rail gun and has a
normal sized (25mm) barrel surrounded by an outer jacket that contains
the necessary cooling for superconducting magnets. The ominous cannon
can achieve a high firing rate and can fire various types of ammunition
(though nothing electrical the magnetic fields fry it) one disadvantage
of the ominous cannon is that ammunition as well as a large battery must
be carried. The battery is mounted in the fuselage and can be slid out
onto the wing for service and replacement.
The
model: The main reason behind this kit is the fact that I was stupid enough
to buy a monogram 1/48th F4F on the cheap from toys R us. Due to the terrible
detail of this kit I decided I had to do something about it like use gigantic
quantities of creative license. The model is basically stock except for
the butterfly tail (vertical tail removed and horizontal tails re-attached
at an angle.) and the addition of the ominous cannon which is made from
1/2 of one of the F4F drop tanks that come in the kit with a barrel made
of god knows what. The twin air intakes for the superchargers are made
from the ventilator funnels from some ship my brother had lying around.
The battery is a piece of plasticard and a handle made of thin wire. The
cockpit interior and the propeller both come from the p61 EX (with 3000
horses I thought it need 4 blades). Although I just stuck the model together
rather quickly I paid a bit of attention to the painting. I used the airbrush
to give it a typical USN colour scheme. Once I was done with that I used
a brush to paint the landing gear and canopy frame etc. The transfers
with the kit are so thick you could probably use them as tablecloths so
I used some others I had lying around. I used Mr mark softer from gunze
and it really allowed the raised rivets to show through the transfers.
Oh yeah the dolphin and the numbers are from the T-72 tank. With the transfers
in place I lightly dry-brushed silver to pick out the rivets. This and
some pastel weathering turned what had until then looked very bland into
quite a good model (gigantic gaps in the wing joins not withstanding).
Some
more larger pictures (click the thumbnails) 
bravenet.com