Upfront Wildcat's Pratt & Whitney R-1830-90 1,200-horsepower radial engine and its 3-blade propeller, engine model part molded as single piece, thus painted entire area TESTOR Flat Black, dry-brushed raised areas with TESTOR Chrome for surface detailing. Numeral 24 decal placed on lower cowling, this enabled flight deck personnel to identify aircraft up front since its folded or extended wings may obstruct fuselage numerals.

F4F fighter developed by Grumman corporation, one design aspect was its retractable landing gears mounted in the fuselage rather than wing roots, this design previously used on their F2F and F3F naval bi-plane series, the F4F was Grumman's first metal stressed-skin monoplane. Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman

Rollover : Engine cowling weathered by combination of Black Paint Wash and dappled TESTOR Chrome to mimic paint flaking. Traced needle-point black permanent marker along recessed grooves for emphasis. Drilled 2 holes into each front wing for machine gun ports, openings painted black to give it depth. Gun port exhaust stains mimicked by brushing black pastel powder steaks. Two brown engine exhaust nozzles at cowling bottom came from Monogram 1.48th P-40 Tigershark kit, parts fit nicely after holes were drilled. Uwe Militaria Paint Wash Technique - UweMilitaria.org/Technique/wea2Wash.html

Inset : Early-1942 F4Fs in Dull Sea Grey camouflage, white squadron numerals. Bomb racks underneath both wings, small window at fuselage bottom enabled pilot to have line-of-sight when looking directly downward. US Navy changed from so-called Neutrality camouflage (overall light grey with poignant and colorful squadron/unit colors) to this grey wrap-around camouflage on October 1940. However, since wings carried normal size US insignia on one side, fuselage sports smaller low-visibility US marking, and the blue roundel - white star - red dot is evident, the planes were probably state-side 1942-era Wildcats (some say San Diego region due to location of large naval base). Naval Aviation Chronology in World War II - www.history.navy.mil/branches/avchr5.htm