Yellow-Wings Decals 1/72 F4F-3 VMF-211 'Wake Island Wildcats' 1941 Decal First Look
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | March 2008 | Manufacturer | Yellow-Wings Decals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | F4F-3 VMF-211 'Wake Island Wildcats' 1941 | Scale | 1/72 |
| Set Number | 72032 | Pros | Markings for all of the USMC VMF-211 Wake Island Wildcats |
| Cons | Skill Level | Basic | |
| MSRP (USD) | $12.95 |
First Look
Yellow-Wing Decals continues to amaze me with their well-researched line of decals. As those of you who've seen previous offerings, the premise of this decal maker was to present decal subjects for primarily US Navy and US Marine Corps aircraft prior to World War II, back when they all wore yellow wings.
As Wayne Tevlin, the owner and researcher will tell you, there are plenty of interesting pre-war subjects out there, but as he goes through the archives, he happens across subjects like this one that are hard to pass up. The trademark of Yellow-Wing Decals can be answered by this typical question asked of a new aviation decal sheet release: "Which aircraft are covered in this set?" If the answer is "All of them!" then it is a Yellow-Wings Decals set.
This release covers the deployment of VMF-211 to Wake Island once the new airfield was usable. The squadron departed Pearl Harbor on 28 November 1941 aboard USS Enterprise for a six-day trip to Wake. During that voyage, the Wildcats were given a hasty re-painting of Non-Specular Blue-Gray on the upper surfaces of the aircraft, leaving the existing the Non-Specular Light Gray on the undersides left over from the neutrality patrol paint schemes worn up until then.
Yellow-Wing Decals provides a brief summary of this short-lived deployment that became the next combat hot-spot for the US after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As you can see in the images, there are enough markings to replicate all of the VMF-211 Wildcats, even 211-F-9 that had been left behind at Ford Island with starter problems. The only constraint on these sheets are the number of cockades, but these are also available separately on a previous Yellow-Wings Decals release.
This set is perfect for the Hasegawa 1/72 F4F-4 Wildcat kit modified with the Quickboost F4F-3 conversion. These decals are printed by Microscale and are in perfect register. Then again, I've never seen a bad release from Yellow-Wings Decals.
Yellow-Wings Decals can be purchased directly from their website at www.yellow-wingsdecals.com.
My sincere thanks to Yellow-Wings Decals for this review sample!