Grumman F-4F Wildcat

Grumman's Feisty Fighter Has Character

AMA Plans Service Showcase Find the entire feature on page 65 in the September 2011 issue. Read an abridged summary relating to the article.AS AN AMERICAN carrier-based fighter aircraft for the United States Navy and British Royal Navy, the Grumman F4F Wildcat was the only effective fighter in the Pacific Theater during the early years of World War II. Jim Ryan chose this rugged warbird to build as electric-powered RC Sport Scale not only to round out his collection—which included models of an F6F Hellcat, F8F Bearcat, and an F4U Corsair—butalso because US Navy fighters are among his favorites. Jim stuck to his tried-and-true construction formula, scaling the airframe to 170 square inches for the wing area and keeping the empty weight at 7 ounces, with flying weight at approximately 18 ounces. The airframe is designed in AutoCAD with the fuselage using former,stringer, and balsa-sheet construction. The 30.6-inch wing is foam sheeted with balsa and the aileron torque rods are fabricated with music wire and brass tubing. Read more on page 65 in the September 2011 issue of Model Aviation.