Cruel Seas – Royal Airforce and Luftwaffe

While I'm currently reading the Close Quarters supplement for Cruel Seas, I return to the aircrafts that I have around for air support on the channel.

Quite a while back I bought a few of the larger Trumpeter packs, as I thought an air combat game in topgun style would be fun, maybe to defend an aircraft carrier. From that idea I still have the F4F-4 Wildcat here, the other kits (Douglas TBD and SBD) I traded with the Sweetwater travelling box, as only the Grumman were used by the British under the designation Martlet / Wildcat Mk. IV. As it would be unfair to just give the Royal Navy some support from above, I got something for the Kriegsmarine as well.

I went with these kits by Trumpeter in 1:350, Messerschmitt BF 109T and Junkers Ju-87C-1.

The Messerschmitt saw service since the spanish civil war in 1937, and was build until the end of the war. It fullfilled a similar role on the battlefield as did the F4F Wildcat, and the variant T was even build for use with the Kriegsmarine on Aircraft carriers. In 1943 the Jagdstaffel Helgoland was formed with Bf 109T and operated from Düne until late 1943 and were in service until summer 1944. As such they fit very well with my idea of a conflict in the English Channel. In addition to the Bf 109T the Kriegsmarine decided for Ju-87C dive bombers, so the second choice was set.

Both kits have clear sprues, each covering a single model per sprue, with 6 sprues per box. Casting quality is well done and both kits have brass etched hooks for to grab the landing line on the carriers. I strongly suggest to not directly apply the glue to the model, as they are quite fine and put a few drops on a tile and use a needle tip or tweezers for assembly.

The Grumman F4F-4 Wildcats is an american made plane, that was in use with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm through the lend-lease act as Martlet Mk IV. The F4F had a folding wing mechanic, and as such could hold up to 50% more planes on an aircraft carrier. This feature is covered in the sprue and makes it incredibly annoying to build. I gave it multiple tries and couldn't achieve a clean result. So I guess I'll force myself through the box to produce 3-4 usable kits and the others will be used as downed markers or mission objectives.

And to give you an idea of the size, here they are next to 1:300 ships from the Cruel Seas range. An aircraft carrier is quite large in this scale and could be seen as part of the Salute demo table for Blood Red Skies (yet in 1:200, but you get the idea how large this one would be in 1:300-350).

The Wildcat isn't listed as an entry for the British, just on the US Aircraft on page 54 in Close Quarters, but the profile is identical with the Spitfire or Hurricanes on the British list. Stuka and Me 109 (the allied designation for the Bf 109) can be found on page 56 of the same supplement.