Wake island reinforcement Buffalo

[PanzerWulff]

When Admiral Fletcher and his task force 11 which had the task of resupplying Wake's defenders was ordered to abandon the mission,the Admiral decided to push on in support of the beleaugered defenders and deliver the supplies and aircraft needed.After Fletchers reply that he was pushing on Vice Admiral Pye ordered Admiral Brown's task force 14 (which had reluctantly obeyed the abort command) to turn back around and support Fletcher Thus the Saratoga & Lexington faced off against the Soryu & Hiryu.Under the cover of the carrier action Wake was resupplied with a squadron of Buffalo fighters and a Scratch Squadron of  Dauntless dive bombers and Wildcats (3 of each from the 2 carriers ) as well as the 4th Marine Coastal Defense Battalion.More importantly among the supplies was a radar set.After the carrier engagement in which bolth sides carrier forces withdrew with minor damage.
The Wake defenders now resupplied and reinforced waited for the next assault,among the reinforcements were the 12 F2A Buffalos of VMF 221 Somewhat modified and unusually painted by it's Excentric ground crews,The head mechanic was an avid ex race car mechanic who Squeezed every last ounce of horsepower out of the buffalos engines while the head armourer was somewhat of a mad scientist when it came to ordinance.These two Nicknamed "Speed' & "Pockets" respectivly were the duo who came up with the "Fourth of July" weapons load A pair of rockets (designed by Pockets) attached to 8in Armor piercing shells from cruisers guns. The Buffalos & Dauntlesses went after the japanese ships while the Wildcats flew cover.The aircraft succeded in driving off the enemy landing force with the loss of 2 Wildcats and 3 Buffalos,The Japanese loss of bolth transports 2 destroyers and the cruiser Tenryu.The buffalos rocket attacks were effective and confusing to the Japanese accounting for the sinking of one destroyer and much of the damage leading to the sinking of the Tenryu.With further reinforcement Wake became a thorn in the Japanese forces side until the end of the war

On to the Pics






ENJOY!!!
"Panzer"

[Jschmus]

Nicely done!  This makes me nostalgic for the old Xbox game Heroes of the Pacific.  There are three missions based around Wake Island, which you have to fly with an early-model F4F.  However, once you have completed various missions an unlocked different aircraft, you can go back and replay the older missions with different aircraft.  One of my favorites was to do this section with an F4U.

[JayBee]

PW.
An awesome idea and a fantastic model. Well done!
You should be promoted!
To what, I am not too sure, but you should be anyway.

JayBee

[Brian da Basher]

Outstanding, Panzer!!! I really like the three tone camo scheme (navy style mottle?) and the added rockets which really make your Buffalo look the part!

It's great to see another beauty fly off your bench!

Brian da Basher

[jorel62]

cool.......

[PanzerWulff]

Outstanding, Panzer!!! I really like the three tone camo scheme (navy style mottle?) and the added rockets which really make your Buffalo look the part!

It's great to see another beauty fly off your bench!

Brian da Basher

just to point out the kit is the Tamiya 1/48 south pacific Buffalo kit and I made the rockets out of a pair of 1/72 hasegawa weapon set Phoenix missles I just removed the delta leading wings and cleaned them up and mounted them on a pair of pylons from a old 1/48 monogram F-80 shooting star I'm glad you guys like it it's the first project I actually finished since my surgery I have a lot of half finished projects to finish up
"Panzer"

[Ed S]

Very clever idea.  Those rockets look a lot like the 11.75" Tiny Tim rockets the Navy used during WWII and Korea.

Ed

[Weaver]

Ahh, right - I was trying to figure out where the rockets came from: they look nicely in the Tiny Tim mould, but intriguingly different  

Nice model and good back story - well done!

[Eddie M.]

Sweet! You've done an excellent job improving the looks of the Buffalo by many fold!!;D

[John Howling Mouse]

Love the specular sea finish!  Great idea all around.  Are those landing gear stock or modified?  (only Buffalo I built had Spats!)  They look reminiscent of a Wildcat's; just right, in other words.      Good to have you back.

[Rafael]

Chris, you came back rejuvenated and recharged!!!

This one is a good way of making a better use of the venerable Buffalo. The camo job is outstanding.

My guess for the 4th of July weapon is: Midbody to rear - Phoenix missile, and nose from a 1/35 munition

Rafa

[PanzerWulff]

Actually for the rockets all i did was remove the forward part of the fins and blunted the tip after that I scribed the fuse with a #11 blade and made the lugs to hold the "Artillary shell" out of verry thin styrene strip the rocket is all one piece made to look seperate.I reailize now that i forgot to add the radio antenna and pitot tube before I took the pics lol,the landing gear is stock buffalo the landing gear was designed extra strong for carrier use.as for the paint scheme I had started in the navy Tricolor scheme but a couple drips gave me the idea for the Specular Mottle I was sort of thinking of possibly trying that on the whole uppers on another model maybe another Naval mustang I'm glad you guys liked it as I myself am a Staunch defender of the Humble F2A Buffalo
"Panzer"

[Joe C-P]

 

[Taiidantomcat]

Great Camo 

[nev]

And there was me thinking this was going to be an amphibious armoured vehicle.......