This model was completed about 1994, started with a Monogram kit before the Tamiya F4F was released and before any of the -3's had been recovered from Lake Michigan.
I had already made all of the external modifications to the wing and fuselage before the Tamiya kit was released. When the Tamiya kit became available I bought one and used the
cockpit, landing gear, and engine, as well as the horizontal stabilizer, to enhance the Monogram kit. Interestingly the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum painted an F4F-3 recovered
from Lake Michigan in these markings after I built this model. The markings are for VF-72 on the Ranger.