I've decided to depict a Buffalo flown by Lt. John Thach, then commander of VF-3 on USS Saratoga March 1940. Thach later developed a fighter tactic that would be known as the "Thach Weave" which allowed us fighters to hold their own against the Japanese Zero. Later he was assigned to the USS Yorktown flying Wildcats during the battle of Midway where he escorted a flight of TBD Devastators when they discovered the main Japanese carrier fleet. The formation was attacked by 15+ fighters and Thach used the above mentioned tactic and personally shot down 3 Zeros and later that day a torpedo bomber. By the end of the battle of Midway Thach had been credited with six enemy aircraft destroyed. He was deemed too valuable to risk in combat after that and was removed from front line service to teach combat tactics. He went on to serve command the USS Sicily during the Korean War, and later the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the 60s he was the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air and then Commander and Chief of US naval forces in Europe before retiring as a 4 star Admiral in May 1967. Admiral Thach passed away on April 15, 1981 a few days short of his 76th birthday.
I completed the work on the control panel and I'm satisified with the results.
When I printed the control panel pictures in post 22 the detail was too soft and you couldn't really make out the instruments too well so I took the original and topped out the contrast and sharpness and upped the brightness some and cane up with the picture below.
I then cut out the main panel, the 2 side panels and made up the lower panel from bits from the second picture and glued them in place. Then I gave them a couple of coats of Dull Coat followed by carefully dabbing the instrument faces with Gloss Coat using a tooth pick to replicate the instrument glass. Not great but, more than good enough with a closed canopy and much better than the white dots I had done before. George, Thanks again for reminding me of this method.
The installed Instrument panel. Now I have to wait for the canopy masks I ordered to come. They are supposed to be here anywhere from now until April 17
Nice. As mentioned else where, I am seriously going to overload in canopy masks. Not being lazy but the end results with the two that I have used are far better than I could ever get