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F7F-3 Tigercat - BuNo 80405 - VMF 312 MCAS - El Toro, CA 1946


Out2gtcha

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Thanks gents!

 

 

FWIW... I bought my JH model stand from UMM-USA and it looks they still have them at the discounted price that I paid in October...

 

JH 3201 $44.00

http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/product_info.php?products_id=6593&osCsid=a24a12930769790fc9f0a9352db95fb2

 

 

 

Not affliated with UMM-USA... just passing along info that might be useful!  Sorry for the threadjack, Brian!

 

 

No worries John no derailment here at all as far as Im concerned, that is the info I was looking for. I purchased my last two JH stands through UMM, I just never saw the 32nd/24th version!    The last 48th stand I purchased at the NATs this past year, I havnt even opened yet.

I think since it IS unopened I might sell it and pick up the larger version since I mainly work in seemingly larger and heavier models.

 

 

Not a whole lot of progress to report yet, as I need to find some suitable clear resin or plastic to make some new wing tip lights from, but I have an IPMS meeting tomorrow night so I DID manage to tape the whole air-frame together! 

 

It looks pretty killer............pics in a min

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The next IPMS meeting for my Fort Crook club is taking place tomorrow, and as I missed the last few and owe dues I thought I best go.

I also found out this meeting tomorrow night is a "bring what you are working on" meeting where the members get to bring in one of their WIPs and show it off. I figured even though not many of the members of my IPMS club build 32nd scale, I would bring in the F7F as they do normally appreciate US WWII subjects, and regardless of liking or disliking the scale, there is NO denying that the Tigercat makes an imposing model in 1/32nd..............

 

 

I started off by getting the nacelles, cowls, flaps and ailerons taped to the wings. The loose tape fit here is pretty decent actually, even with no real prep to the resin other than cutting the parts off their pour blocks and running a sanding stick over that area quickly:

 

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Next I cut the elevators off their pour blocks, and taped them to the horizontal stab, then taped the rudder to the vertical stab and used some MS foil glue to temporarily mate the empennage to the fuse. This is ONE BIG GIRL. Shes a big beautiful girl to me, and the size is really truly impressive with all the flying surfaces, nacelles and cowls on:

 

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There is lots and LOTS of work to be done, but Im taking it slow, so I don't get burnt out on all the work, but I think it will be very much worth it in the end.

 

Thanks for looking in on me! 

 

 

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And I'm guessing the depleted uranium and tungsten weights will go behind the engines to keep this bad girl down on her wheels?

 

 

 

 

 

Matt 

 

 

There must be a huge market for Dark Matter weights, I'm going to build a collider in the shed

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Thanks gents!  It really IS a huge model. I havnt weight it at this stage yet, but when the fuselage alone with no empennage, wings, engine or other weights 13.75 Oz, you know its going to be a heavy model!

 

Im hoping that the +10 oz of weight put in the nose will be enough to counteract all the tail weight. Im not planning on putting any more weight in the model, as it appears that the more forward of the two nose weights was actually/possibly an after thought, as there are no live pictures of it in the instruction manual, but more of a drawing of it that looks like it may have been inserted after the fact when the built the test model and realized it needed more weight.

 

Hopefully it will get a good reaction at the meet tonight!

 

Cheers, 

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Good to see your Tigercat all mocked up Brian.

I was lucky enough to get to hold a built up model on Hph's stand last November and can attest to just how heavy this model feels with all of the weight inside.

It's nice to see you beginning to enjoy your big Cat after all of your hard work. Hope it's all plain sailing from here on in.

Cheers.

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Thanks again guys. The Tigercat was surprising hit last night at the IPMS meet. Its SO big and heavy, that the poor JH Models stand was swaying and wobbling back and forth as anyone bumped the display table it was setting on. Although I didnt have 2nd pair of supports for the wings on, so Im sure that contributed to the wobbliness. 

 

I really need to find some clear resin or clear thick plastic to make new wing tip lights out of, as that is what is holding the next step up which is working on getting the wings glued on, and empennage on. I could do this before fixing the wing tips, but it will be SO much easier to work the wing tips back into shape without them glued into the heavy fuselage, that Im going to leave the wings off till I get those tips fixed. 

In the mean time, until I find some suitable thick plastic or resin for the wing-tip lights, if Im honest there is a myriad of things I can be working on, which I will likely do, like starting on the nacelle interiors, or starting the beautiful R2800s. The engines I will build in unison, since its just doubling each stage. Im still not sure what Im doing about the exhausts yet either, as they look kind of weird as most of them dont even touch the back of the engine itself. Once the cowl is on though you really cant see up in there to the back of the engine, so I may leave those as is, I cant tell yet. 

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I'm not sure how the Tigercats wingtip lights look like.

 

But have you thought of using clear sprue. Or in some cases of used big diameter fiber optics and warmed up the end so it would mushroom over. Shaped it and Polished it

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