Fancherello

Many thanks guys, that’s super kind Glad you like it so far !

so working on the wings and that nacelle assembly wont be my best souvenir as a modelling exeprience, i'd say, but it seems the price to pay to build this kit. HpH did some great parts on this kit, but also terrible shorcuts such as the engine framing assembly which could 'really' have been better designed to get an accurate alignment. The oil tanks that are visible details that should pop out the well's mess, so i did more detailed 3d drawings that i'll be printing tomorrow. bye ! Fanch

a wipe of WD40 and he's good to go !

Not happy with the kit's carburator intakes, I've decided to make some new ones. Those from the kit are skinny, dont line up correctly have an ugly inner seam and are the front mesh type which i didnt want. i did a separate tubing that meets the front part at a raised solder line for ease of painting. bye Fanch

Many thanks for your kind words guys, much appreciated ! Fanch

Hello Pete and thank you: here's more about the tug: it's been some multilayered hairspray chipping. I prefer to make that chipping in a single go so that i get a more logical pattern around the chips. I use intermediate hairspray layers and add a thin layer of gunze auqeous varnish on top of the hairspray to slow down the progress of the moisture though the layers. here the progress in pics: Rust colors are applied with a sponge, at this stage you need to be careful not to activate the hairspray layer down under as those are waterbased colors.

I'm super glad i gave you inspiration ! you did a terrific work, bravo !

So cockpit wise here are a few in progress pics and how it looks now. I have to finish the gear bay and stop handling and playing with the fuselage halves before adding last details on pit's sides. The cockpit takes inspiration from HPH's ref pics that show several layers of zync chromate and interior green. Night fighters had black overpaints on various patterns: the black area could vary from a plane to another ( i've also seen a pic showing a black seat ). I've been using multilayered hairspary chipping to travel across the various color layers and try and make it storytelling. The cockpit design included series of holes so that i could use my friend Tom Anyz's switches and knobs system, and some self made ones too: that's now my favourite way to get nice color separations. That also helps giving the parts a treatment before adding the fragile switches. This system has totally changed my workflow there, and i couldnt reverse now. No chance.

thanks a lot my friend !

Thanks a lot Brian, i'm glad you like it as I know you like the Tigercat a bit more than other planes. The chin bulge has been a challenge to get right its shape is rather confusing depending on the angle. I'm putting the last efforts on the nose these days, some scoops need adding only on one side if i'm not wrong ( checking this at the moment )

The Videoaviation Tug, updated with 3d printed parts ( Sonic Mini 4K printer ) I'll add both painted cockpits very soon ! Fanch

Hello That's too long time i havent posted here, so here is my work in progress: a 1/32 F7F-3N Tigercat made from HPH's kit and probably depicting Romain Hugault's future comic book topic. Here's where i am at: a lot of digital work, but also chunks of painted resin. And also the tug that will be displayed along with the plane. Here's an idea of the digital work done mainly with Fusion 360 software and also with Blender ( more for texturing, sculpting and bulging ) nose part is still under works ! all the files ( and also the engine, i'll make a post about it ) are available for download here: https://cults3d.com/en/users/Fancherello/creations those are free downloads, a free donation button is available, but nothing mandatory. I made sure i host my pics on safe place now as i realized that my previous threads died because those were Facebook hosted ones. I'll try to add shortly the painted parts and cope up with the actual progress of the kit !

Yes that was one of the goals when choosing LOU IV: i'm able to say it's 100% correct in tones !!!! And i found out that there are plenty of subtle things on that scheme, i love it now ! Thanks all for your kind words

Hello That's too long since the last update ! So where is how both models and their figures look like so far: "STEP HE" !! And that pic: inspired this: still a lot of work, for sure a challenging exercise ! bye Fanch

Hi and thank you ! I'm honestly glad you said that: i really look for subtle and second reading effects for that cowling. I restrain myself alot on weathering and artefacts to try and stick to the original pic that i put a few posts before ! More generally, even though i enjoy all kind of contrasts for watching, i like my models to have subtle light/shadow modulation ( whuch doesnt mean weathering to me ) effects