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F4D-1 Skyray VF-13 1962: Update 9/19 Forward fuselage


EmperorKai

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I recently picked up this wonderful kit via the LSP Traders forum, and after looking through it, decided this was the next one.  I'll be building it out of the box with the provided markings for US Navy all weather fighter squadron VFAW-3 "Blue Nemesis".  This squadron has the distinction of being the only US Navy unit assigned to the North American Air Defense Command.

 

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The scheme I'll be depicting, though with the black nose.  The decals are for aircraft 32.

 

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The kit has seen several owners before landing on my bench.

 

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In the box

 

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Parts!  

 

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The main airframe parts, which make for an "oh wow"  moment when first opening the box.  

 

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Decals, masks, photo-etch, all in part of the kit.  Nice.

 

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So many Fords, so little time...

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

Edited by EmperorKai
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Great crowd!  Thanks all- I've started digging in and will have some pics shortly!

 

Hey can you post some pics of the nozzle and the gear/bays/covers? I designed them for this kit, but never got one and i'd love to see how they turned out!

thanks!

Brian-

You bet- I'll take a few extra pics.  I've got the main gear bays cleaned up, and just finished painting the engine.  Will have pics soon.

 

Kai

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As promised, some pics.  Most of my efforts have been on the main wing section.

 

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On reviewing the instructions, I noticed that they call for the wings to be trimmed as needed for fit.  After test fitting and trimming, I found that there is just a bit more warp in the main wing sections than I initially thought.  Here, the bottom section.

 

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The top section is similar, but not too bad.

 

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I dunked the wing ends in boiling water (5 seconds was plenty) and was able to remove the major warps, but in doing so, I inadvertently introduced some new ones.  

 

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The other side, which didn't come out as bad.  I did go back and apply hot water to the problem areas with a glass eye dropper and was able to correct most of these, but there's a bit more to go.  

 

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Here, a quick test fit.  The droop on the left side straightens out more when the ends are fitted, but again, I think I'll need to coax it some more with the eye dropper.  There's also a funky gap on the top half on the right.

 

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The vertical fin leaned a bit, but this was corrected pretty easily.

 

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I decided to turn my attention to the engine, which is done at this point.  Here, the nozzle section.

 

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.. and the turbine, which were all done using Gunze Metal-Cote.  I tried taking a pic with engine assembled, but couldn't get decent focus.  I'll try again later.

 

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A couple of pics for reference.

 

Not much to look at right now, I know.  Hopefully more tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

 

 

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Guest Peterpools

Kai

Awesome project and a a great start. I;ve done a few Fisher kits and have a bunch more in the stash. They are a bit more more but the subject matter is just so well worth the work

Keep 'em coming

Peter

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So my last post was somewhat gloomy.  Which, if anything, should be taken as a testament to my own process and fumblings.  I've been trying new techniques for the last year or so, and while learning alot, I've also had my share of face plants.

 

With that said, I've more pics of my efforts to close up the main wing section.

 

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A follow up pic of the main landing gears and bays.  These were done with a base coat of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and then Gunze C69 Off White.  Details were brought out with Mig Dark Wash and everything blended together with light spot coat of Gunze C156 Super White (which was rather finicky in the airbrush).  Of course, the gear is still unpainted.

 

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Holes for the cannon barrels (to be cut from thin walled brass tubing) were drilled deeper for later.  The shell ejection ports were also covered from the back and will be painted black later.

 

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Here, a great reference shot of the cannons.  It appears that the guns are loosely placed on this museum example, hence the strange slightly cockeyed angles.

 

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The kit piece for the outlet vent on the upper spine was a little narrow by the time I finished cleaning up the opening, so a new vent was scratch built from sheet styrene. 

 

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A reference pic- now that it is posted here side-by-side with the kit piece, it looks narrower, longer and located further from the spine.  hmmm.

 

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The NACA duct on the belly was cleaned up, grated and covered over to force the dark internal shadow. 

 

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A reference pic.  I didn't have anything like this type of grating, so I used the square pattern mesh that I had on hand.

 

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Once all the internal details (including the engine) were in place, the upper and lower wing sections were glued together.  Despite test fitting dozens of times, it wasn't until I was halfway done that I noticed that the gear bay was too big and touching the upper half.  The result was a big gap along the leading edge.  I forced the pieces together to close the gap and glued the heck out of it.  However, I was still concerned that it might pop later on, I decided to pin the area.  Holes were drilled and scrap brass rod pins were driven in each hole.  The pins were cut short so the either end resulted with a counter sink.  The empty hole is were my cheap chinese drill bit broke, becoming an impromptu pin. 

 

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The left side was cleaned up and panel lines replaced where needed.  The plates for the strakes were quite misaligned, so I made a rubbing, sanded them off and cut a replacement from lead sheet.  Here, the first one is in place.  The second one next to the slat is next.

 

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The wing section as it sits now.  The trailing edge and rear section still await glue, but I want to settle accounts along the leading edges first.  The good news is that the wings look straight and aligned from the front.

 

Still alot to do, but overall, this is coming together relatively fast.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Kai

Edited by EmperorKai
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Keep jumping those hurdles Kai   :thumbsup:

 

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Looks like you are doing great with them. I will be watching this one!  :popcorn:  :popcorn:

 

Teresa  :D

 

PS: Love the holder (TP)  :rofl:  What ever works right and multipurpose. Kidding

Looking great so far! 

Edited by Girlscanplay2
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