TorbenD Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Alain, looking great so far! I managed to get a few shots of the exterior of the Martlet @ the FAAMuseum to other day whilst on holiday - I only had my little Cybershot with its integral flash and it was very dark in that section so not as well lit/shot as I would normally do - here's just a few of screen grabs examples as I didn't want to clog up your thread - I have 31 shots in total, if you'd like the rest please drop me a PM and I'll wetransfer to you. I would have taken far more but ran out of time as my main mission was to document the exteriors of the Firefly and Fulmar (mission accomplished on that front if anyone else needs a detailed exterior walk around of those please PM me) Gotta love that worn paint finish!!! Cheers, Torben BradG, Martinnfb, Shaka HI and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka HI Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Awesome picts..I think the weathering is way too much even for my tastes... :-) TorbenD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Good job Torben....odd finish though isn't it, though apparently 100% authentic. Max TorbenD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeblack Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Great pictures, Torben! Very useful I would think. Mike TorbenD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 Thank you Torben! Excellent photos and I would like for sure to see the rest. That wheel well shot really shows the angled bulkhead! The weathered look is the result of removing all the other paint over the original coat Truly a museum artifact. TorbenD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorbenD Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Thanks Alain, a wetransfer link for the rest on its way to you via PM Good luck with the rest of this great build Torben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Hi all! Busy this week finishing casting all the trophies for the upcoming Montreal International Model Meet ... More on the Martlet soon! Regards, Alain The1971Show 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 (edited) Hello! More on the wings today... Here are the new panel lines on the left wing. There is a great difference in panel lines and gun panels from the original F4F-4 kit wings. If you want to attempt the Martlet 1 conversion you should get the F4F-3 kit, as there will be much less work to do. Here's another photo. I am still trying to get the lower wing panel sorted out , with all the round access panels, gun chutes rivet lines, etc Now here is the progress with the landing gear bay. I have started to assemble the basic engine support parts to see how, with the different angle of the rear bulkhead, these parts line up into the fuselage. Actually it aligns almost perfectly now! Here it is from the front, you see the circular support just inside the fuselage parts... By total chance, I was looking trough my ZM Raiden kit and suddenly realized there was a great radial engine in there! Why didn't I think of that kit before... I will copy one cylinder to make my Cyclone. Back to the fuselage parts now. I will correct the kit seat as it is not so accurate. I will save the bottom part of it and replace the sides and back. Here I have removed the sides and I am in the process of sawing the back off. Next I am replacing the the sides with 0.010" sheet styrene with the final shape very roughly drawn on. One final bit tonight, I wondered for a while what could be visible through those lower windows. I discovered finally that there is a fuel tank under the cockpit floor. So I have made a very simple shape in sheet styrene that will be eventually glued under the kit floor. Next: more on the cockpit parts as I advance in this area. Regards Alain Edited October 3, 2016 by Alain Gadbois BradG, mikeblack, Kagemusha and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Very nice work! Love to see how it turns out! HÃ¥kan mikeblack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 Hello all! A bit more on the Cyclone engine: Here is the crude modeling clay form I made around the cylinder I want to copy to make the cyclone engine. I am molding only the front half as the rest is hidden anyway by baffles between each cylinder. At this time the silicone has already been poured but I haven't made any copies yet. It is also time to start looking into the very unique colours the Martlet I wore when first delivered by Grumman: dark green, bright medium green and light blue. I found it difficult to mach those colours to the usual hobby paint (Humbrol, Tamiya) because all these have "drab " appearance. I made a test with hobby acrylics that look nice (the dark green maybe a bit too dark) but I have yet to see how they airbrush... This picture was taken outside in direct sunlight. Much enlarged, there a distinct grain apparent, but not so much in reality... Now the cockpit... Here is the right fuselage half. Notice that wedge in the side, as it serves no purpose at all! I thought it was to help locate the side console but there is no need to, and it is visible when looking in the cockpit. The wing root recess will be most visible, so to hide all this and the big ejector pin mark, I lined the cockpit with a trimmed sheet of 0,010" styrene on both sides. I added a bit of epoxy and auto putty to blend to top edge of the sheet. I noticed the rear cockpit bulkhead suddenly turns vertical close to the floor and leaves a gap so I decided to fill it in with epoxy too. The trick is to put a blob of epoxy on the edge to be corrected and press the floor/rear bulkhead in place in the fuselage . You can see it ooze out at the lower edge of the rear bulkhead next to the styrene sheet. The blob is pressed to shape and left to harden. When removed, this is what you get: You can then remove the excess very easily and sand flush. The fit is then near perfect. Next more on detailing the side consoles and the fuselage halves. Regards, Alain TorbenD, Martinnfb and BradG 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 I LOVE the Martlet! Does the HC kit use it's own molds? If not, who's plastic is it? Trumpeter? It's the Trumpeter kit, Ernie. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 Hello all! Here is the near-finished right-hand cockpit side, with structures added. The pencil marks are in the alignment of the kit ribs, but I changed them as they were not exactly in the right position. The right console with modifications. I added some length to the rear and added details. Some molded-on wires were removed and will be replaced by wire. The whole console was lowered almost 2mm so the radio top could clear the fuselage. The new position is more accurate anyways. I still needed to shave some material at the back of the radio so it would fit. Here is what the right side looks like now... Regards! Alain TorbenD, Hubert Boillot, BradG and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Very nice work, Alain! Kev Alain Gadbois 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 Thanks! At first, I didn't think I would be spending so much effort in the cockpit but, with some poor looking and other ill fitting parts, I had to find out more then I just got carried away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeblack Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Great work, Alain! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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