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Grumman Martlet


Alain Gadbois

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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  :thumbsup:  :thumbsup: if anyone else needs a detailed exterior walk around of those please PM me)

 

Screen%20Shot%202016-09-10%20at%2009.13.

 

Screen%20Shot%202016-09-10%20at%2009.12.

 

Screen%20Shot%202016-09-10%20at%2009.15.

Screen%20Shot%202016-09-10%20at%2009.16.

 

Gotta love that worn paint finish!!!

 

Cheers, Torben

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  • 3 weeks later...

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.

 

AilesPanneaux2.jpg

 

Here's another photo.

 

AilePanneaux1.jpg

 

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.

 

IntAvantFrames.jpg

 

Actually it aligns almost perfectly now!

 

IntAvant2.jpg

 

Here it is from the front, you see the circular support just inside the fuselage parts...

 

AvantFrames3.jpg

 

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.

 

NewCylinder.jpg

 

Back to the fuselage parts now.

I will correct the kit seat as it is not so accurate. 

 

CockpitSeat1.jpg

 

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.

 

CockpitSeat1-1.jpg

 

Next I am replacing the the sides with 0.010" sheet styrene with the final shape very roughly drawn on.

 

CockpitSeat2.jpg

 

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.

 

CockpitTank.jpg

 

Next: more on the cockpit parts as I advance in this area.

 

Regards

Alain

Edited by Alain Gadbois
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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.

 

Cylindre1.jpg

 

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...

 

Couleurs1.jpg

 

Now the cockpit...

Here is the right fuselage half.

 

CockpitD-1.jpg

 

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.

 

Cockpit%20Gauche%20-styrene.jpg

 

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.

 

Cloison%20arr%20Pottee%20en%20place-2.jp

 

The blob is pressed to shape and left to harden. 

When removed, this is what you get:

 

Cloison%20arr%20Pottee%202-2.jpg

 

You can then remove the excess very easily and sand flush.

 

Cockpit%20Arr%20Pottee-2.jpg

 

The fit is then near perfect.

 

Next more on detailing the side consoles and the fuselage halves.

 

Regards,

Alain

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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.

 

Cote-D-Structures.jpg

 

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.

 

Console-Droite.jpg

 

I still needed to shave some material at the back of the radio so it would fit.

 

Radio-Taillee.jpg

 

Here is what the right side looks like now...

 

CoteDroit-details.jpg

 

Regards!

Alain

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