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Scratchbuilt 1/24 Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat


Jim Barry

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That's harsh news, Rick.  I hope the next one works out.

 

Speaking of detail, I kind of went to town on the Elevator Trim Wheel in the cockpit. This is all kind of blowing my mind how much detail is piling on here. Way beyond my initial thinking about this project, but we'll go with it and see what happens.

 

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Thanks, Jaraj. Keep it rolling on your end, too.

 

So just a few thoughts tonight. One is some comfort in finding some pictures of the elevators and ailerons. It's funny but I had this recollection in my mind that these features had a bulging spar effect in them but photos I had been perusing lately were showing me they were not that noticeable  and  I was thinking I had been working awfully hard to get an effect that does not exist. It does exist, but I do need to be careful. I recall this oddity with the Fury. It's all about the angle light hits the surface. 

 

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This is a shot of my indulgence to build the model in 3D. Cheap thrills. I guess I just miss my workshop. One day soon enough, this will be real. Note this image is somewhat odd in that things do not "fade into the distance" like a conventional perspective drawing,  so parts like the prop look larger than they are. 

 

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This final shot of my Kinetic 1/24 P-47 kit  sort of stuns me what a 1/24 scale kit can be. When I'm looking at it and thinking about my Bearcat where I have no parts and no directions, I'm considering I'm in way over my head and I'm under some illusion and possible mental illness that I'm able to craft something like this on my own. 

 

 F9GtDW.jpg

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Hey Jim,

 

Just remember, Its about represintation and not duplication, yeah we want to get every little rivet, every last panel line, but as a hobby I don't care if I miss 100 rivets, set a goal to do the wings then the pit then the gear, one area to another, I find if I bounce around to much I have lost focus.

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Right, Rick. It's a one step at a time thing and some % of perfection has to be agreed upon as the project boundaries. I think it was Bill Bosworth (Accurate Miniatures founder) and master scratch builder who said to accept 85% which I'm coming to understand now that I've pushed closer toward a higher standard in my scratch builds. The cost to model beyond that can be paid, but for all that toil it's got a fairly poor return on personal satisfaction.  In mathematics I was always impressed with infinity, in that no matter how fast or how long you travel you'll never get there. Light Speed for a Trillion years? Not even close. Be happy with 85%.   

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That's great advice Jim I am scratch building myself and somehow I never seem satisfied I think from now on I will go for 85 percent

I am looking forward to starting my own thread once I get my technology sorted out. 1/24 scratch building is a lot of work but the end result is unique,big and impressive when done.

 

Guy

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I think the 85% does help with the perspective of the task since you are shooting fairly high but will realistically have to settle for less. Not even sure a lot of personalities can work with this dynamic. You have to fool yourself into thinking you can do anything and then only later tell yourself it's OK to fail (a little). Perfectionists can give this a try but unless they can also deal with a significant failure rate they are very likely to give up in frustration (and worse their standards are so high that they "fail" a lot) . I'd probably categorize myself as a hard working dreamer who at times comes down from the clouds.  The more I work though the better I am and fewer trips down. It quite addictive that way. Much like golf I suppose. 

 

I'll watch for that thread. But by all means share the journey in any form. 

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I think I'm ready for the final batch of stuff for Shapeways. Tonight finished up the upper instruments, the defogger fan and the Mark VIII gunsight. Other instruments switches and knobs added as well. There's a lot work behind this but I really really feel sorry for that poor little printer that has to do this. It's going to be BUSY!!! 

 

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Edited by Jim Barry
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Thanks, Rick. I'm very happy with results to date working with Shapeways'Ultra Frosted Detail material. I think the cooling fins on the radial engine, each about .3mm (or about 3 pieces of paper thick), came out nearly flawless so I think I can push it with the little toggles and what not. I will actually break the 3D drawing up now and have them print parts. 

 

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Thanks KiwiZac.  I can tell you at least in terms of the Shapeways service, the details are very impressive and the cost is coming down. When I started making some prints last spring things were mildly pricey but it's come way down (like half). My costs to date (and likely the final tally), which include a number of learning mistakes, pegged  US $300 . The cockpit is about $60.  I'm not terribly efficient . I could have hollowed out some parts and done better at batching my orders to save on shipping.   It's such a different purchase when you are the author of the design work. It not only delivers a nifty scale model but also a lot of self satisfaction.  

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I think the 85% does help with the perspective of the task since you are shooting fairly high but will realistically have to settle for less. Not even sure a lot of personalities can work with this dynamic. You have to fool yourself into thinking you can do anything and then only later tell yourself it's OK to fail (a little). Perfectionists can give this a try but unless they can also deal with a significant failure rate they are very likely to give up in frustration (and worse their standards are so high that they "fail" a lot) . I'd probably categorize myself as a hard working dreamer who at times comes down from the clouds.  The more I work though the better I am and fewer trips down. It quite addictive that way. Much like golf I suppose. 

 

I'll watch for that thread. But by all means share the journey in any form. 

 

That's a good advice, Jim.

 

I always want to put all the details I can get into the model. But, If I ever want to finish it, I have to remove and simplify a lot. I ask myself "what will be visible on the finished model" quite often, and have started to make the 3D model based on that. (This relates mostly to 3D modeling/3D printing) So, on the Whirlwind I'm making, I've left the elevators attached to the tailplane since it's not important to me if I can move them on the finished model. This leads to a simplified hinge based on what's visible, like this:

swele0.jpg

 

Because, when I've put on the litho plates for covering the model, this is what's visible:

 

swele1.jpg

 

So, no one can see if the bearings are missing...

 

This is my 85%. I do deeply admire those that put all the details in and make all the control surfaces and landing gears movable, but I'm good with doing things this way and I have a lot better chance of finish it some day than loose myself in details...

 

Cheers

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