F7F-3 Tigercat - BuNo 80405 - VMF 312 MCAS - El Toro, CA 1946

[Dan B.]

Brian,  looking forward to you finishing her up.  I have 3 of the HPH 'Cats' with the G-Factor nose wheels waiting to be built.  It is such a terrific plane.  I saw three of them at the Sun 'n Fun airshow in 2014, quite a site!

Dan

[Out2gtcha]

12 minutes ago, Dan B. said:

Brian,  looking forward to you finishing her up.  I have 3 of the HPH 'Cats' with the G-Factor nose wheels waiting to be built.  It is such a terrific plane.  I saw three of them at the Sun 'n Fun airshow in 2014, quite a site!

Dan

 

 

Nice!  I cant imagine trying to fully build 3!!  Ive had enough trouble with just my one.   Be aware though, the G-Factor nose gear while nice, is a copy of the OOB nose gear, and I found it was too short to place at the needed angle, so possible modifications may be necessary. 

[Dan B.]

Yes, mods are the norm for most kits that you want Just right!  Thanks for the tip and keep up the great build.

[Gazzas]

13 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

 

 

Thanks Dan, she is still upside down on her own cradle in my workshop. No new progress since the end of 2018.  Although...............

 

I am wrapping up my Ki-45 (I HOPE!) shortly, and my current plan IS in fact to have the bit kitty make a return to the bench!

After a two year break, and staring at her unfinished for so long, its time to move forward with her...............

 

Updates to come, as hopefully Ill be picking the big kitty back up this year still!

 

Cheers

 

Good!  I was hoping to see this one completed.

[Out2gtcha]

9 hours ago, Gazzas said:

Good!  I was hoping to see this one completed.

 

Its my favorite all time airframe in the only scale I really work on, so you know I had to complete it at some point.      Just had to get the right time.   Hopefully if I can overcome the issues with my current build the F7F will be on the bench later this year.  Just not sure how long it will take me to finish my Ki-45

[Out2gtcha]

Annnnnnnnnnnd WERE BACK!

 

After a 2 year hiatus from this build guess who is back on the main stage (bench) and ready to be finished!   

 

 

 

 

 

I had to go back to 2018 to see where I was last. Apparently the tedious task of cutting out engine nacelle ribs.................

 

 

 

 

 

I think since that kind of thing is what seems to kill MoJo quite fast for me, Im going to start back on my pretty kitty with the R2800s, and utilizing the amazing ANYZ LARGE engine upgrade set, which looks like its not even available anyomore

 

 

 

 

 

First order of business will be to remove the ignition rings from both front trans faces and redo them to support the 72 total ignition wires needed for the two large R2800s. 

 

 

 

 

Tonight I only managed to clean the benches, remove all the extra Ki-45 stuff, and move the big girl from the side bench to the main bench. 

 

I have a 3 day weekend starting tomorrow, so I plan on getting serious with the big F7F.

 

Cheers!

[Rockie Yarwood]

Great to see her back on the bench!

[MikeMaben]

                                Niiiiiice kitty ...

 

 

Crack that whip Brian 

[LSP_Kevin]

Great to see this one back, Brian!

 

Kev

[airscale]

Yey!!!

 

So good to see this back Brian - I reckon you will ace it now the hard miles are done. I am quite envious of your capacity to go back to something, as it's something I singularly fail to do... that said, i know your love for the F7F so in a way you are just stretching out the love affair

 

..Also interesting to see those R2800's - I did all the 3D work on them & the wheels (with the exception of the cylinders) and gifted that to HPH along with all my research in exchange for the 1/18 Spitfire GRP form - nice to see what a good job they did with it

 

Peter

[Dan B.]

Hooray!  Way to go Brian, you will getter done.  Looking forward to this BIG cat getting finished...

[Troy Molitor]

Too cool for school Brian!  Nice to see her back on the bench.  

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys! This one will be a longer road, but since the majority of the airframe and all of the cockpit is already together, it will be down to the more detailed aspects of the build to complete.

[Anthony in NZ]

Yep, SUPER pleased to see you back on this!  

[Out2gtcha]

A days work on the big kitty. Some things I had forgotten about that I will need to push through that are some of the compounding reasons I set the build down in the first place.

The first one I had forgotten about was the fact that the port nacelle had the entire rear portion of it completely filled with resin. After contacting HpH about it and getting the standard (I'm paraphrasing here) "Sorry, you'll have to live with it" type answer, I cut the rear of the nacelle off back in 2018 and got on with the task of hollowing it all out again.

 

 

 

 

 

I finished up the grinding part, then later applied some thick CA in the deepest gouges, then applied some MS 500 over all of that to start the smoothing process:

 

 

 

 

 

The starboard side was fine with no resin blockage:

 

 

 

 

 

I took both engines out, and found a small clear tube of all the intake runners for both engines. I glued them all in (even though they will NEVER be seen again) and applied some MS 1500 black to the joints to the engine that didnt quite reach, or were sub par looking. Later Ill smooth out the MS 1500 black and apply some gloss black again and touch up any silver damaged when gluing them in:

 

 

 

 

 

Next up, I was toiling away trying to figure out how to do all of the required 36 spark plug connections, 2 to each cylinder. First I had to remove the OOB ignition rings, but forgot they too of course were resin, and immediately both simply cracked apart.  Boo.

So I have a lot of pics of the cylindrical type ignition rings VS the squared type ones that come in the kit, so I grabbed some suitably thick wire, and heated a long run of it up with a torch, then after it was hot, wound it abound a suitably sized socket. Once that was done, I just cut each loop in half, and I had several perfect brass rings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

After cutting them apart, I ground down the appropriate space between the ends, then cut out two disks of plastic card that I could wind the rod around and would keep it in the shape I wanted. Once the space was the right size, I glued the rings to the card, so everything would fit flush against the front of the engine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the front trans will be placed on top, after all the spark plug connections get placed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Im letting some things dry atm, but later tonight I will be adding all of the spark plug wire connections to the ignition rings, then I will be able to paint them, add the spark plug wires and set them aside to be assembled after the engines get some other details.

 

Cheers!