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


Out2gtcha

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Thanks boys, its a real lift, as she seems to charge me at every opportunity! I made ALL of the brass exhaust flaps that had individual brass frames to be glued onto each one, then each of those had individual actuating bases for the exhaust flap actuators themselves.......it was a task, but that is for another update.

Todays round was about getting starting with the 1st brass PE part (which turned into a styrene part) the rear fuselage spine, as well as the cockpit. Pics in a min!

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The spine turned out ok, its not perfect but its actually a lot straighter than it appears in photos, partly I think due to the sanding fluctuations in the surrounding primer. I'm hoping after a good sanding and a few more rounds of blending primer it should look fine

 

IMG_20211130_211038098_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_211050466_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_211054921_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_211100787_HDR-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I took this opportunity to unmask the cockpit. Although it was masked properly, it had been that way for almost a year and a half +, and I barely even remembered what the pit looked like anyway. After the unmasking I remembered that the pit did in fact have a lot of detail I put into it back in 2018 or 2019. A

However, at the time the only way I could think of to replicate toggle switches and knobs was to scratch them myself from styrene bits and stretched sprue. The toggles I made were ok, but no where near what the ANYZ products available today look like that were not available in 2018 (or at least I had not heard of them). I removed all of my old scratched dials, knobs and most of the toggle switches I could get to, then replaced them all with suitable ANYZ dials, knobs and toggle switches.

 

IMG_20211130_193327926-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_193338972_MP-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I had forgotten that I quite liked how the F7F pit turned out, and I like it even more with the more realistic looking ANYZ products.

 

IMG_20211130_193434987_HDR-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I've decided rather than push forward with the gear witch is well on its way, but is going to require some detail work, and there is some broader airframe work that needs my attention first, which is the PE, which is also where the start on the spine came from. 

Before I can start applying the rest of the PE, I need to finish some rescribing on some parts of the airframe, and that may require another round of primer to accurately see what is gong on, and what needs marked for attention before paint. 

However, before any of that can start I needed to get the IP hood figured out so I could attach the windscreen, as it is going to be integral to the overall scheme and needs to be smooth. 

So on with the windscreen and canopy work!

I know I've fettled with this part before but now is the hour to get it finalized, so I dived in and smoothed out both the windscreen and canopy to a more refined standard than I found them.

 

The fit was surprisingly good!  She is SUCH a looker though with her clear parts on, even with just her "crappy clothes" on! 

 

IMG_20211130_193227371_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_193238806_HDR-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I'm currently working the the IP hood to cover the PE IP once the windscreen is in place. Its a tricky fit, as the windscreen has a tiny part that goes under the upper forward fuselage where it meets the base of the windscreen if that makes sense. 

Tomorrow I hope to glue the IP hood in and get the windscreen and canopy polished and possibly Futured. 

 

Cheers! 

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The clear parts do look good! 

 

It is really great you have pushed the model along to this point. Sure has been a lot of work but now the mojo is back and light is visible at the end of the tunnel. 

 

The refinements to the cockpit take the already very good front office to another level. It can be scary to redo highly visible detail so it's nice when you get an improvement like that without accidentally damaging the surrounding work. 

 

Hell of a job here Brian!

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Thanks all.

 

10 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Canopy slide rails ????    :huh:

 

IIRC they are PE but I have not put them on yet. Im planning on displaying the canopy open, so they wont readily be visible anyway Im thinking.  I really want to knock out the re-scribing first before adding any of the exterior PE.

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7 minutes ago, dutik said:

+1 +1 +1 ...

 

...

What are the red pyramides for?

 

They are called "Painters Pyramids" and are generally seen used for balancing things on so you can paint them. I have found they are excellent for balancing heavy kits on that require lots of weight and/or you have questions about where the CG is.

 

They worked really well to find the CG of the F7F and thus calculate if I had enough lead in, and where I needed to set things while mocking up the gear:

 

20210129_232349-XL.jpg

 

20210129_232357-X3.jpg

 

Cheers!

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12 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

IIRC they are PE but I have not put them on yet. Im planning on displaying the canopy open, so they wont readily be visible anyway Im thinking. 

 

I should have been more specific. It looks like the rails will run into the wing root  :o

Could be my crooked eyeballs  :rolleyes:

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On 12/1/2021 at 4:20 AM, Out2gtcha said:

The spine turned out ok, its not perfect but its actually a lot straighter than it appears in photos, partly I think due to the sanding fluctuations in the surrounding primer. I'm hoping after a good sanding and a few more rounds of blending primer it should look fine

 

IMG_20211130_211038098_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_211050466_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_211054921_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_211100787_HDR-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I took this opportunity to unmask the cockpit. Although it was masked properly, it had been that way for almost a year and a half +, and I barely even remembered what the pit looked like anyway. After the unmasking I remembered that the pit did in fact have a lot of detail I put into it back in 2018 or 2019. A

However, at the time the only way I could think of to replicate toggle switches and knobs was to scratch them myself from styrene bits and stretched sprue. The toggles I made were ok, but no where near what the ANYZ products available today look like that were not available in 2018 (or at least I had not heard of them). I removed all of my old scratched dials, knobs and most of the toggle switches I could get to, then replaced them all with suitable ANYZ dials, knobs and toggle switches.

 

IMG_20211130_193327926-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_193338972_MP-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I had forgotten that I quite liked how the F7F pit turned out, and I like it even more with the more realistic looking ANYZ products.

 

IMG_20211130_193434987_HDR-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I've decided rather than push forward with the gear witch is well on its way, but is going to require some detail work, and there is some broader airframe work that needs my attention first, which is the PE, which is also where the start on the spine came from. 

Before I can start applying the rest of the PE, I need to finish some rescribing on some parts of the airframe, and that may require another round of primer to accurately see what is gong on, and what needs marked for attention before paint. 

However, before any of that can start I needed to get the IP hood figured out so I could attach the windscreen, as it is going to be integral to the overall scheme and needs to be smooth. 

So on with the windscreen and canopy work!

I know I've fettled with this part before but now is the hour to get it finalized, so I dived in and smoothed out both the windscreen and canopy to a more refined standard than I found them.

 

The fit was surprisingly good!  She is SUCH a looker though with her clear parts on, even with just her "crappy clothes" on! 

 

IMG_20211130_193227371_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20211130_193238806_HDR-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I'm currently working the the IP hood to cover the PE IP once the windscreen is in place. Its a tricky fit, as the windscreen has a tiny part that goes under the upper forward fuselage where it meets the base of the windscreen if that makes sense. 

Tomorrow I hope to glue the IP hood in and get the windscreen and canopy polished and possibly Futured. 

 

Cheers! 

Now you see, this is beginning to look like the stunning build that it was always going to be. Great to see it back in the workshop. You're obviously nearly across the finish line so keep up the good work it will all be worth it!!!

 

 

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I actually got all the engine exhaust flaps glued on, and a layer of primer on the inside of both of the cowls, but no pics quite yet with all of the Christmas stuff cropping up.

I also have been tinkering around with Futuring the clear parts. Sometimes I do this, and sometimes I polish with Novus polish. In this case, I did both. The first round of Future the windscreen turned out nearly perfect, but the canopy had a hair right on top. 

Back to the drawing board with some Windex!

After I took the Future off of the Canopy and re-dipped it, I did a 2nd dip on the windscreen. THAT was my 2nd mistake, as the 2nd dip for the windscreen really messed it up with some small contaminants. The 2nd round on the canopy however turned out great!  So I've now got to go back and strip the windscreen as well with some Windex, then a 3rd try on that. 

With some of the other stuff tinkered with, when next I have a bit of bench time, I think I will jump back to the landing gear, as I completely forgot I need to make sure them are removable after detailing them, as it will be a LOT easier to mask things up without the highly complex and semi-fragile MLG on permanently.

 

Pics as soon as I can find more non-Christmas stuff time!  

 

Cheers

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