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


Out2gtcha

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Thanks Troy, that probably is actually good advice.......

I've been thinking about how best to blend in the cowls (which do need a bit or work) and still get paint under the exhaust stacks, which need to be put on before the cowls as do the engines of course. So I think the best way to do this will be to finish roughing out all the exhaust stacks then finish sand, prime and paint the areas under the exhaust stacks as well as adding a bit of heat treated foil for the area directly under the stacks.  This area is NMF and has some heat staining to it which I will try to replicate with the colored foil strips. This NMF area extends from the firewall at the base of each of the 8 exhaust openings up to where the cowls end. 

That way I can get all the re-scribing done later and can then mask off the exhausts/exhaust openings for final paint.

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Thanks guys! All comments greatly appreciated.

 

4 hours ago, dodgem37 said:

Boy is that tedious.  Good show, Brian.

 

Indeed it is Mark, but funny enough it is SO on brand with this build, the hours and hours if extra work to get things right are no shock this time around.

I know you know ALL about extra work put it!  :lol:

 

1 hour ago, Phartycr0c said:

Dedication to the cause.

Great work and well worth the effort although I am surprised at the HPH exhaust solution. I would have thought they would have been spot on! 

 

You and me both! At first at least......but after building on this kit for a few years it doesn't come as much of a shock honestly.

 

I'll have to find or take a picture of the instructions for the exhaust ends. Even in the instructions it just shows them glued willy-nilly at or near the respective cylinder they are supposed to attach to.

Some end only vaguely pointed in the direction of the exhaust port they should be on.

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Brian - you have been busy, and on some exciting stuff!  I mean stuff that is important to the build, and is out there for the viewer to see.  Nice work on the nose gear; reminds me of the shimmy damper on the P-38 (a source of a few recurring nightmares for me.   And the exhaust stack work - I love it!!!  You will be so very proud of it once done.  

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Thanks again boys.

Got the two side exhaust sets done, but I'm not happy with the spacing after I finished them.

After going through my documentation, they should be in two close groups of two, not evenly spread out:

 

IMG_20220111_194501002_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20220111_194524207-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20220111_194606866-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

You can see here what it should look closer to, although mine will likely be a closer set of two so the exhaust ends will give some support to each other:

 

Grumman_F7F-3_Tigercat_NX207F_USAF_Palm_

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I did the starboard side of the starboard engine just like it. :BANGHEAD2:

I didn't take any pics of my screw up, bit needless to say I'll have to redo the 8 exhaust pipes on the two side ports of the starboard engine. Oh well, at least these 8 won't be as bad since I'll only have to change them slightly to get two sets of two.

I also got the top exhaust set of the starboard engine done as well, but this time modified them as they should be, closer together:

 

IMG_20220113_200009078_HDR-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20220113_200100014-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20220113_200351596_HDR-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

I've now got all the exhaust pipes built for the starboard engine, and now just need to modify the 8 side pipes and will have one 1/2 of the exhaust pipes built in initial configuration.

 

IMG_20220113_194037401-XL.jpg

 

IMG_20220113_194104394-XL.jpg

 

 

 

 

Onward and cheers!

 

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26 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Those exhausts do look challenging, Brian. You must be exhausted!

 

 

I am!  Its like working on my car.............when I'm behind it I get exhausted, but its better than being in front of it and getting tired! 

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Man, I sympathize about something that just keeps kicking you, but you don't want to move on until it's RIGHT.  
 

The engines look AMAZING, the detail in the main gear bays is similarly awesome.

 

And every time I look at this thread, I see "El Toro", which is about a half hour from my office.  

 

Keep going, it's amazing.  

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