Gazzas Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Great, if short, vid! Really puts twin-engined fighters into perspective. I imagine that had the Tigercat ever flown in battle, that it wouldn't have done much better than the other twins in combat with single seaters unless it had a crazy speed advantage like the P-38 had over most Japanese fighters. Gaz Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 Peter, John, Gaz thanks for looking in on me. The vid is short, and I had other longer ones else where but that one was already up, so I posted it. Getting up close and personal with Grumman's big twin kitty, along side other single engine fighters of the same era really gives one a good idea of just how large the F7F was, and indeed how hard it must have been to try to land this thing on a carrier. Not too much progress since knocking out the nose well and IP, but I did do some more dry fitting of the fuselage, this time getting to see how the IP fits................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 I assembled the rudder pedals too, just in raw for here: Just another bit of advice for anyone who has this kit and intends to build it. The way the instructions portray the situating of the rudder pedals is a bit vague at best, as I really even had trouble identifying what the part was they were attempting to glue into the side wall of the fuselage. In the end as you can see from the above pic, I had to split the rudder pedals, then insert an aluminum tube/sleeve between the two halves of the pedals. The are supposed to be built up as one whole unit, but they do not let the fuselage close in that state, and this way I could keep the sleeve loose, glue in each have to their respective fuse halves, then let the tube slide free to take up any remaining gaps, which will be hidden behind the IP anyway. To that end, I thought I had the fuselage closing issues solved. That is until I got to fitting the IP I had recently finished gluing together (although its not finished overall, as I have some PE handles and bits to add, as well as adding the "glass" to the instrument faces, which I have to wait to add as I ordered some "Bondic" UV activated gel pen to accomplish this). There really is only 1 view of the IP actually fixed in the completed model in the instructions, and it does not show how the IP is actually glued in, nor what is supposed to hold up the top part, nor does it show how the canopy crank is supposed to fit on the starboard fuselage half after the IP is fitted.............however they actually did that. The pic of the IP in the completed model is quite distant, and hard to see. You can see here, Im close, but no cigar. In this position (behind the canopy crank) it is situated much much too far deep into the IP hood: Im still about 2 or 3mm from closure here. What I had to do was cut slots in the side of each fuselage half, that will be covered later under the IP hood. Speaking of the IP hood, I had a go at fitting that, but the original place I put the IP where it fit without having to remove the canopy crank, put the IP so far back, there would have been no way to fit the gun-sight. No pics of that yet, but I cut the IP Hood down a bit, and will have to cut a notch out of it, not unlike some of the original F7F pics I found, in order to fit the gunsight: Im going to try to take some pics for a review tonight of the gorgeous FM&P Bugatti P100, but may sneak in some more work on the F7F while Im at it. Cheers! Greg W, sandokan, KUROK and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCRATCH BUILDER Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Love the gear work... Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 (edited) That's one sweet looking cockpit Brian, HpH kits are the gift that keeps on giving aren't they.........one step foward and two steps back sometimes even tough you think you have all bases covered!! Keep going, lovely work. Regards. Andy Edited January 12, 2018 by monthebiff Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobinsonh Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Cockpit detail looks amazing. Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Very nice. Why no wear on the center console? Thank you. Sincerely, Mark sandokan, Out2gtcha and KUROK 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 Thanks gents! Mark, The center consol is part of the IP, and I'm not done with it yet. I'm planning on adding all the PE switches and weathering after I get some fitting the IP/Consol in the fuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Hmmm...more fit issues. I remember having a similar problem with the PCM Fw190A kit cockpit. A little cutting of the IP solved that one. Comparing to the photo of the real thing, it appears the IP maybe sitting a little low? It looks like it is pretty tight to the windshield, and the sight will need to be above the hood of course. Hard to tell, although it appears those changes wont completely account for the gap you have. Could be PE is scaled correctly and they didn't take into account the thickness of the resin side walls in full. Like I said before, thank you for blazing the trail for us with this build! Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 (edited) Oh man... I hate to see more issues on this kit. I hope the IP issues get resolved without any loss of good work/detail. That really pisses me off... when I have to cut detail off in order to make something fit. Edited January 14, 2018 by Thunnus Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 Hmmm...more fit issues. I remember having a similar problem with the PCM Fw190A kit cockpit. A little cutting of the IP solved that one. Comparing to the photo of the real thing, it appears the IP maybe sitting a little low? It looks like it is pretty tight to the windshield, and the sight will need to be above the hood of course. Hard to tell, although it appears those changes wont completely account for the gap you have. Could be PE is scaled correctly and they didn't take into account the thickness of the resin side walls in full. Like I said before, thank you for blazing the trail for us with this build! As most any who have build high-end complex resin kits know, some fit issues are to be expected, but Im finding what I consider more than a single kits share here. But once again, my interest in the subject and passion for it is in fact so high, that is keeps me forging ahead! I think you are probably right, and the IP may be setting a tad low VS the 1:1, but as we also all know, sometimes sacrifices in the name of fit have to be made. The IP is about where is has to be with the way the IP hood fits onto the fuselage unfortunately. It will also end up a tad deeper than the 1:1 too. However, this also is necessary, as I've trimmed the hood down about as much as I can without it looking funny, and there really is no way to move the IP any more forward without interfering tremendously with the sidewall equipment. Im actually glad the 1:1 has a notch cut in the IP hood for the gun-sight, as Ill need this wiggle room to accommodate the way the IP has to set in the cockpit. If it was any lower in the pit, Im afraid the gap between the IP and hood would be way too noticeable, and still would not get me any closer to moving it more toward the pilot where it should be. Im hoping it will look halfway decent in the end. Although a big piece of this particular puzzle still has to be added and that is the windscreen. Im glad the IP hood gets left off until after the fuselage halves are joined as getting the pit, X2 BIG weights, nose gear well, IP and especially the rudder pedals in their correct places would be even harder than it will be if that was in place. Im going to use the space normally taken up by the IP hood to maneuver the rudder pedals and IP where they should be, when closing up the fuse. After the fuselage is whole, I will add the gun-sight, IP hood and finally the windscreen. Oh man... I hate to see more issues on this kit. I hope the IP issues get resolved without any loss of good work/detail. That really pisses me off... when I have to cut detail off in order to make something fit. Im hoping I can re-add the canopy crank, even if I have to cut it down. Actually, after finding SO many pictures of different styles of canopy cranks on military F7Fs, I think I can fudge the look if I have to; as long as the crank is there, Ill probably be ok with it, and be able to fix it well enough to look decent. Im still on call till Wednesday of this week for work. After that Im planning on diving back into the F7F and possibly even establishing a NEW "distraction" build (something that is fairly easy to assemble, and doesn't have a whole lot of parts to it to take my mind of the complex and intense nature of this build) to the small side of my bench as my current distraction build (Extra 300) is getting sidelined to the SOD again for a bit with need of masks and canopy from Icaerodesign that will be likely significantly delayed due to distance and time. Cheers guys. Vandy 1 VX 4 and sandokan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levier Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maxim Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Great work on the cockpit Brian. Looks spot on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Brian, That interior looks sweet! Gaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phartycr0c Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 H i again Brian. The superb work continues apace with that cockpit looking amazing. In view of your nose gear issues Iv.e taken a gander through the instructions for the Helldiver I recently purchased and interestingly the main undercarriage is shown as being secured in a similar way i.e the metal pin running through the main leg is inserted into the top of the tyre. In contrast, the FW 189 with twin undercarriage legs is shown as having a pin running through the wheel hub between the legs. It appears to be HPH's solution of ensuring gear strength and rigidity in undercarriage with single sided mounting points which, I can in some way, understand given the total weight of the models being transferred through such a weak point. I'm sure without the pins the resin would simply snap. IMHO a correct solution would have been totally metal undercarriage but there one goes. Your engineered solution is a gem. Keep up the good work! monthebiff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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