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

[scvrobeson]

It'll all be worth it once it's done. That's all that matters Brian.  It looks fantastic now, can't wait to see once it's all done

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks gents......

 

Yes, AAMOF, I usually have an old documentary type DVD playing in the background for just such mind numbing tasks. In this case there is just SO much of it, I've plowed through all 4  DVDs in both the Pacific and European series several times over now.

 

Back to it!

[MikeMaben]

16 hours ago, LSP_Ray said:

           Guys, guys, guys. This is why they broadcast baseball and golf on TV!

 

I listen to old Hogan's Heroes episodes 

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks again, one and all! Got some more progress so share once I get the 20 or so pics uploaded.......

 

Stay tuned!

[Out2gtcha]

So here we go.....................

 

First step was to smear a smattering of fine white Milliput all over the area behind and into the new wingtip light, so that the new wingtip profile could be made:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the Milliput was hardening off, I started back in slogging through those two R2800s. There are a LOT of components to these engines, and they are all on resin pools, needing to be cut off and cleaned on your own.

Firstly the exhausts. For these they did not even make go all the way to the actual cylinders. They just kinda-sorta made them go in the general direction of each cylinder, Im assuming on the anticipation that you would not see any of this after final assembly. You can see in the instructions how they left the exhausts hanging:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got one engines upper & lower cylinders cut out and smoothed, along with all intake runners:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plus x2 heat shields per cylinder and the cross bank spacers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAN, you really have to watch the HpH instructions for these. The instructions do not give you any clue or even a hint, as to the orientation of any of the main body of parts for the engine or how they should line up in relation to each other. I finally got what I think is the correct alignment, by temporarily putting together some cylinders and intake runners to see where the intake manifold should line up to the main case of the engines. No tabs, markers arrows or slots to help with alignment. Pretty much a guessing game:

 

 

 

 

More.............

[Shawn M]

[Out2gtcha]

After a  couple of days the Milliput was hard as it needed to be for sanding and shaping, so I started that process along with getting the front part of the prop bosses painted, and the tips of the props after spraying them with some Tamiya Fine white primer. I ran out of said Tam Fine white, so had to shoot 1 prop in gray Mr Surfacer, but didn't turn out to be that big of a deal since the MRP yellow laid down very well, and surprisingly covered very well, to the point of not noticing which had the gray under it if I covered up the rest of the props:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two prop bosses were sprayed with MRP-14 GSB. Directly out of the bottle this stuff lays down better than most any other type paint Ive sprayed. Soooooo smooth:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now it was time to move onto the real deal.................fixing the wingtip profiles.  I finally figured out that Grumman considers the type of flattened and angled wingtips that the HpH kit came with the "late style" wingtips. However the rounded more natural looking wingtips that most everyone associates w/the Tigercat are considered the "early style" tips.  I did not like the shape of the angled tips, so this will be to put the tips back to the earlier style.

First step was to smooth off the Milliput and clear square sprue even with the top and bottom of the wings, and of course rounded to match the leading edge profile. I did not touch the Milliput on the ends yet at all:

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see by these pics things are coming along profile wise, but not perfect, or even anywhere near complete yet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I took some time last night and designed a new wingtip profile on my Silhouette machine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Im planning on doing some final smoothing of the profile, then will stick the Oramask profiles I made on the wingtip aligning them with the wingtip panel line, then will cut/sand that to shape, then finally will round the profile out so the wingtip has no squared off corners. 

 

Thanks again for stopping in on me!

[Shawn M]

nice work Brian

[LSP_K2]

On 9/8/2018 at 12:58 AM, LSP_Ray said:

 

Guys, guys, guys. This is why they broadcast baseball and golf on TV! I have gotten tons of resin cleanup done while keeping track of golf tournaments and Mariner games. You only need to look up when something exciting happens. Otherwise you can get a bunch of mind-numbing work done while being distracted from total insanity by listening to the 'action.' 

 

If I listened to a golf game, I'd just end up falling asleep with my face in the middle of a model.

[LSP_K2]

This is some seriously tedious stuff, Brian. I'd be ripping my hair out by the roots. Better you than me, that's for certain.

[Out2gtcha]

Yep, some of it is NOT fun to me...................but how often do you get a shot at making your all time favorite A/C in your all time favorite scale.  I can only think its  better than a full scratch build! 

[monthebiff]

Those wing tips are coming along really nicely Brian, those engines look an absolute nightware with that level of parts and a shame HpH stooped short with those exhaust stubs!

 

Regards. Andy

[Out2gtcha]

11 minutes ago, monthebiff said:

Those wing tips are coming along really nicely Brian, those engines look an absolute nightware with that level of parts and a shame HpH stooped short with those exhaust stubs!

 

Regards. Andy

 

 

Thanks Andy. You are correct on a lot of level. Im not sure how Ill do the exhausts yet, but Im having trouble with the idea of letting them go open ended and not even reaching the engines and just gluing them in place........

 

I think I might try some equal sized wire, where I can bend each as needed to actually reach the cylinders. Its going to be some amount of work, but then again, this whole model is been "some amount of work". 

[LSP_Kevin]

Top-shelf work, Brian!

 

Kev

[LSP_Ray]

Nice work, Brian!

For that engine, do you have the instructions for one of  the other 2800 resin aftermarket sets? Teknics, Aires, or Vector(I think)? Those might help with construction. Let me know, I can scan them for you.