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

[Thunnus]

Seeing those engines mounted on the bearers was an epic moment!  Great work to get all of that to fit with the correct orientation.  Interesting design choice by HpH to base the engine mount off of those bearers when it seems like it would've been much simpler to tie the engine mount directly to the nacelles instead.

[Out2gtcha]

On 1/19/2021 at 11:44 AM, Thunnus said:

Seeing those engines mounted on the bearers was an epic moment!  Great work to get all of that to fit with the correct orientation.  Interesting design choice by HpH to base the engine mount off of those bearers when it seems like it would've been much simpler to tie the engine mount directly to the nacelles instead.

 

 

Thanks John! I have a lot of respect and admiration for the way you approach modeling, and I think you are 100% correct. The way the engines are attached to the bearers and then the nacelles are to be fitted around that arrangement, made it a much more daunting effort to get the engines to sit pretty much exactly where they had to go or they wouldn't fit over all the other razz-ma-tazz that it has to go around to get the sides flush to the lower wings.

 

 

Well boys and girls, for better or worse...............the nacelles are married to the airframe:

 

 

 

 

 

Since I was planning on letting the JB Weld dry overnight, I figured I might as well use that time to let the fine white Milliput I planned to smooth the upper exhaust port transition from the firewall to the wing dry as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well see how well I aligned things tomorrow when I start to apply the upper wing PE sections that cross the span from the trailing edge of the wing to the rear upper point of the nacelles.

There will definitely have to be some smoothing out of the upper surfaces prior to the PE parts being applied, but as long as I have them aligned side to side, I should be able to apply them as they are intended.

 

More later, thanks for stopping in on me!

 

Cheers,

[LSP_Kevin]

Excellent work, Brian!

 

Kev

[Derek B]

 

 

Derek

[dodgem37]

Great effort, Brian.  Equally great results.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Out2gtcha]

Well guys, Its actually now come down to two areas of final distress on this build; the landing gear and something I forgot........the engine exhausts! HpH gives you the exhaust stubs in resin form of course, with open ends and after cleanup, looked fairly decent (this was from my review of the kit prior to any cleanup):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, after looking at the HpH instructions, I discovered yet another bummer...........the instructions clearly show that the exhaust tubes dont even actually reach all the way to the back of the engine:

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I realize they probably wont even be seen (probably), but after coming this far, and going to the work to get all the rest of the un-seen crap stuck on, Im not going to drop the ball here.

So, that meant having to find another solution to the exhaust conundrum. The gear is also in the back of my mind, as I plot further with that as well, and Ill need to pick up some tubing for the nose gear as well. 

More thought required, but I think I nave an idea for the exhaust tubes.

 

You can also clearly see from the instructions why I "keyed" the engines so I could easily slip them on and off in the exact positions they would ultimately be in. I can already see the exhaust is going to require much fetteling to get all 36 exhaust pipes to see where they need to go.

 

Till later!

 

[dutik]

Looks like you've applied too much pressure on the nacelles.

 

They have turned black...

 

 

Duck and cover

 

...

 

Great work! Go on!

I think it's a bless not to know what problems are waiting behind the next corner. otherwise this kit would still seat in that stash named "nice to have but unbuildable"

 

 

P.s. We are in dire need for a "cheerleader-emoji" to fully support your work! Application submitted!

 

Regards

- dutik

[dodgem37]

Faux exhausts?!  Give me my money back!

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[D.B. Andrus]

Truly masterful work, Brian.  Keep up the good fight.

 

Cheers,

Damian

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys, means a lot. 

 

On to some more progress. Pics in a minute..................

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

MLG bays are done, the nacelles are fully and permanently attached, and the firewalls are fared in to the top of the wings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While not perfect, the fit of the nacelles to the wings was pretty decent, and will only requite a minimum of filler or corrections:

 

 

 

 

 

The tops of the nacelles was very carefully aligned with the panel lines on the tops of the wings, and thick CA was applied to fill any major gaps. No need for anything fancy here on top in this section, as you will see why later in this post:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up taking a series of finer mesh sanding sticks to the top nacelle area as to get the transition as smooth and step-less as possible:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking a very small page out of Peters book, I used the tape flap method to apply some contact adhesive for the upper PE wing/nacelle pieces. These large PE parts have raised rivets where required and will negate any need to fill or re-detail the area where the wing meets the nacelles:

 

 

 

 

 

I dont have any pics of the finish product yet, as by the time I used some balsa wood blocks to smooth things down, then applied thin CA to any edges that needed it, it was pretty late. 

 

The landing gear SHOULD be next, but I ran out of the correct size of stainless steel tube I need for the front oleo strut, so I placed an order for some more tubing. I will have to move onto other things in the mean time, so my plan now that I have the large upper wing PE parts in place, is to do some smoothing and finish sanding on the whole exterior, as I havnt really touched that in years. I need to apply an overall primer coat of white to see where I am at in regards to what I need to sand in order to apply the rest of the smaller PE parts.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

[MikeMaben]

 

Well yeah !  

[crobinsonh]

Great stuff

[Troy Molitor]

The nacelles and gear wells look awesome Brian.  I'm looking forward to seeing this in midnight blue.  

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys!

 

I've taken a fine sanding stick and some wet dry 800 to the entire airframe exterior, then gave it a good wash down.

Its dried overnight, and from here I'll be masking off the gear wells, cockpit and other areas and applying a layer of Tamiya fine white primer.

I've decided to do it this way, as if there are any seams that need work, I can easily sand them. Otherwise, if I add all the little PE bits now, sanding things smooth at that point becomes daunting.

 

Cheers!