BIG HOG!

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Hey guys & gals,

 

So I've been lurking here for longer than I'd like to admit, it took me years to even create a profile, much less comment and post. Mine is a common story, mid-40's guy who modeled into his teens and rediscovered the hobby once life becomes a little more settled. I've always had a passion for history and my dream as a kid was to be a fighter pilot (dashed by my poor eyesight). Once I realized that wasn't going to work out I ended up getting my kicks elsewhere, working professionally in snowboarding and skateboarding for almost 20 years. But that passion for history, most notably the air war in WWII, regardless of theater, was merely laying dormant. 

 

Cue to about a year ago, when life finally got out of the way enough that I managed to start pulling together some basic modeling tools so I could get myself back into the hobby. It's been slow going, as life still gets in the way more often than not, but I now have all the basic stuff I need, and then some. I even have a modest stash of about 4 kits, 2 of which are LSP's (Hasegawa P-47D and Revell P-51D-5). Sadly, I haven't gotten around to them yet, as I wanted to re-hone my skills on some cheaper, smaller kits before committing fully to "manscale". So far I've built three kits, popped my cherry with a Tamiya Mk. Vb Spit in 1/48, followed by an ancient Hasegawa P-38 in 1/72 that I found in my parents' attic after 30+ years and now this 1/48 Tamiya F4U-1A, which I built for my dad seeing as it's his favorite plane. Just wrapped this thing a couple of days ago, this whole project entailed a number of firsts for me: first time scratch-building, first time using the hairspray technique, first time black basing, first time wiring up a radial, and so it's only fitting this is my first time ever posting one of my models anywhere. Needless to say, considering the talent at hand on this site, I hope my work is up to par. So without further ado here's Big Hog, Tommy Blackburn's machine during his time as CO of Fighting-17, based on Ondonga, November 1943. Hope you guys like it, can't wait to get my grubby mitts on an LSP in the near future!

 

More pics in the next post...

 

 

 

[TAG]

First time ever using photoetch belts, plus some scratchbuilding in the cockpit.

The seat was chipped using the hairspray method, AK Real Colors Dull Dark Green over AK Xtreme Metal Aluminum with a brown wash, also used some gray panel liner on the instruments.

I still didn't have a punch set when I built the cockpit, so the dial faces are missing... But I'm hoping the X-22 over the dials is distracting enough for the average viewer.

The wiring is a little underscale for 1/48 scale but it's what I had at hand at the time. This took a LOT of work, but I was pretty happy with the result.

R-2800 all wired up, plus the cowl flaps I scratched from card stock and the same underscaled wire. Far from reality but still better than nothing, right?

Looks okay from this angle

I scratch-built the brake line, springs and other doodads on the landing gear, this is still missing the chrome paint I added to the oleo

Front of the prop, minimal chipping except on leading edge

Backside of the prop, where the magic happens, pretty stoked on how this first attempt at hairspray chipping came out!

Tail wheel with scratched details and added lightening holes, also missing the Molotow chrome on the oleo

 

Hope you guys likey! There's more pics, if anyone's interested...

 

Cheers,

 

Thomaz

[Out2gtcha]

Love it! I think it looks terrific 

 

The engine looks fantastic, and I really like the two different greens in the interior. Well done! 

[LSP_K2]

This looks just great. The Tamiya kit is really excellent, in my opinion. I just picked up the kit at a show a couple of months ago, and for a very righteous price too.

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that looks fantastic!

 

Kev

[chrish]

Whaaaaaaaaat?!

just re-starting out you say?!

wow! Fantastic work!!

[Juggernut]

Nicely done!  Now try the 1/32 version.. You'll be blown away with the details and options the kit gives you. Unfortunately, it comes with a price too, a rather large one that may be above your "it's worth it" threshold.

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7 hours ago, Juggernut said:

Nicely done!  Now try the 1/32 version.. You'll be blown away with the details and options the kit gives you. Unfortunately, it comes with a price too, a rather large one that may be above your "it's worth it" threshold.

 

Oh, it's going to happen. In fact I kinda consider the 1/32 kit a holy grail of sorts, and I can't wait to get one!

 

Thanks everyone for the kind words, hopefully bigger and better things to come.

[Troy Molitor]

Well done Thomaz,   Man the weathering is spot on. 

[KUROK]

Looks great!

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11 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

Well done Thomaz,   Man the weathering is spot on. 

 

I love weathering, even on people.

 

Thanks, Troy, spent a lot of time with oils on this bird, staring at refs and slowly building up layers. FNG over here lost a goodly number of those subtle layers when the last coat of flat was laid down. Lesson learned, I'll be doing the majority of my oil work in the future after final "un-gloss", at least the bits I want to have the layered effect.

[Gazzas]

That is a great looking build.  But I DiD expect this thread to be about a Harley Davidson.

[JayW]

Thanks for posting this.  What a knock-em-dead F4U!  I am currently building a 1/18 Corsair (from a 21st Century Toys model).  It will take years.  Been hard to get going (scratch building a P & W R2800 first).  But your Big Hog has just added some motivation.  I might do Big Hog too - it's going to be a 1A.

[ScoobyDoo]

Beautiful build, looks like it was built by a pro.

 

My biggest pet peeve on Corsair builds are zinc green or salmon wheel wells,  So nice to see you got it right! They were always over-sprayed the underside color.

[TAG]

20 hours ago, ScoobyDoo said:

Beautiful build, looks like it was built by a pro.

 

My biggest pet peeve on Corsair builds are zinc green or salmon wheel wells,  So nice to see you got it right! They were always over-sprayed the underside color.

 

Well that just made my day my whole year, thanks Scoob! There's still WAY too many goobers, most notably the snapped and poorly re-attached radio mast (I just wanted to finish it at that point), but I'm happy with my progress nonetheless. As for getting the colors of the wheel wells right, if I spent as much time actually modeling instead of obsessively poring over reference pics I'd have built a lot more models this year... But yea, always striving to get as close to the real deal as I can. Thanks again for the compliment, here's some virtual Scooby snacks for ya!

 

Merry St. Nick, everyone!