Airfix 1:24 Grumman F6F-5 - One Hell of a Cat!

[CraigH]

Also today, I painted the tailfin. I'm doing the White 32 version from The Randolph as there are loads of wartime shots of it. My main problem is that the Virgo in me keeps trying to make me paint the lines geometrically perfect but, when you look at the contemporary photos it's clear these were rushed clumsy paint jobs done on board. Look at some of the numbers in these shots. I struggled to let myself be that slipshod so I deliberately left the white with a tiny bit of blue showing through to try and show the workmanlike job that was done on board. Still think my lines are too straight though....I might mess 'em up a bit later. But the thought of reproducing those wonky numbers......

[jep1210]

Looks great, looking forward to following along on the progress. As for the lines on the tail, are you sure it's not just the deflection of the rudder making them look less than strait? The numbers are obviously wonky but I'm not convinced the lines on the tail are. 

[CraigH]

22 hours ago, jep1210 said:

Looks great, looking forward to following along on the progress. As for the lines on the tail, are you sure it's not just the deflection of the rudder making them look less than strait? The numbers are obviously wonky but I'm not convinced the lines on the tail are. 

That's my dilemma. Some of it is undoubtedly down to the rudder being "off line" but the varying thickness of the lines can't be due to that. These schemes were definitely painted onboard and did change with little notice, mine are out by 0.2mm at points which is a massive amount to me, a whole 0.5cm at 1:24 LOL

[jep1210]

2 hours ago, CraigH said:

That's my dilemma. Some of it is undoubtedly down to the rudder being "off line" but the varying thickness of the lines can't be due to that. These schemes were definitely painted onboard and did change with little notice, mine are out by 0.2mm at points which is a massive amount to me, a whole 0.5cm at 1:24 LOL

IDK, you lines look really good to my eye. Going back and looking again I can't see any variation in your lines at all. I originally thought you were saying your lines are too strait. 

[easixpedro]

Looking great! Always love the Randolph markings. I did the wonky numbers on mine…the WIP is on here. Left the overspray too, as I thought it looked good in this scale.

-Peter

[CraigH]

On 2/12/2022 at 3:29 AM, easixpedro said:

Looking great! Always love the Randolph markings. I did the wonky numbers on mine…the WIP is on here. Left the overspray too, as I thought it looked good in this scale.

-Peter

Thanks Peter. That cheers me up a bit knowing other people are ok with wonkyness. The numbers are going to be fun . I've an update coming up in a bit regarding markings, overspray and other stuff including a BIG thank you to Airfix....NOT!!

[CraigH]

Well wonky numbers time came and went...not without issue.

I normally like to paint markings and insignia wherever possible, it just looks more realistic. But this time I thought "Shiny plane for once, shiny decals, might just work" so I decided to give it a try.

My first big mistake, I put all the tiny "oil filler her, water filler there, don't step here" kind of decals on first. BIG mistake. They looked great then came the first star and bar for the port wing. 

Into water and this, thanks Airfix, was the result

 

You'd have thought I'd bought a 25 year old kit off of eBay with decals to match. Seriously??

So, that sort of took the choice away from me, I was painting the damn things.

Problem number 1: I hadn't sprayed white first then masked before the GSB topcoat so now I had to spray white then mask then spray GSB again 

Problem number 2: remember those little decals I'd confidently put on first? Some were now perilously close to the paint job

careful masking there then and a mental note of aftermarket decals at all times.

 

The Number 32 decals were going to have to be used as There was no way I could mask around all the little instruction ones near the cockpit successfully. Load of clear carrier film around the number 2 and I had to separate them to get the "wonkiness" They split too but as I didn't have to get them exactly square, it was workable.

Lots of micro sol and a judicious fine brush tipped with white and it looks ok.

 

Tried the engine and the fit is ok.

Now for the oil, fuel and water lines and some of the electrical and control wires (not all) and we're not far off done I reckon.

 

Thanks all

[John Stambaugh]

Sorry for your troubles Craig. I myself have been in the habit of applying stencils first. You have shown to me the fallacy of this. 

I thank you.

[CraigH]

19 hours ago, John Stambaugh said:

Sorry for your troubles Craig. I myself have been in the habit of applying stencils first. You have shown to me the fallacy of this. 

I thank you.

Thanks John. At least it was fixable and the sprayed markings are definitely superior. Things happen for a reason I suppose 

[CraigH]

Todays dilemma, stuck on fuel lines. Can't find any good references, in fact it makes the oil cooler job look easy by comparison. That's done BTW, pics to follow. If anyone has any, I'd be eternally grateful.

[CraigH]

Right then. Work over for a couple of days, let's get moving with this engine. I realised quite early that, if I wanted some flexibility but also hold (sound like my wife talking about hairspray) I needed to line my lines with something. I'm using 1mm inside diameter heat shrink electrical tubing for the oil and larger fuel lines. The trade off is that if  i use a 1mm wire inside it to give a nice tight look to the lines then it's going to be harder to shape after the engine is glued in. A finer wire will be more pliable but won't look as good. 

I went with the 1mm wire and decided to soft fit the engine then shape the lines, fir the engine then then hard wire in the lines, already pre shaped for ease. 

All main oil lines were fitted plus the fuel lines to the carburettor and some assorted control lines and thinner pipes. For the thinner pipes I used coloured florists wire in varying diameters. The fittings are 2mm OD aluminium pipe cut to size. Good because you can leave a "tail" on each end of the fit point and you have a tangible palce for the glue to set.

 

 

The firewall was ready to receive it:

so all that was needed was to bring them together.

 

 

I needed the whole plane to be vertical till the engine gluing had time to set solid so my straps and case from my portable photo background photo shooting thingy came in handy. Only having one wing doesn't half make it lopsided from a centre of gravity point of view.

 

All in and set, I added the fuel lines last of all, along with control lines and assorted. It's impractical to add all the lines and also, a bit of a guess I feel. I'm not an aeronautical engineer and, while there's a wealth of stuff on pipework etc out there, a lot of it is from restored aircraft and it's difficult to know sometimes what's original and what's there from a modern standpoint as necessary for H&S etc. 

 

The engine is in and plumbed, I'm getting a new camera in the next couple of days so holding off on new photos till I can have a go with that.....should be fun

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks great, Craig! Clever method for getting the engine on, too.

 

Kev

[CraigH]

Thanks Kev. As ever, wish my photographic skills were up to scratch, sadly not LOL

[CraigH]

With aforementioned photographic skills apart, I've cracked on. So these are some pics with most parts in place but not glued and some bits of tweaking to paintwork needed. It's always a dilemma for me what to glue and not what. Most of my models are either commission or go on eBay for sale and then the thorny subject of trnasport rears its ugly head. Frankly, most couriers are total rubbish. "Fragile"; "This Way Up"; even "Glass" notices go unheeded. To use a specialist courier is in the region of £200 so, even with a sale of £400 or £500 most clients won't pay that for delivery. The best of a bad bunch option is leave as much as possible for the client to fit on arrival. By this I'm meaning aerial masts, undercarriage gear if possible, propellers. Depends on the client and their willingness of course. Then it's bubble wrap and the largest box of packing peanuts you can find and pray. 

 

As we've said, you can't do much with Glossy Sea Blue and the damned stuff didn't even chip or fade, at least not on F6F-5 s it appears! I played around with the non used port extended wing with regard to some subtle and selective wearing of nuts and panel lines around the ammo bay doors. Looked ok round the ammo bays but not in other areas, just to stark and random for me so I went with the starboard wing ammo  doors  with a bit of silver wear and tear

 

The flaps, I unilaterally decided, would be one up one down. I always have a "mind's eye" view of what the plane's doing and this one has had a major hydraulic failure and the port flaps are stuck up. Not sure if that would happen in actuality but it added a bit of variety. Also, hopefully, the subtle lightening of the fabric covered flap area shows against the metal of the wing

 

Engine area looks ok now. I'ts not easy to see all teh pipework thats gone in. Hopefully, my new camera and trial and error will show this in the "Ready For Inspection" shots

 

The blue lines on the control line bundle, I DON'T like and they'll be replaced later today..Urrrgh!

 

Lastly, exhaust staining. My Hellcat will be panels off, thankfully. I realised during dry engine fit that there can be problems with panel fit depending on the final engine positioning on the airframe. The fits and tolerances on this kit can be so fine at times that even with great care, it doesn't take much of an error <1mm maybe over a couple of fit points and, cumulatively, that can leave an over or under fit on the panels. Dry fitting mania is needed. 

There are myriad patterns of exhaust stains and colours depending on mix ratios and other things. I went for these as a reference pics as I liked the "ribbing "effect further down the fuselage:

 

still a bit of touch up to do here though so they'll appear next post hopefully.

 

Folded wing lightly in place does cover up the cockpit but it's visible from the other side

 

 

 

[CraigH]

Just entering the "don't screw up an OK model by keeping adding bits till it's ruined" stage 

I wasn't going to fit the external drop tank but then, yesterday, I had a thought of "what about if it's been dropped- literally?" on the floor I mean. So I messed it up a bit and bent a few things and I'll  make a decision tonight about whether it's going on...