Revell F4F-4 Wildcat

[Rick Stone]

Made a little progress!  Tried OBG's method of printing on photo paper.  Worked well, but I was under the impression the ink would be tougher than it was.... I ended up smearing the center instrument cluster.  So, printed another, and dammit, did it again!  Set it aside for a while, and then decided to see how the sea tbelts would look. I had printed a test sheet on regular paper a couple days ago, so I just cut the belts out with an exacto knife.  This was just going to be a trial fit/run, but by golly, they looked pretty good..... so I glued 'em on!  Then, after I was sufficiently over my annoyance of ruining the center instruments, I got another idea..... I wonder how the regular paper one would look......   A few minutes with the exacto knife, and I had my answer!  All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out so far.  I am not going for either extreme accuracy, nor super detail, just something that looks better than the 10-year-old me did forty-something years ago!  Will post another pic soon of the cockpit all assembled .

 

[Rick Stone]

And here it is assembled.  It's already rather fiddly, even at this early stage, so this kit might be a bit problematic.  At least I have more patience at this age, unlike when I was 10! LOL  

 

PS.... can someone tell me how to resize my images?  I can't figure out how to do it on Postimages, nor can I do it within LSP.....

 

[denders]

You can resize the images using programs like, Photoshop, Affinity Photo, Gimp (free), ets. before you upload to postimage.

[Woody V]

20 hours ago, Rick Stone said:

PS.... can someone tell me how to resize my images?

If you're on a Mac, you can crop, resize, adjust color settings and change resolution using Preview which comes free on a Mac.

Edited July 19, 2022 by Archer Fine Transfers

[Thomas Lund]

As for vallejo Green Zinc chromate

 

https://www.hlj.com/71094-green-zinc-chromate-vlj71094

 

For yellow I use 71107 US interior yellow

 

I'm looking forward to following this

[easixpedro]

I've had success printing on regular paper and then soaking it in super-thin super glue.  Let it dry and then it'll be just like a piece of styrene that you can cut and sand etc.  Even responds to paint and lacquer without ruining it.

-Peter

[Rick Stone]

Thanks Thomas, I will remember that number next time I'm at the hobby shop.

 

Easi, that's an interesting technique.  I'll have to try it sometime!

[Rick Stone]

Have been busy with life (which seems to still get in the way a lot!) so progress has been slow.  Finally got the engine done (hardly a technical challenge, LOL) but I did play around with a wash, which I have very little experience with.  The result is nowhere near the level of some of the incredible work I've seen here, but I'm satisfied with it.  The wash really enhances the detail on the cylinders!

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Rick Stone

[themongoose]

6 hours ago, Rick Stone said:

Have been busy with life (which seems to still get in the way a lot!) so progress has been slow.  Finally got the engine done (hardly a technical challenge, LOL) but I did play around with a wash, which I have very little experience with.  The result is nowhere near the level of some of the incredible work I've seen here, but I'm satisfied with it.  The wash really enhances the detail on the cylinders!

 

Rick that’s just plain impressive for a kit part! Nice show there.

[MikeMaben]

[Rick Stone]

Mongoose and Mike, thanks for the kind words and emojis!

[Rick Stone]

Started fiddling with the landing gear...... I swear, the plastic in this kit seems VERY brittle.  Had to be EXTREMELY careful cutting the gear parts off the sprues, and despite my best efforts, managed to break em in 2 places. Got em back together in a semi-passable manner, then started to assemble the 4 parts.  That was a challenge!  But got em together, and now it's time for paint..... after just a bit more cleaning up.  But I'm very scared of breaking something again while trying to clean up tiny bits that are barely visible! The instructions call for black for this assembly, but I have seen various pics on the web with varying colors, including black, white, and shades of gray.  Suggestions?  Which was the most common?

 

[Rick Stone]

A bit more work done on the gear.  I decided to go with what the instructions call for, as far as color, did the smaller bracing structure in black, and the main gear struts in white.  Then added a bit of wash to the struts and the aft gear bay bulkhead to try and give it that used-but-not-neglected look.  Didn't turn out as I had envisioned, but it did help bring out some of the detail.  I'll live with it..... LOL

 

 

 

[Woody V]

47 minutes ago, Rick Stone said:

Didn't turn out as I had envisioned

 

It never does for me either. 

[Rick Stone]

Word of the Day:   Fiddly - adj.   A term used to describe a model kit whose parts do not fit together well, and require significant manipulation for assembly.

 

And so, my friends, "fiddly" is precisely how I describe the progress made.  I don't remember these wonderful 1/32 Revell kits being so difficult when I was a kid, but maybe I was just so bad at model building that I didn't notice!  Nevertheless, I got the engine and cockpit/landing gear installed, and the fuselage halves together.  The instructions were less than clear, and it took me a while to realize the small square protrusion on the fron of the gear assembly went into the square hole on the fuselage halves as shown in the pic.  And of course, it did not fit well.....  it was..... well.... fiddly!  I just hope that when I remove the tape tomorrow, I won't have gaps big enough to drive a truck through!