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


Out2gtcha

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Brian, i'm happy for ye to pick up the big cat again, it still is an inspiration to me to start my own HPH cat, but it'll be a wish for the time being.

Great way of showing this intricate kit being brought alive, i love it.

 

J.

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Thanks guys one and all! Good to be back on this one. I actually have some progress to share............................

 

 

For as tough as the kit is in spots, the motivation is back to a certain extent (the way you have to constantly sand things off resin pallets really wears on you) and Im pressing on, as a 1/32nd Tigercat is a lifelong dream scratched off the bucket list.

 

After jumping directly into the engines, I realized how much work they are going to be and switched over to finishing the main build up of the props. I finished up gluing the brass tubes in the prop sets then measured and embedded the receiving sized tubes in the gear boxes so the props can spin yet will remain stable. I also glued on the prop bosses:

 

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I also finish sanded all the props, then measured and cut them all the same length:

 

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Next up I took a twist drill and drilled out the resin props, then used some old needles cut to size to pin them all for later installation in the prop bosses:

 

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The end result is gratifying and even without glue holds together pretty well. In the end these seem pretty close in shape to the Tamiya offering (or at least close enough for me) and should be quite a bit stronger than gluing alone:

 

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Putting off those engines for a bit longer, I started in on the wingtips once again. The Plastruct 1/4" clear square stock came in quite handy.  Initial testing proved out the concept so I moved forward with it:

 

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I thought about filling the interior sides of the wingtip light, but then thought better of it and epoxied in some card stock:

 

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I then spritzed some MRP silver chrome on them and let them dry. I then cut a couple suitably sized pieces of the clear 1/4" square stock and polished two sides of each piece (the two sides that would face the interior walls of the wingtip lights as the outer sides of the stock had heavy extrusion tool marks which will get sanded off on the other two sides) then drilled a hole in each and painted the holes with Tamiya clear red and clear green:

 

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MORE................

 

 

 

 

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Then I took some of the two part clear resin I used for water detail and dioramas and slathered it on (and in between) the square wingtip light cavity and the 1/4" stock. I used a tiny bit of clear CA to lock it in place while things dry. Its not 100% accurate, but I think will look good in the end and be a lot closer to the actual shape of an F7F wing:

 

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I also glued together the tail hook since eventually  I will have to glue in the tail hook cover to the fuselage and fair that part in. The cover doesn't fit well as the opening is off, but at least the tail hook is wire impregnated to hold together better:

 

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Once again pushing the engines off I started on another major area of the kit that IMHO needs addressing badly. The MLG. These as advertised by HpH seem strong enough to hold the model up, but as the nose gear was way incorrect on length and shape, the likelihood of the MLG being the correct length to give the model the stance I wanted was slim to none. 

 

The MLG couldn't be modified just any-ol-way, since this was going to be a heavy model and the MLG had to be strong. I started off with the main part of the MLG which has the piano wire running through it, and the part that is also responsible for bearing the brunt of the weight of the model. I used some suitably sized brass tubing to emulate the main body of the main strut of the MLG. 

Since I have a second set of landing gear from HpH (you can see in the second pic a short shot at the bottom of the apposing set of resin gear) I could afford to attempt something I had in mind.  Scary I know! 

 

I cut the OOB HpH gear right at the point where the oleo strut goes into the main body, severing the internal piano wire as well.  I set the lower section where the wheel attached to aside, and used some pliers to pull the piano wire right out of the resin gear section. I then took a drill and a #7 Exacto blade and cut off the 4 end sections of each main strut (two a side) that have the oleo scissor connections and secondary actuator brace connections on them. I used a jewelry file to smooth the interior of the end caps out, and after cutting a piece of brass tube just a skosh longer than there OOB counterparts, and then glued on the resin caps to the brass tube sections:

 

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I used some hardened piano wire of my own and embedded a new section of wire into the base of the MLG section where on the F7F the oleo strut attaches to:

 

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Then, using one of those "flavor injector" needles you can get for Turkeys here in the states cut the tip off and eventually will cut to length and then will have the interior with wire filled with JB Weld:

 

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Once that is done it will of course allow the turkey injector oleo strut to glide up and down in the main body of the MLG and that way I can shim or cut off the oleo to get the model to the correct sitting height:

 

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I then had to figure out how to make the top attachment point of the MLG just as robust. I took the previous section of hardened piano wire and cut it to length being mindful of the bend angles. I found a piece of hard plastic tube the correct OD to fit the inside diameter of the tube and the correct ID to hold the piano wire. This will all get slathered with JB Weld as well, to eventually make one solid robust MLG section. I will also use some thin card stock around the upper attachment area and flod it with JB too to emulate the squared off section at the top/mounting section of the gear:

 

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All for now gents, Ill be back on the big girl this week, likely tomorrow again after work.

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

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