32 scale wildcat

[fightnjoe]

idle hands they say......

me, not wanting to lose what i have going, have decided. my next project will be..........

trump 1/32 f4f-4. this one makes me nervous. i have read some pretty nasty things but then again i have read some really good things. opinions range from oob to scratching (or buying am) a whole new pit. me i am leaning towards as close to oob as i can. i know very little of the subject but i love the landing gear on these a/c. so we go step by step and see how long before i break.


first up, step 1. the cockpit.

i cliped the parts off the tree and have them dryfit so i can see what i am working with. some decent detail. missing some things from the few ref pics i have. might have to see if i can do something about that.

next up will be to see what i can do about some of the obvious missing items. really do not want to go overboard after the last two builds.


comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



joe

 

[fightnjoe]

Re: 32 scale wildcat....its the pits

worked a bit on the pit. first i hit it with my normal of flat black and then vallejo bronze green. i dislike vallejo paints greatly. i have never had any kind of luck with them. i dont know if i thin them too little or too much or just inept when it comes to them but i dislike them. however there are only two companies that produce a bronze green. vallejo and humbol. humbol is unavailable in the area and i am not in a position to make another paint order at this time so vallejo it is. i didnt add much, yet. just got the pieces dryfit for the time being.

after the bronze green i picked out a few highlights with some odd colors. (turquoise, interior green, red, and gray) i then used silver and gave it a drybrush to show some wear and abuse.

i also changed the bulbs in my two overhead lamps, using a day bulb and boy are they bright. may have to switch back to the softer bulb. the light washed out the colors a bit. still need to figure out how to make decent seatbelts and possibly some of the smaller tubing along both sides.

so........


on to the next.

comments, critiques, and criticisms are encouraged.



joe

 

[Quaralane]

Re: 32 scale wildcat....its the pits

Definitely off to a good start

 

[fightnjoe]

Re: 32 scale wildcat....its the pits

many thanks for the kind words.



joe

 

[letsgobrowns82]

Re: 32 scale wildcat....its the pits

Looking good! Always wanted to do a 1/32 aircraft. They are packed with detail.

 

[Mfun]

Re: 32 scale wildcat....its the pits

Great project, like this machines

 

[fightnjoe]

Re: 32 scale wildcat....its the pits

many thanks for the kind words.


ok i need help. spent a good amount of time on redoing the side panels for the pit. now they are not done by a long shot but i am going nuts. cant make up my mind if they look ok or not.

so........

and then the seat.

so please, could you help me out and let me know what you think?



joe

 

[fightnjoe]

now just a brief update.

been playing with the seat. you see the three tell me your thoughts.

comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


joe

 

[fightnjoe]

this post is dedicated to a bare naked pit.... cockpit that is.

this is what i am going with. i wanted to get some pics prior to starting the painting. if you wish you can check earlier in the thread to see what the kit parts looked like.

just to rehash. using a for sale sign, .010 styrene sheet, rod, tube, square, and stretched sprue i have fumbled this together.


so..............

there she is. the work is layed bare.

be blunt folks. let me know.



comments, critiques, and criticisms are encouraged.


joe

 

[EHOG]

Looks pretty good from my house. Do it up. Awesome work with the scratching

 

[fightnjoe]

many many thanks.




joe

 

[fightnjoe]

ok i am ready to move on.

the first two steps in the instructions were focused on the pit. after the initial construction with the kit parts i went off track a little and scratched much of it.

finished that up today. so here she is.

things of note.

the colors are bronz green (vallejo), interior green (model master), flat red and black (testors). i punched out a disk from thicker clear plastic from a tool set case. although you cant see it i painted white behind the film of the instrument panel and it actually looks decent.

comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



joe

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

Nice work Joe!

Looking great man.

 

[fightnjoe]

ken many thanks.

now for a rant.

steps 3-5 have the builder working with the engine. for those with this kit you may wish to really take a hard look at images online. for those with the inclination you may want to cut the "rods" off of parts e-19 and e-28 and do your own. the engine cylinders come in four pieces. you mate them for two sets of cylinders. i found this to be interesting to say the least. one set mated up decent. the other looked like they were from different engines. after struggling through with that i followed the instructions as to how to fit the pieces. in short a struggle is putting it nicely. i had to work all the pieces to get them to even come close to fitting together. when i put the caps on the rods well they look hideous. as most will be hidden i am going to go forward but i have the -3 in my stash and will be doing some scratch work on the engine. i noticed that the kit instructions have the caps (two pieces, one with a "spacer" on it) with the spacer crossing from cylinder to cylinder. when i looked at the engines online it appeared the bracket the spacer is replicating was over the cylinder not between them. that is the way i went. i am most likely wrong in this but there it is. i fought with the pieces for the engine for three days. this is the best it is going to get.

i am on to the next.


comments, critiques, and criticisms are encouraged.



joe

 

[fightnjoe]

rant skipped for some of the issues i had. moving forward and sticking to oob.


wow got on a bit of a roll for sure yesterday.

the wings are in the down position. since the pics they are now also attached. she looks like a wildcat now.


first up is how the pit and the engine framework fit into the fuse. believe the reviews. these two parts did not line up correctly. not by a long shot. i monkied with it for a while and got it where i could be happy but it doesnt fit in there correct.

now how the body looks.

and the wings.

now with all that has happened with this is i am pretty pleased with the overall look. she will look decent with paint. i am going to glue the flaps closed and the tail feathers neutral. just to keep myself from going nuts.



comments, critiques, and criticisms are encouraged.



joe

 

[JMac]

Joe - Just getting caught up, I'm totally impressed with the boatload of work you've done here. Very cool. Nice to see the fuselage close and the Wildcat standing on her own legs.

Looking forward to the next update.

Jason

 

[fightnjoe]

jason many many thanks. i am glad you are enjoying it.



joe

 

[fightnjoe]

well that was somewhat quick.

we have color.

and yet another screw up by me and another wonderful suprise from the kit.

first my screwup. when i went to paint i thinned the paint way way way too thin. much much more thin than i have done before. not sure what i was thinking. well after a couple of attempts that ended in runny failure, rather than waste the mix i took a step back and misted the mix on from about 18 to 24 inches. repeated until the color appeared. not sure i like it but i am going forward.

i did have to touch up a couple of runny spots but here she is.

you cant really see it but there is enough of a base i can play a little with some weathering. not too much but some.

now for the suprise. when i went to attach the glass to this i first dipped them in future and when i went to remove the windscreen from the spru i found a long crack. almost separating the windscreen in two. of course it also follows a path across a spot that is suposed to be a window. figures. par for the course with the way this build is going.

got to keep the enthusiasm up........got to keep the enthusiasm............

last kit that was like this for me was an icm 1/48 p-51b that had canyons for seams. you could put fingers through the openings.

thinking i can have fun though. the weathering will be fun. i hope.


comments, critiques, and criticisms are encouraged.



joe

 

[fightnjoe]

well just a short update.

over the last day or so i have tried to clean up the wash, thrown a clear coat on, slapped some decals on, another clear coat, and started to paint up the landing gear, exterior fuel tanks, prop, assorted small bits, and exhausts.

after all the issues i spent a great deal of time with the decals. i wanted to improve my attempts at them. i spent about two hours with them and got them to sit pretty clean without even the solvent. i then did hit them with solvent just to make sure they were down and then clear coated them to prepare to weather them a bit.

one mishap, my fault. when cleaning up the prop for painting it dropped out of my hand and snapped one of the blades off. it was a pretty clean break and i think i got it repaired but none the less another mishap.

comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



joe

 

[JMac]

The crack in the glass sux. But everything else is shaping up nicely.