Catfight! A pair of Widlcats

[the Baron]

Hi, all,

I'm getting my SMA posting caught up with my threads over at Agape Models (http://agapemodels.com/forums/), and I'd like to share this in-progress build with y'all. This is a pair of Wildcats, the Hobby Boss and Monogram kits. Both were given to me by friends--Hobby Boss by my buddy Scott Hershbell, and the Monogram kit from a friend who asked to remain anonymous. I put them on my slate for 2013.

Here's the Hobby Boss kit, which I'm sure is familiar to you:



and its sprues:







Markings and instructions:



Markings are available for Butch O'Hare's F4F flying off the Lexington, or Major Galer, flying at Guadalcanal. I'm building Galer's mount.

The kit's quality is good, and it looks like it can be built into a decent model, out of the box.

And here is the Monogram kit, a classic:



This is an old boxing, too, the same as I built when I was a kid. My goal with this build is to finish it as an Atlantic Wildcat, in the dark gull gray over white. I want some practice with the colors, because I have the Ventura in the stash, and will finish it as an Atlantic PV-1.

I also decided to add a resin cockpit, for practice working with a resin set. I picked up the True Details kit off eBay. It's intended for the Tamiya Wildcat, but I figured I'd use it as best I could.

I started off building these, side by side, starting with the cockpits. Here's the True Details cockpit:



I learned that the set expects to use some kit parts from the Tamiya kit, so I had to scratchbuild the bulkhead that carries the seat. Also, the right console was a short-shot, so I scratched it with styrene and resin bits. The joystick is a piece of wire, with a tape grip. Here it is with a coat of interior green:



Meanwhile, here is the Hobby Boss cockpit (sorry, part of the image is blurry):



and with its coat of interior green:



I'm using the Squadron "In Action" book as my bench reference, but the Hobby Boss piece also helped as a reference, as I assembled the cockpit for the Monogram kit.

Next, working on interior assemblies, I put together the engine for the Hobby Boss F4F:



I hit my first snag here. The front gear box, cylinder rows and rear box are all keyed to fit, in that order. But I found that only the two cylinder rows fit. The front and rear boxes did not fit correctly. I wound up having to butt-join them, front and back. To ensure alignment between the front gear box and the front bank of cylinders, I had to insert the propeller.

Then, I assembled the landing gear bay and oil tank:



Everything fit here pretty well, and the parts are nicely detailed, but when the fuselage is assembled, it'll almost all be invisible. Oh well, I know it's there.

More in the next post...

 

[the Baron]

At this point, I slowed down on the Hobby Boss bird and focused more and more on the Monogram kit. There are a couple of things that made be slow down on the Hobby Boss kit. The instrument panel has no detail, only cutouts where the instruments go, but there's no decal, and no raised detail to drybrush. I have a set of instrument faces by Mike Grant, but the thought of punching them out, or cutting them out, and applying them one by one made me lose a little interest. The pilot's seat needs belts, too. So, I started pushing on the Monogram kit.

Here is the interior, with the center wing section installed. I cut out a portion of it, because there was no floor under the pilot, and on this model, an F4F-4/FM-1, there were still belly windows through which the pilot could look out.



The True Details cockpit fit very snugly, with just a little bit of sanding. Here is the fuselage, closed up:









At this step, I realized that I made a mistake and I had misaligned the center wing section, by about 3 mm on the starboard side. It's most noticeable on the underside of the wing, at the trailing edge, where the outer wing panel doesn't meet the inner wing stub.



So, for the rest of the build, you'll see no more photos of the underside

 

[the Baron]

At this point, I realized that I had only a couple of laps to go, to complete the Monogram kit, so I bore done and worked on it exclusively. Here, I've masked the canopy and installed it:



I used Tamiya tape for the first time, and I will use it for all my canopies, going forward. It was so easy to work with. It went down easily, revealing the details underneath. Blue tape does too, but unlike blue tape, Tamiya tape cuts so cleanly. So I've found another case where my Dutchy senses were wrong. It may be more expensive, but it's the best thing I've used on a canopy.



I also applied a little bit of Future to the masking, to seal the edges and prevent paint bleeding.

Here, I have applied a little of the interior green to the canopy, so the framing will look like it's painted, when you look through the canopy:



Then I primed, and this is another first time for me, I bought Tamiya primer, to try it:



I found it covered well and went on very finely grained. It's expensive for the volume, but I'll probably use it more for these projects, and reserve my automotive primer for other projects.



Then I applied the white. This was Testor's flat white, in a rattlecan:





Then I masked and applied the dark gull gray (Model Master, thinned about 50-50 with isopropyl, applied at about 20 psi):





and then, a little touching up was required:



More to follow...

 

[the Baron]

Next, I brushed on some Future, let it cure for a day, and then I applied the decals. They came from my spares box:



The national insignia came from a mid-90s Monogram Avenger, and they were thick. The ones on the wings settled down OK, but the ones on the fuselage fought me fiercely. Despite multiple applications of Solvaset, piercing with a needle and slicing with a Nr 11 knife, there are still wrinkles that I could not eliminate.

Once the decals had set, I hit it with DullCote, and applied a little bit of weathering, just a little. Last year, I bought some AK Interactive weathering fluids, just to see what all the fuss is about. Here, I used the Fuel Stain fluid, on the drop tanks, and for some oil staining on the starboard side of the fuselage. It's OK, but I can make my own washes. Exhaust and blast stains were done with chalks. Some walkaround photos:











Some closeups, trying to get a look through the canopy:







I also added an aerial with a piece of invisible nylon thread.

And finally, I added a pilot:



He's from the Hasegawa WWII Pilots set. I painted him for a quick SBS on painting a 1/48 figure, for Agape.



He's a little stocky, and I think he looks a little like Pappy Boyington. However, his coverall and equipment looked enough like the cold-weather gear used in the North Atlantic, so he was a good choice.



And that's the Monogram kit. I had fun with this, which is what I set out to do. Having finished this, I will return next to the Hobby Boss kit, and see if I can finish it over the next couple weeks.

Comments/criticisms/tips are welcome, as always, and thanks for looking!

YbiC
Brad

 

[Quaralane]

That old Monogram kit turned out pretty sharp

 

[the Baron]

Thanks, Q! The photos show a lot of blemishes, and since I'll probably build more of these in the future, I've got an idea of areas to look for (aligning the center wing section, cleaning up the seams on the wings). But otherwise, it's a simple build.

Tonight, I get back to the Hobby Boss kit, starting with some seat belts for the pilot.

 

[Timbaux]

Awesome work! In for the Hobby Boss kit

 

[JMac]

I love that you're building the old Monogram kits Baron.
Very cool.

 

[the Baron]

Hi, everyone, a quick update...

Last weekend, I returned to the HobbyBoss kit, and I tackled assembling the fuselage. Here, I ran into more fit issues. The instructions would have us attach the cockpit to the belly piece, and then attach this to the upper fuselage. Fitting the cockpit to the belly proved a problem, because there aren't really any locators of any kind. There are some molded-in ribs in the belly, and the cockpit is supposed to rest on these, but the contact points were so tiny, that it was as if you'd stand on the edge of a table, balancing on a single toe. I fitted the cockpit into the upper fuselage instead. There are ribs where the pilot's bulkhead and the instrument panel meet the fuselage, so this worked far better. Even so, when dry-fitting the belly to the fuselage, it's an extremely tight fit, with some pretty serious gaps along the seam. I settled for trueing up the back edge first, as tightly as possible. Here, you can see the result:



You can see, there is a gap at the front end, where the bulkheads prevent closing. I will have to apply extra pressure to close this.

The more I think about it, the more I dislike the engineering of these pieces. Instead of a belly section, just give me two complete fuselage halves.

In the meantime, though, I've picked up the Tamiya -3 kit, and after a quick glance at those sprues, I suspect that HobbyBoss got their ideas from Tamiya.

After getting this seam at the forward end closed up, it'll be on to the wings and the horizontal stabilizers, and it'll be ready for the base colors.

As always, criticisms/comments/tips are welcome, and thanks for looking!

YbiC
Brad

 

[the Baron]

Thanks, Timbaux, Jason!

 

[Quaralane]

Definitely looks nasty there, Baron.
Betting you can handle it, though

 

[cargoman5126]

Very cool builds!!