finished Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat

Thanks Tigerman and Geof!  I appreciate the nice comments.  And, I appreciate all the good tips too!  Mike F6F, I have a close friend who manages a guitar shop so I'm hooked up fine with strings.  The Wildcat has a few problems for sure but I'm glad to finally call her done.  My next build is coming along nicely; a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak.  Thanks again everyone.

Gary

Nice job! Great pics!

I love early war schemes and colors. Love your Wildcat.

I use stretched sprue to rig most of my 1/700 ships, so that has to be reallyyyyyyyyyyyy thin. If the plastic is the right consistency, I can heat and stretch a 2-inch length out arms-length to get less than hair-thin lengths of sprue. (That's about a 6-foot length of stretched sprue). One secret, I think, is to hold the tension for a few moments after you stretch it; then what I do is tack it to the wall with tape, so the bottom upstretched plug still holds a little tension on it.

Hans von Hammer

If you glue it in loose (with a little slack, I mean), you can tighten up with a match, cigarette, or incense stick...

Just glue into place, leaving a little slack, like I said... Then move the heat source closer and closer to it, and when it all lines up, the sprue will suddenly go taut...

As for timing, I just hold it with one hand over a candle, then when it curls up or droops under it's own weight, it's ready to pull....

Yup, just the way I do it too.  Man, I've got a couple yards of stretched sprue hanging around my study.  Been stretching that stuff for years.  A just burned out, glowing gopher match works best for me.   Why, I even hoard long lengths of sprue in various colors for those future "string" needs.

If you glue it in loose (with a little slack, I mean), you can tighten up with a match, cigarette, or incense stick...

Just glue into place, leaving a little slack, like I said... Then move the heat source closer and closer to it, and when it all lines up, the sprue will suddenly go taut...

As for timing, I just hold it with one hand over a candle, then when it curls up or droops under it's own weight, it's ready to pull....

Tex,

Know any guitar players?  My antennas are bits of used guitar string.  The strings have been stretched, so they stay straight and they come in different thicknesses.

Yeah, I had some that was very thin.  Timing is everything in sprue-stretching, well, distance from the heat matters too of course.  But, I had fits handling that really thin stuff.  I had a hard time threading into my pre-drilled holes.  So, I said, to hell with that fight and used some thicker sections...too thick I believe now but it's done. Like rigging a biplane, stringing wire aerials is no fun for me.

Damn.. Hate when the font does that...

I used stretched sprue for the aerials but it looks too thick to me. 

Try pulling it out farther... Sprue can be stretched thinner than a human hair...  If it's breaking before you get it that thin, it's either not hot enough, or you're waiting too long to stretch it...

'Course, I use my own hair more often than not, since CA loves sticking to organic things...

Hans von Hammer

 

Glad you included that photo! It woulda drove me nuts tryin' ta figger out what "GF" meant, Tex... Good call on using unusual markings too!  Did those decals and the photo come with the kit? Or did you find the photo, then make the deals, or what?

Whichever, it's nice to see a Wildcat that's not from VF-3, 6, 8, or VMF whatever from the 'Canal...

 

The decals came with the kit Hans.  I found the photo in a search for weathering references.  After I saw the photo, I thought, wait a minute, that looks mighty familiar...went into the study and checked the decal sheet.  Yep, same plane.

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone!  Stik, I used stretched sprue for the aerials but it looks too thick to me.  I always sort of dread stringing those antennas; I've been thinking about trying E-Z Line next time.  Do you have any experience with that?

Glad you included that photo! It woulda drove me nuts tryin' ta figger out what "GF" meant, Tex... Good call on using unusual markings too!  Did those decals and the photo come with the kit? Or did you find the photo, then make the deals, or what?

Whichever, it's nice to see a Wildcat that's not from VF-3, 6, 8, or VMF whatever from the 'Canal...

She looks great, nice work.

stikpusher

Hey, it was finished in the same year it was started... better than 4 of the last 6 builds that I finished Very nice work there Tex I do wish that the other model companies would look at the surface detail on this kit to see how it should be done The Medium Gray works quite well for a weathered Blue Gray on the early war scheme. I really like your antenna wiring What do you use?

Thats because its almost a shake and bake kit. it took me about 2 weeks with some mods to the kit. Cut out the floor etc.

Youve done a lovely job on it. Well done. I mixed paint exactly to the tamiya specs and it came out quite a bit blue'er than you have.

Hey, it was finished in the same year it was started... better than 4 of the last 6 builds that I finished Very nice work there Tex I do wish that the other model companies would look at the surface detail on this kit to see how it should be done The Medium Gray works quite well for a weathered Blue Gray on the early war scheme. I really like your antenna wiring What do you use?

I like very much your work:Bravo!!Ciao Enrico.