AMT 1/48th Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat

Get rid of those vinyl tires ASAP. They are the type that eat plastic. Mine ate through part of the fuselage in the box.

Swanny,

I remember reading that on other threads that you had posted on. I've had this kit for about four years now (sat on the shelf till just last week), and the vinyl tires still look like new, as does all of the plastic. I was thinking about applying a sheet of Bare Metal Foil to the wheels before mounting the tires, just to keep the vinyl from attacking the plastic. Think that will work? Any advice will be much appreciated (aside from getting rid of the tires).

I have built all three Tigercat kit's and had good results with each. However after several months I noticed that the tires on the -2 and the -3 had completely melted the plastic hubs. For whatever reason to this day the tires and wheels on the -3N are still perfect. I wonder if AMT realized the problem and corrected it before releasing the -3N. For the other two I picked up two sets of resin wheels from "True Details" part #48091.

Gary,

I like your idea about using bare metal foil as a barrier between the tires and rims. I have several Tigercat kits but only two sets of resin wheels.

Gary,
Hmmmm, might work. I personally prefer the resin weighted tires.

Swanny,

I just found out that you're the Matt Swan with the article in FSM!! Great article!! I just never put the two clues together.

As far as weighted tires go, I don't like to use them, as real aircraft tires aren't bulged to the sides as the aftermarket weighted tires show. Granted, the real tires are flattened where they make contact with the ground, but they don't bulge. So, for that reason, I don't like using them. I usually just sand a flat spot to the bottoms of the plastic kit tires. Thanks for all the advice, though.

Melgyver,

Thanks. A friend of mine and I tossed around ideas on how to overcome this phenomenon without buying aftermarket sets, and this is what we came up with. We haven't tried it yet, but we both have a few AMT Tigercat kits each, so I'm gonna give it a try when I get to that point with the one I'm building now. I guess we'll have to wait a few years to see if we're succuessful, huh?

Gary,

It seems I heard somewhere a coating of super glue was supposed to work also, but haven't tried it out yet. I'm still trying to get back into "building" and finishing something instead of "clollecting". I'm "feet wet" and hope to continue my "streak " of scratching on plastic when I go "feet dry" next Tues. I saw the Tigercat they have in Galveston, Tx. at the Lone Star Museum a quite few years back and and took a few pictures. It was painted a gloss black. I also saw the one in the Pensecola Naval Air Museum and got a few detail pictures of the wheel wells. I didn't realize until I saw the mounts for the .50 cals in the nose wheel well that they were accessible from there. Good luck with your build.

Thanks, Melgyver. I need all the luck I can get! The -3N that I'm building doesn't have the nose guns - the radar takes up all the space there. It still has the wing guns, though. What's your current project?

A little info on the vinyl tires...

The early production runs of this kit had the funkified plastic-eating vinyl tires. Once the problem was discovered AMT changed the vinyl they were using.


Fade to Black...

I wonder if just spraying future on the hubs would protect the plastic as well, it seems to create a nice barrier for everything else??!!

Gary,

I'm currently working on a 1/35th UH-1C. Over detailing it. I'll be making some "masters" to attempt to make some resin details that are either lacking or incorrect. I would like to build about 6 or 7 of the 174th AHC's "named" Sharks. It will be a long term build, but I'll try not to put it aside again, I want the first one finished for our Reunion in Oct. Let some of the old Sharks drool over it! I've got a bunch of 1/48th stuff started also, B-29, B-25, A-26, P-51, P-61, T-6, F-15, V-22, UH-1D & C. Love to start but slow to finish.

Same here, Melgyver, same here. I can start a model with the best of 'em. But FINISHING one is a whole different story.

Well, continuing on with the construction of this........KIT...... I can safely say that I'm not gonna build another AMT Tigercat.

1. The instructions are extremely vague about how the landing gear mounts to the engine nacelles. After figuring out how they mounted, I discovered that the mounting holes for them don't even come close to being in the right spots. Thank goodness for pin vices & drill bits.

2. The instructions are also vague about how the radar scope hood mounts to the rear instrument panel. I just guessed at it. Maybe it's wrong, maybe it's right - who knows?

3. The engine nacelles do not have a good fit. After many test fits, I still couldn't figure out a good way to make them fit any better than they were going to, so I just used super glue with accelerator, and force-fit them to the wings. Still wasn't the best of results trying it that way, but, hopefully, the DARK blue paint will hide it.

4. The engines were molded incorrectly. They have adequate detail, but the rear set of cylinders for each engine (there's a front set & rear set of cylinders for each engine) were molded with the pushrod tubes facing to the rear of the engine. Oh well. At least they won't be easily seen once the model is assembled (I hope).

5. The rear instrument panel was impossible to make fit into the rear cockpit, so, I broke it in half, leaving the top half of the panel out, and then glued the rear cockpit in place. I then sanded the upper part of the rear instrument panel to fit the contours of the rear cockpit. Seems to work ok that way.

More later.........

Tamiya or Hasegawa, where are ya when I need ya?

Gary,

Thanks for listing all your "pains" with the Tigercat. I hadn't heard much about it. I knew about the A-20 main gear being in the "wrong" place. I guess we have to settle for "second fiddle" when it comes to the aircraft that weren't in the "spot lights". Keep plugging away it!

Will do, Melgyver.

Here's some more.........

1. The landing gear is very flimsy. It's almost like rubber. I'm kind of afraid to set the plane on its wheels when it's finished. I don't know of any way to modify them for the extra nose weight. Are there any aftermarket white metal (pewter, I believe) landing gear struts available for this kit?

2. Add lots of nose weight. There's plenty of room in there. Although, according to my Squadron "F7F Tigercat In Action" book, it was normal to see these things sitting on their tails when the fuel tanks were empty. Even had pictures showing it. I decided to have full tanks. I hope the darned nose strut can handle the additional weight.

3. I glued the horizontal stabilizers on today. They went on well, using slow-drying super glue. About the only thing that's went well with this kit.

Ok, the wings are now attached with super-glue. I used accelerator just to be on the safe side. The wings only have a small sliver of plastic for alignment instead of a pseudo-spar, so make sure that you use super-glue, or maybe 5-minute epoxy, to attach the wings. Decent fit between the wing root and fuselage. Just a small gap, which shows up on most kits anyway, so no surprise there. Easily fixed with some filler. I'm knida concerned about the balance, though. The thing seems a bit tail-heavy now that the wings are on, despite the nose weight that I installed before gluing the fuselage halves together. Hmmmmm.........

Well, I THOUGHT I had enough nose weight. After temporarily installing the main gear to see if I had enough, it immediately sat on its tail. Luckily, the nose gear well doesn't have a forward bulkhead, so I put some more steel BB's in the nose through there, with 5-minute epoxy to hold it all in. No Luck. Still a tail-sitter. I'm afraid to put any more weight on the plane anywhere, as I don't think the struts can take the weight. So, I guess I'll have to portray it with empty tanks. Shoot.......
I'll be painting her tomorrow afternoon (I hope). Gloss Sea Blue.

This is the LAST AMT F7F I'm ever building.

You guys are killing me! I have all the Tigercat kits on the shelf as well as the A-20! I guess it's good to know whats coming before I go in. Maybe before I get to them Gary's prayers will be answered by Tamiya or Hasagawa.

Gary,

I haven't investigated the possibily on the Tigercat, but I'm putting electic motors in my A-26 and it hellped out with weighing down the nose. I didn't have to put near as much weight up front. Of course the gear is a lot sturdier on the A-26 Invader. I had done the B-26 Marauder years ago with the motors and it just fell victim to a falling boxed model off the shelf and wiped out the nose gear and horizontal tail feathers. I guess I can practice my "battle damage" skills!

Sergeant Major,
I'm not saying that ALL AMT kits are this bad, but I have two Tigercat kits (same kits), and I've had nothing but problems with the one I'm building. I think that if the landing gear plastic was a little stiffer, I could add a little more weight behind the engines in the nacelles, as there is plenty of room in there. But I'm afraid the landing gear struts won't be able to handle the weight. I could be wrong, but I'm gonna play it safe. I also have the XB-35 & YB-49 kits by AMT. I've attempted the XB-35 before, and messed it up royally (my fault, not the kit's), and the plastic on them both is very sturdy stuff, including the landing gear. So, I don't think that all AMT kits are like this (I hope.........). I would definitely see if anyone makes aftermarket METAL landing gear for these things, though, before you build them.
And I hope you're right about Tamiya or Hasegawa answering my prayers!!

Melgyver,
Are you building the Pro Modeler A-26? I've got that kit (unbuilt so far), and it sure looks like a nice one. Putting motors in one is something I've contemplated but never attempted. I hope it all comes out ok for you. Let us all know.

Gary,
I have had problems with gear struts before and replaced them with brass tubing of similar diameter. Of course you have to build the details on and that can be a pain. The work bench review on my dream kit, 1/32 F-105D (Trumpeter) says the struts on that kit can't hack the weight either. In this case I think I'll hold out for after market before I spend the $100 dollars. It will take a while to talk the OIC out of a chit to add it to the "never ending assembly line" (her quote) anyhow, so I have time.

I wa looking through my Monogram Navy colors, vol. 3, last night. There is a picture of a -3 sitting on its tail. With no fuel in it, it is tail heavy, so a realistic display would be sitting on its tail. Or stick a 55 gal. drum under there, another occurance.

Wayne,
My "F7F Tigercat In Action" book shows the same thing, but I really wanted it to sit on its nose strut. Oh well. The kit actully comes with a 55-gallon drum (1/48th scale!!) for that very purpose, but it just wouldn't look right without a diorama to go with it.

Sergeant Major,
I like that phrase ....... "Never-ending assembly line." Maybe you should get one of those desk name plaques with that phrase on it.
I read the same thing about the Thundecheif also. Makes you wonder if Trumpeter actually builds these things before they send them to the store shelves.

Well I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks AMT has soft plastic.

Hey Gary;
Great models has the white metal nose strut for $5.00, and the resin wheels for about the same, and yes I too even had the same problem with the Radar Operators Compartment on my -3N, I have a couple of -2's and what I'm thinking of is making one a regular -2 and the other a -2N, now all I need is to find a plain -3 for my collection

72Cuda,
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I've already installed the landing gear. Darn it. Hey, I still have another F7F-3N that I can sell you.......

By the way, PLEASE tell me that your screen name means that you own a '72 Cuda. I'm a big MOPAR freak (they are all I drive), and I would love to have a 'Cuda or a Baracuda.

Ok guys - the monster has paint and decals now. I must say that the kit decals are very good. Even though they have lots of white, they weren't translucent like a lot of white decals are. I put them on dark blue paint, and they showed up as very white. They snuggled down with no problems at all. DIdn't even have to use MicroSol or Microset. At least something is going right with this kit..... I'm gonna let the decals dry for a day or two before I do anything else, such as gear doors, engines, props, etc. The picture of it will be displayed on 30 July 2004 on the USMC Group Build Thread.

Gary.
Sounds like you earned a break.