ridleusmc

 

 

lawdog114

That turned out great. Tape over the gun ports is a nice touch.

 

 

 

 

Thank you, the tape is just the new Tamiya curve masking tape.  It's the 3mm wide stuff cut to 3mm in length.  I like how it turned out.  

 

Nice!....I may use that on my next Corsair.  I use white decals while I dont think look particularly convincing as they tend to sink in to the port.    

Amazing finish!

Toshi

Awesome. There's a chipping page here on Finescale that discusses the hair spray method. Once I tried this I never went back. Strongly recommend it. =] I'll be keeping an eye out for your post. 

Thank you Bvallot.  

I love the black basing technique.  My next project is a Zero, and it'll be getting a different treatment.  It'll be layered with NMF and simulated primer before the finish coats.  Then I'll chip and wear to expose the layers.  It should be fun.   

Chris, I'm sorry I never came across your post earlier this summer. It seemed like all I had time for was a drive-by post if I managed to accomplish some thing. I agree with lawdog. The tape over the gun ports really adds some life to this cat. Tamiya has made such an easy kit to put together it feels like if you've seen one Wildcat you've seen them all. Especially with the color scheme...if you're not making use of weathering your cat to hell like many of them saw out in Henderson Field, then it's hard to stand out. You did good with your painting as well. I'm still practicing making use of that blackbasing technique. I definitely think it opens the doors to a new way of representing these scale aircraft that can be more honest if one is that much of a stickler about their craft. 

Enough babbling, I know. Great build. Looking forward to your next. =]

Thank you all, 

At some point, the look of the Wildcat really grew on me.  I think it's the aviation equivalent of a bulldog.  It's not sleek, and it's not slender.  It's short, it's stubby, and it's bred to fight.  

Hi Christopher, you are doing a really great work with this wildcat!! The paint-work is superb!!

It's not one of my favorites models ... but i always say the same ... "There isn't ugly models, no matter if you don't like very much, it's just the interpretation of a piece of  history and just this is beatiful". 

Looking forward for the new developments!

ridleusmc

 

 

BrandonD

Nice job. I love the Wildcat. On the one hand, I think it's such a stubby, ungainly looking plane, but on the other hand, what a workhorse, and so much history.

-BD-

 

 

 

 

Same here, I always thought it was an ugly little thing.  After some reading, I realized that was pretty petty thinking.  It did a whole lot in the early years of the war.  

 

So did a lot of P-36s, P-39's, and P-40's. All some of my favorite aircraft. But I have never been a fan of the Wildcats. I will add one to my collection eventually though or my early war collection will be incomplete. They did have some cool looking markings in the early years. :D

ridleusmc

 

 

BrandonD

Nice job. I love the Wildcat. On the one hand, I think it's such a stubby, ungainly looking plane, but on the other hand, what a workhorse, and so much history.

-BD-

 

 

 

 

Same here, I always thought it was an ugly little thing.  After some reading, I realized that was pretty petty thinking.  It did a whole lot in the early years of the war.  

 

Nice job on that bird.  The second set of decals were a huge improvement.  The painting is excellent.

Don't know why, but I always liked the stubby look of the F4F.  It does not look graceful, but it just sort of appeals to me.  No doubt about it being a workhorse.  Could take quite a bit of punishment compared to the Zero.

Again, nice job.

D

BrandonD

Nice job. I love the Wildcat. On the one hand, I think it's such a stubby, ungainly looking plane, but on the other hand, what a workhorse, and so much history.

-BD-

 

Same here, I always thought it was an ugly little thing.  After some reading, I realized that was pretty petty thinking.  It did a whole lot in the early years of the war.  

7474

Really great work, I think it turned out fantastic. Your decal issues are why I'm going towards painting as many of the markings that I can. 

 

Yes sir, 

me too.

lawdog114

That turned out great. Tape over the gun ports is a nice touch.

 

Thank you, the tape is just the new Tamiya curve masking tape.  It's the 3mm wide stuff cut to 3mm in length.  I like how it turned out.  

Nice job. I love the Wildcat. On the one hand, I think it's such a stubby, ungainly looking plane, but on the other hand, what a workhorse, and so much history.

-BD-

Really great work, I think it turned out fantastic. Your decal issues are why I'm going towards painting as many of the markings that I can. 

1943Mike

Looks really good! The exhaust and gun deposits look very realistic. I'll be thinking about opening up the cowl flaps just a tad on at least one of my aircraft in my stash thanks to you.

 

I was surprised with how easy it was to open the cowl flaps.  I just repeatedly scoured the seams between the flaps with the back side of a #11 blade until they were thin enough to cut.  I scoured the leading edges of the cowl flaps until they were easy to bend outward.  I had to be careful with my passes with the blade, but the occasional slip sanded out.   

Looks really good! The exhaust and gun deposits look very realistic. I'll be thinking about opening up the cowl flaps just a tad on at least one of my aircraft in my stash thanks to you.

I found a 1989 boxing of Monograms P-39 and I plan on giving that one a go much later. Slowly but surely I'm tracking down all of the old Monogram kits around town lol. 

Since you won't be making a WIP thread for that P-400 I guess I have no choice but to wait for it to pop up eventually. Maybe I'll be building mine by then lol.

Yeah, I've jumped into Eduard's P-400.  It's a nice kit, and I promise to post about it.  So far, I've assembled the cockpit and joined the fuselage halves. I've been taking pictures, but I'm going to wait until it's at completion before I post about it.  Sometimes, work, family, and/or life causes a subject to stall, so I want to avoid in-progress build logs for now.  

I will say this.  Eduard put some thought into the kit, and it shows.  It shows in the masks included in the kit, and it shows in the instructions.  The parts go together well.  I joined the fuselage halves together tonight.  It took a minimum of finger pressure to get everything to line up nice.  I did some sanding, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary.   

A P-400 you say? Oh tell us more. :)

Thank you gentlemen.

I think I'll stay in South Pacific mode for a while.  I have a P-400 going, and I'm tempted to start a Zero that the LHS got for me.  

Oh cool, super job there! 

That really did come out great! Nice job all around!

Thank you, 

I tried black basing for the finish.  I think it works well with these colors.  

That didn't turn out just good, it turned out great! That is nicely finished, Chris! :D

That looks great!

I'm calling this one done.  I had trouble with the new decals as well as the old ones.  Overall, I'm happy with the it.  I set it next to a 1/48 Corsair, and it looks tiny.  I'm posting with flickr now.  It seems ok.  

IMG_1906 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1909 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1910 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1911 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1912 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1913 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1914 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1915 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

IMG_1916 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

I repaired the damage to the paint caused by decal removal.  I feathered in some flat black.  Then I covered masked panels with my Medium Blue mix.  I believe some clear coat will adequately reduce or eliminate the contrast between the new and old paint.  

IMG_1861 by Christopher Ridle, on Flickr

Thank you all,

I was able to get the decals off last night.  There was some damage to the paint, but light airbrush touch up should even it all out.  I don't know how long the decals will take to ship, but it shouldn't be too long.  

I'm getting the decals here:

http://fineartofdecals.com/goodies/f4f-wildcat-photo-page/

The set is at the very bottom of the page.  I was thinking I'd go with either Joe Foss' bird or the "unknown unit" aircraft.  

-Chris