Tamiya 1/48 F4F-4 Wildcat WIP

That pit work inlcuding the seat makes a huge difference. And, if you hadn't said anything I would have sworn those gauges were decals. Well done!!

BK

Thanks BK I appreciate it!

That's looking really good. Looking forward to seeing this come together. 

-J

Man, that cockpit is fantastic. Those belts are the boss!!!!

Your office is coming together just fine!

Your friend, Toshi

 Thanks for following along guys, it's much appreciated!

Rambo - I typically have the same problem with PE seatbelts not draping properly and I usually get paint chipping off them where I do a tight bend but these steel belts behaved really nice.

Joe - I've seen you use those IP dials a lot and have been wanting to get a set of them. They always look so good on your builds.

Rooster, that’s a clean looking office space. Way to get rid of the clutter! I like your moves. =] 

Thanks Britt! I used your great -3 conversion you did a while back as a guide. I tried so many time to get a decent fuel tank to put under there but couldn't get a good one hahaha. If mine turns out half as good as yours I'll be happy!

Small fish. No worries. It’s hardly a thing of notice. You have to really be looking to know it’s there.

You seem to be off to a great start! I’m excited to watch where this goes. 

=]

Thanks everyone! Alright so I've been plugging away at this one while also working on my BF109 and I've made some good progress. All the major assembly went pretty smoothly thanks to Tamiya and soon I was spraying the black primer in preparation for the main colors. 

I also opened up the cowl flaps with a razor saw..

A quick picture of the Maketar masks that I'm using for the roundels. I wanted to use these as I wasn't looking forward to trying to get the Tamiya decals to settle around all those curves and rivets.

Here's the first coat of MRP Blue Grey. I may go back and add some more shading with different blues and then put down the final coat of Blue Grey.

Thanks for looking!

Looking very nice. The paint is gonna give it a nice weathered appearance, just like we would expect. Excellent work.

BK

Great looking color scheme.  Nice touch on the weathering.

Your friend, Toshi

Thanks for the kind words Brandon and Toshi!

Was able to get the Blue Grey finished up over the weekend. I just sprayed a thinned mix over the already mottled surface and then post shaded with a little Tamiya Nato Black around the wing walk areas and the gun access doors. I also pulled off the masks to see how the insignia came out. I'm pretty happy with the results though the blue came out a little darker then I would have liked. I'll have to adjust the mix for the next time.

Nice!

Thanks John!

Got the underside all painted up with MRP Light Grey and removed the Maketar masks. Pretty happy with how they turned out!

The masked insignia looks fantastic!  Your paint technique looks pretty good as well.

Thanks for posting. 

I have to say that the paint looks great. The mottling turned out awesome and those insignias are crisp. Well done.

BK

Thanks Dwayne and Brandon! Little more work done on the Wildcat. I replaced the molded wing guns with some brass tubing. I think they look much better...

Moving on to weathering and the few decals I need to put on soon!

Thanks Joe, I appreciate the kind words! Yeah I'm happy with how the insignia came out and think it made a big difference on this particular kit as I don't know how well I would have gotten a decal to conform to all those raised rivets.