Gamera

That looks fantastic Frank! Love those bright planes like drone control aircraft. 

Love how you did her without decals, masks drive me crazy, I always get some bleed. 

 

Yours looks cool too John, amazing job for a model older than me! Makes me feel a little younger!!! 

 

Gamera, I usually shoot Tamiya X-22 clear gloss over the paint before I apply the masks to make sure I get good adhesion with the masks. When painting national insignia, I shoot the blue first then the white. That way there is no white outline under the star and bar.

As for the age of the kit, Hawk first released the kit in 1968. Testors re-released the kit in 1991. Either way, it's an old kit.

Planegeek

Wow, it looks great!

You mentioned painting markings? Did you use stencils? I've been trying to use wife's cricut to make stencils without much luck

 

Planegeek, I cut masks on a Silhouette Portrait vinyl cutter. Your wife's Cricut will do the job but like anything: Practice, practice, practice. I've had my Silhouette for about a year now and it's been a great asset for my builds. This Bearcat build is the first I've done that eveything is painted. I'm really impressed with the result.

Tanker-Builder

Hi;

     When you say "Drone Control Aircraft" then you mean it has someone in the office? I will say it certainly catches your eye. Fine job there!

 

Yeah, Tank-Builder, a drone control aircraft would have a pilot, although a Bearcat cockpit might have been kinda small for the stuff needed to keep track of the drone.

That looks fantastic Frank! Love those bright planes like drone control aircraft. 

Love how you did her without decals, masks drive me crazy, I always get some bleed. 

Yours looks cool too John, amazing job for a model older than me! Makes me feel a little younger!!! 

Beautiful work. 

Wow, it looks great!

You mentioned painting markings? Did you use stencils? I've been trying to use wife's cricut to make stencils without much luck

Hi;

     When you say "Drone Control Aircraft" then you mean it has someone in the office? I will say it certainly catches your eye. Fine job there!

Thanks, lurch.

That looks great Fotofrank. The painting is fantastic. Great job well done.

Thanks, y'all. I really appreciate your comments.

Outstanding, Frank!

Looks very nice! Great work on painting all of those markings. 

Very sharp Frank!  I've got to add one of those drone aircraft to the shelves.  Really colorful and well done.

Well, I'm calling this build done. The build was mostly easy but the paint was a lot of work: Masking and unmasking. Mixing the right color yellow. Fixing mistakes. Plus, when you photograph your model, you see all of the things you missed. But here it is, an F8F-2K Drone Control Aircraft. I do have one boast though: No Decals! All marking and insignia are painted. That's really where all of the work was, cutting vinyl masks, applying them and painting. I'm really impressed with how it all turned out. Without any further ado, here's the Bearcat. Comments and constructive criticism always welcome.

Oh yeah, except for the paint it's entirely OOB.

Nice work, Frank.  Plan on keeping it for a long time, I have proof that it can be a very sturdy long lasting model.  Here's a Hawk kit I built in 1968, photographed yesterday.  I can't believe even the uncoated decals on bare plastic have held up so well.

Bearcat Update:

Painted the black today. The anti-glare panel, and the aircraft identifier markings, all painted Tamiya Rubber Black. Next will be the white markings then the national insignia.

keavdog

Looks greats Frank.  Will she be glossy when complete.

 

It won't be real glossy. I have a bottle of Alclad Light Sheen clear coat that I will probably seal the paint with. Not too much weathering either.

Looks greats Frank.  Will she be glossy when complete.

I still have one I built in 1968.  It was state of the art back then, I'll tell ya!

Was out on the paint bench this morning. The major painting is done, now for some touch up, detailing and painting the insignia. I used Mr Hobby Aqueous Paint for the first time for the fuselage color. I just happened to have the color on the paint shelf, don't know how/where I acquired the paint though. After watching a couple of YouTube videos on how to apply the paint, I thinned the paint 2/1 thinner to color and the paint performed as expected. The blue-gray is certainly a contrast to the yellow and red. I like it!

Looking real sharp Frank! This sure will be one colorful aircraft. 

Tojo72

Boy what a classic,kit has to be at least from the 80's

Great job with the yellow

 

Just looked the kit up on Scalemates. When the kit was issued under the HAWK label Scalemates says 1968. Under the Testors label, Scalemates says 1991. Either way, it's a really old kit.

Not your usual F8F Bearcat.

Boy what a classic,kit has to be at least from the 80's

Great job with the yellow

Yup, that's yellow!

Then look at this, JohnnyK: Painted the wings and tail this afternoon. The yellow is Tamiya Flat Yellow with a touch of Tamiya Orange. Tomorrow Mr Color Navy Blue, then gloss clear.

I'll be watching.

Did some pre-shading on the Bearcat this morning. I would like the pre-shading to be subtle so I used Tamiya Neutral Gray. This afternoon I'll start painting the Insignia Yellow on the wings and tail. Thanks for looking in.

Bearcat Update.

Major assembly is complete, seams puttied and sanded. Went out on the porch to the paint bench and sprayed the model overall Stynyl Rez White primer. I figured the white primer is needed over the silver plastic because the wings and tail will be Insignia Yellow. Plus, I maybe will do some subtle pre-shading under the yellow and the Mr Hobby Navy Blue. Tomorrow I'l wet sand the primer to get the airplane ready for masking and paint.

Following.  I built that one ages ago