Tamiya 1:48 Wildcat F4F-3 Conversion (Complete)

OH! I see you're still a night owl Joe. =D My wife has flipped my clock around somehow. By 9:00p I'm pretty much in bed these days. Doesn't leave much in the way of late night modeling anymore.... Some times on the weekends I'll push hard to 10:30p =P

And I'm back with more paint. =]

A lot of this speaks for itself so I won't blab too much about what you're looking at.

A look at brushing in a grimier color along with the coffee staining.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Here is the blend coat for the underside of the Wildcat.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I employed a new weathering technique that I've only tested one other time and like but it's not giving me quite the same results. I used coffee to add a stain to the light grey underside which worked remarkably well originally. It's possible I brewed a pot that was a little stronger or was a darker roast, but what I do know is that it stained a little too much and it isn't quite getting covered up with the thin coats of paint that I'm looking for. I'm hoping that the clear coat will dampen this to something more to my liking. It got away from me, but I'll have the last say. =]

Marble coat for the topside in USN non-specular Blue-grey. Honestly, Tamiya's XF-82 Ocean Gray is practically dead on for this color. I add just the tiniest dab of Flat Blue and threw that down on top of my Sea Blue undercoat. Skip all of Tamiya's suggestions. Here's my math:

The first is the typical Tamiya suggestion as well as what you'll see around the internet

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Second is XF-82 alone matched to a pixel from a uniform area of a color photo of a clean wildcat in 1942

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

The third is the FS number associated with this USN color mixed to Tamiya paints that I put together

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Not the exactly the precision science that took us to the moon, but it's easy to see how much closer the Ocean gray is than the old school mix...for anyone who's interested.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Blend coat for the topside.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Here you can see some of that staining that got a little heavy.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

These next two pics are a truer look at the color. The white balance on my iPhone is lightening these pictures up a little more than what the eye actually sees.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Naturally the masking set that came with the HB kit from Ebay was some ambiguous name brand that didn't match up with anything. The stripes were pretty close but as you see the mask itself didn't quite cut it. There was another set meant to be used for the red stripes so I used those instead to mask the white as that was my base color to help the red pop better.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

In the bottom right picture you can see the rod that makes up the axis for the rudder. I carved out a niche for it and placed an 0.6 mm aluminum tube after painting. =]

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

The masking for the insignia were completely unusable. I opted to tape over the kit decals that HB has for O'Hare's White F-15 and cut out my own mask with a new blade.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I had a moment tonight to address the prop shaft that snapped off as well. I drilled a hole out with a pin vise--can't recall the size--into both the broken end of the shaft as well as what is still stuck in the engine and dropped a .51mm brass rod both with a drop of CA. Voila! The front end is a little dinged up, but maybe i'll come up with another trick for that later.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Moving on to the cowling and finishing the skid strips and numbers. =]

That coffee motteling is quite effective. I love how it looks. You say its overdone but to me in those photos its very convincing. I will have to give that a go. Well done.

BK

The paint fading on this really looks spot on! Nice work with the insignia. Can be tough to cut those out by hand.

Thanks Andy. They're still difficult for me to cut out by hand. I'm very careful with them afterwards too as I try not to stretch out the tape the mask is made from while handling it. Always worries me. 

BK, I was able to lick this problem this afternoon. You'll see what I was after and I'll think you'll like it a whole lot more. If you're looking to really hammer your plane with weathering underneath, then yeah it still wouldn't have been too dark but I would have been more specific in how I was painting it on. Here, I did want a generally mottled look to it. =] I feel good about it. I'll save that picture for last. =P

I'll keep this post fairly short and to the point. I've got all the lose ends of painting out of the way and finally made to a stopping point where I can get a coat of clear on her. I painted the cowling for the engine in the same manner as shown on the previous page. Around the cowling ring I brought the light grey color up over the entire surface. These edges often get worn the most it seems and fade faster than any other part of the cowling surface. This is a little less noticeable here, but the eye sees it better. The rest is pretty straight forward.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

The numbers were hand painted as I just couldn't get a mask cut that small. Afterwards, I lightly sanded down a couple of highpoints I had and came back over it with the blue-grey color to show a slightly faded painted look.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

The anti-skid strips were painted on. I've never liked the look of decals for this part of the plane. Straight black is never seen on brand new aircraft either, so after some research I came up with the following. In both black and white and color photos, it's easy to see the lighter value of the skid strips next to the blue-grey paint on the wings. Since I wanted a real Navy Wildcat, I wanted those skid strips to be well worn. For the Wildcat the strips go down a little differently than you might first think. Here's the shape to look for...

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

It makes sense that it would follow the wing root, but the wing root curves out into the wing as it approaches the middle of it presenting with this shape.

NATO Black makes up the beginning color and it was lightened with Medium Grey as it's a warmer grey than most others.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

In this set of pics, you can also see the wing numbers. These were cut from Tamiya tape to make a mask based off the kit decals. I lightly painted these on and came back over them with the Blue-grey as well.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Here's an obligatory clear coat pic done with Alclad's Aqua Gloss Clear.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Since the contrast makes it easier to see, I wanted to take this moment to show what I did way back at the beginning of construction when thinning out the cowling area of the kit. With thinner sections it was easier to manipulate and bend to reveal a warped surface that occurs to some of these panels with the constant removal and replacement. A blunt needle tool was used for most of this. This will all become less apparent after the flat goes on, but I'm hoping it'll make enough of a difference. =]

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Lastly, I tackled that coffee weathering I botched earlier last week. I came in with a lighten Light Grey color to keep the contrast there after going back over it with the original Light Grey. Viola!

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

This is exactly what I was hoping to get. It made me nervous but was easily fixed. =D

Now with the clear coat on I can knock out what few decals I have to put down and move on to some extra weathering!!

I've just tuned in Britt and all I can say is what an amazing and fantastic Wildcat you have going on here. You have done really really impressive detailing, painting and weathering. You have certainly peaked my attention to some of your techniques. I'm looking forward to keeping up on your build.  

Cheers, Joe

Thanks Joe! Cheers to you as well. =] It's been hard for me to be on here as well lately. I'm just getting caught up to some of these other builds going on.

Back with more. =D

Painted and Weathered!

I've had some time to get this flat coat on and spend a little time to put some wear and tear on O'Hare's wildcat. Navy planes generally tend to get pretty filthy, but I didn't want something that looked like hell. So I settled for something honest but lightly broken in. I browsed through a fair amount of pictures of wildcats from '41-'42 to observe what kinds of patterns of grease and oil and whatnot would smear here and there. Some times it was the absence of filth where a mat or tarp would cover something like a gun bay or insignia. Such was the case back in the early years of the war. Tarps would be drawn over identifying marks like insignia and painted rudders to keep their visibility down from the air whenever these planes were on the flight deck. The tarps would keep the filth from adding up a little less than the areas left exposed. Also, if you could find one that lasted long enough, the paint would obviously fade less as well. That's more or less what I decided to do with this cat. I based the fuselage weathering off of a famous picture of O'Hare and Thach flying together. The wings are made to represent the work and maintenance that would occur on a regular basis. I tried to keep it light but distinctive enough to keep this build from looking like just another blue over grey wildcat. There will be some addtional weathering to come to bring out this and that as I look back over her and tweak it, but this is pretty much how it'll end up.

I'll start with the canopy.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I took a little extra time to look at what was really going on here and found some unique features that I think we all overlook especially when we think we know what a canopy is supposed to be. I found that the windows have a curved piece from the interior that rounds out how the pane appears from outside. The very back, bottom pane has a curved piece that extends quite a bit to round out the back of the canopy. I was actually surprised I never saw it earlier. In fact, there isn't a single 1:48 scale wildcat or even a decal AM company with pictures/drawings that represent this so it's no wonder nobody paints it. Naturally, now I have to figure out what I'm going to do about it. Luckily, my solution was the same lead foil that I'm now using to make up the interior framing of the windscreen/canopy. Very effective little trick here that I'm very happy with!! =] I cut thin strips of lead foil to white glue to the interior canopy (I'm using a Squadrion Canopy here) but before adhering it, I take a blunt needle tool and emboss the shiny metal side to produce a rivet mark on the black-colored side of the foil. The embossing breaks the colored side just enough around the mark to show the shiny foil giving the appearance of a "rivet."  Simple, easy, effective. Voila! Now there's no need to stress about painting the interior and having paint or primer leak under your masking or misregistering with the outside. Just strap these bad boys on there and match it up to your masking on top. It's a little difficult to see here. I'll have better pictures up later.  =P What is better though...you get to enjoy a bottle of wine while doing it. Just strip off the top foil and save for later. One matter to note here is that the interior for wildcats of this period was black. For a different color interior, I would recommend you measure and cut (perhaps leave a little bit extra to bend back as a place to grab with tweezers as you work with it) your strips first and bend them into shape or get them close enough before painting them. That way you don't have cracks or chips. But otherwise this is generally pretty sturdy stuff. I'll probably treat all my interiors this way from now on.

On to the rest

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Here's a detail of the canopy with the curved element in place.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

That's a wrap for now. There's still a bit to finish up with the canopy. I have the bullet proof glass in place. I just need to sure up the railing that will allow it to slide back and forth and match up to the windscreen. Next up will be putting on some exhaust staining and getting the exhaust manifold attached and finishing the engine detail. There's still a few cables that need to go on too. 

=]

Beautiful build sir.  Such stunning work!

Toshi

Man Britt that weathering is NICE! Love the foil trick too. This is turning out to be a really stunning build!!

Geez Louise!  That...is....gorgeous!  Details like those in the canopy are increadible, and the painting is incredible.  After reading yet another two books about the Pacific campaign, this is becoming one of my favorite birds.  Now I have to build one.

Thanks for sharing the build and some useful tips.

D

Wow.  This is an exceptional build.  All the detailing and scratch work, and the painting and weathering...   simply wonderful. 

Cheers, Mark

Your weathering/finishing techniques are among the best I've seen on modeling sites. This is a gorgeous model of a Wildcat.

Britt - 

Absolutely beautiful job sir....I don't know where to start. Every aspect of your build is immensely amazing. Superb WiP sir.....your commentary, explanation of the process and photos were perfect. Well done sir...Well done. 

Dear Sir ;

 It has come to my attention that you shrunk a real F-4-F -3 and expect us to believe it's a model . That plane is to valuable to fly much less , starting the Engine and cease and desist this awesome fib ! ( Really , that is one Heckuva model . Very well done .)

Been awhile since I looked in on the thread.  I'm doing Trumpy's -3 and -4 in 1/32, and won't even attempt what you did in 1/48.

Excellent work and a beauty, Butch would be proud of it.  If you feel something on the back of your shoulder, that's him giving you a pat on the back.

Wow, I'm trying to be quick here to drop a brief update before having to start on dinner, but I want to say to Toshi, Mark, Mike, Andy, Dman, Chris, and Hammer and Tanker thank you very much and you guys are too kind. I am happy to share what's on my bench as I'm happy to get to see what each of you all are up to. Chris, if you have any other questions about something I'm fooling with that I didn't cover well enough, then don't hesitate to ask. That's what this forum is all about. =] I've learned plenty from the guys on Finescale and other places too, so I'm definitely about paying it forward. Hammer and Tanker I must be getting soft or something because I happen to catch your post in my email a few days ago and a simple thing like that actually did a lot to brighten a pretty difficult day. I think having a kid makes you more sentimental and emotional cause lately it seems it takes a lot less to stir my pot. =] So thanks guys. I'm glad this WIP is stirring in some of you out there as well. 

Start your engines!

I finally got to a spot in the build where I felt confident about putting on the exhaust manifold. With parts that protrude or can catch and especially with the delicate stuff, I'm normally waiting as long as I can before attaching them. This didn't seem to be such a tough obstacle to tackle. Measuring and re-measuring paid off and this was a simple glue and drop in place. =]  I'll take it!! My only small issue I'm chewing on right now is how far down the exhaust stacks protude downward out of the cowling. Every picture I've seen of aircraft from back in the day shows it to be fairly flushed. The forward part of my build dips down a little too much. I suppose I can deal with it. But for anyone else out there, it should be level to the fuselage and no lower than what you see at the tip of the exhaust. 

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

You can see more of what I mean in the bottom, larger picture on the right.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Small potatoes I guess. I am very happy with how this came out. It was worth the time and effort. I hope more people out there go after rigging up there own exhaust mani. =]

Here's a look at the exhaust staining. I had a hard time getting pictures of this feature on the wildcat. I don't know how lean fuel mixtures ever got on Navy wildcats or how much staining was ever made or left on, but I didn't want this cat to be too filthy. So, I settled for this.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

This was done in light, thin layers starting with NATO Brown and Flat Black and capping it off with a Sky Grey from Tamiya. Editor's note: that whole get this done quickly thing didn't happen. lol Mommy came home early. It's now after 9:30p and everyone is in bed. =P

The Prop!

The Curtis three blade electric, variable pitch propeller. The prop was painted a base coat of Duraluminum from Alclad with the hub being painted in White Aluminum. I've always seen the hub of wildcats glow a bit brighter than other metal parts pictured with it. The cuffs saw the same Duraluminum coat but was dusted with Alclad's Magnesium afterwards. I wanted a bit of texture in the contrast from the White Aluminum prop hub. Later, I lightly buffed the cuffs to bring out the Duraluminum underneath. The Magnesium was lightly sprayed from about 9 to 10 inches out with the other parts masked. The cuffs were apparently added to the -3 in an effort to increase airflow over the engine to help with cooling. 

For the black I use NATO Black for the most part. It's comes off as a lighter, faded looking black next to your standard Flat Black. I feel it represents what's seen in reality a bit better than some factory fresh paint job. If I want a considerably more faded look, I just add a bit of grey or white to the mix. If not, regular NATO Black works perfectly well. =] I put this on in thin coats. On the back side, I leave a little metal showing. I've noticed in many photos of the back side of props how the metal seems to peek through as if it's been buffed down almost. I'm not sure how long this process takes, but it is a feature to give my props that adds a bit of interest and since this is a USN wildcat I suppose I'll include it here. The yellow was masked and painted last in this instance. Once this was complete, a coat of clear goes down to place the decals on the prop blades. Afterwards, I put a flat coat down to allow for some dusting of my NATO Black again over the decals. I find this takes down that brand new sticker look and helps it blend with the rest of the painting. This all gets followed up with the flat coat after. =]

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

This part was a little difficult to film. I'm sorry these were some of the best pictures I could get of this at the moment. The top left pic shows the decals over clear and the rest show the progression. The Detailer in Black was pulled out to add a bit of pop here in there in the creases where necessary.

I came back to the skid strips again since some of my lighter colors disappeared with the clear and flat coats. This was brought back to life with some color pencils from Faber and Castelle (I may need to double check that). They have a water color quality to them as well which makes them very useful here for weathering both very tiny, specific details and lines as well as blending to whatever end. I have a silver and white out for this part. Honestly, best $3 you can spend. 

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I start out by dropping in some worn in rivet color over sections that would see high wear and lightly scribbling in with the side of the white pencil in broader areas. With a fine brush and a bit of spit straight from my mouth, I dampened my brush to slowly blend these marks in to my liking. Left to right and top to bottom shows the progression.

Once this was done I set this with light coats of Alclad's Light Sheen. I've only recently started adding this to my weathering and painting repertoire. Even amonst "flat" paints on aircraft there is still some amount of reflectivity present within the material(metal)/paint. As I've seen in WW2 aircraft, this seems to be more present due to the grease and grime that stains the surface of the aircraft. The undersurface is especially shiny what with all the oil that clings and runs down the aircraft. You can see this in radial engine planes still nowadays at the air shows that tour the country. All these aircraft have a greasy, shinier bottom underbelly than on top. So for this build, I've lightly coated the cowl and sides of the fuselage near the cockpit. I do this slowly so as not to over do it. The wings get a treatment with light sprays from front to back much in the same way Lawdog does his condensation streaks across his wings. I allow this to concentrate a bit along the forward most spar (where there's a panel line) as I've seen in many photos. I'll also show some attention to spots where hands go to push and pull the plane into place along the flight deck. Leading edges and sides of wings and the base of the vertical stab and leading edges of the horizontal stabs all get this treatment. Any place that I feel this has gotten a bit out of hand will get followed up with the Flat coat to correct it. I know this is very difficult to see in pictures, but to the eye this has really become that last little thing that helps make the plane pop to life. A little goes a long way. I mostly limit this to greasier, oil stained parts of the plane.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

That's a wrap for tonight. I've got the tires done but pictures were not coming out well at all due to the contrast with my iPhone camera lens and the lighting in my kitchen. The gunsight is complete, the canopy and windscreen are complete and just need to be glued in. I'll do those next. Really all that's left pretty much just amounts to the bells and whistles.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Questions, comments, or critiques are all welcomed.

=]

Increadible detailing and paintwork!  

goldhammer

Been awhile since I looked in on the thread.  I'm doing Trumpy's -3 and -4 in 1/32

 

Glad to hear it. I've been wanting to ask someone about their experience with it...thoughts and opinions?? Trying to cram everything in at 1:48 is a challenge but I'm willing to bet it's much more forgiving at 1:32. I feel like I recall someone like Swanny doing the hell out this. 

Looking forward to seeing your build! =]

Thanks Chris. =] 

Keeping the great work going Britt! I like the Nato Black for the prop, it does give a nice worn look. I use it on tires but I'll have to start using it for props too. Close to the finish line!

Thanks Andy. Yeah that NATO Black is a winner for sure. I need to get more actually if that let's you know how often I use it.  =D

And thanks to you too Joe. There's more than a few tips I've picked up from you to put together this cat.

Last update for this thread. I'm just about done with all the last little things. It's amazing how much longer the little things can take to wrap up. =]

So in reviewing all the items I aim to include on this build I either find something I hadn't noticed previously or confirm that a part did exist on a particular variant or some such like that. It's dumbfounding how long you can stare at a picture and still find something new. Case in point...I finally managed to locate a few pics of the engine mounts around the cowl ring. I was beginning to wonder if the wildcat even had any and then bam! It was in my reference book staring at me all along. =P  I'd have like to have addressed this earlier, but it's still an easy fix. Another item I finally pulled the trigger on is located on the drag link that secures the landing gear. I'll start with that one.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I have not been able to identify what this part is, but it seems to be some kind of pump or filter. There's a fairly large hose that comes from it, so it seems to be involved with the engine oil. That's my best guess. Scratched it out and was pretty pleased with the outcome. I apologize my pictures couldn't quite get the detail. It is pretty tiny, but very do-able with some basic scratchbuilding skills. Just simple shapes and Tamiya ETC...I LOVE this stuff. =]

Finally able to get back to the landing gear and address the last couple of hoses and whatnot. Brakelines, Fuel line from the main fuel tank from under the cockpit, fuel filter lines, etc. Glad to finally get it hooked up. I'm not sure if there's a better way to go about this...I will admit that attaching the brakelines to the firewall was a huge pain in the ass. 1:48 scale makes it difficult to reach into these cramped spaces. I encourage others out there to do what makes the most sense to you. I don't know if this was exactly the best way to have gone about it, but it's in there....so...just glad my little boy wasn't around to learn some new words he shouldn't be saying for a while. =]

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

And a quick walkaround the undercarriage. You'll note on the oleo strut above the shinier chrome finish shown here with a strip of aluminum foil that there's a thin flat bar standing out from the rest of the leg. This bar aided in retracting the landing gear. The kit part from Tamiya seemed to fashion this onto the landing gear leg but only very crudely. I sanded down whatever it was that was present and made it as you see here. A little thing that stands out and makes a difference. =]

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Onto the cowl...the mounts were simple...I cut and shaped some plastic strip--sanded thin--and white glued them into place at the 1, 3, and 5 o'clock positions around the cowl and mirrored the other side. These positions are a little relative as I adjusted them to match up to the piston they corresponded to. I thinned out my Grumman Grey and painted them with a fine tip brush. Pow! Back in action. =D 

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I figured I show the gunsight real quick as well. The -3 had the N-2A reflector so I decided to keep what Tamiya offers and just modify it. Clear acetate makes up the glass.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Signal lights were cut and replaced with clear sprue. Eduard's PE fret came in handy there. They offer 3 different sizes of a tear drop shape to utilize.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

The landing light on the left wing provided a last minute surprise. Just a few days ago while looking at a few O'Hare pics, I saw a photograph of Butch in the cockpit of a -3 for a photo-op after his famous ace making mission. The photographer's vantage point allows the viewer to see just under the left wing revealing a convex surface to the landing light. I scratched my head for two days and came up with this.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I used the kit part to cut out a circle in the same thin acetate sheet that was juuuuust larger than the Tamiya part. This will allow for the convex shape to protrude outward while still matching up to the light's outer edge. I next sanded a piece of sprue I had been working with to bend and shape the new circle lens. The reflector hub is made with the shiny side of Aluminum foil. I find this is much more convincing than trying to paint this part with a pigment. Way back during construction of the wings I had drilled a tiny hole and placed a small strip of plastic rod (I'm talking damn small) to represent the filament. The foil was cut out using the same glass kit part as a mold to make it match up and was set smooth into place with a Q-tip on top of a strong white glue. The lens was glued on top after that. =]

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

And that's about where she stands for now. I've got a short list of things to tighten up, then it's time for the pretty pictures! =]

Questions, comments, critiques....hit me. =]

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Your cat is gorgeous.

Thanks Aggieman! I hope y'all are doing okay with all the flooding. And thanks to you too silentbob. =] Hopefully, this weekend I can get her wrapped up. There's a wooden block of cypress I have waiting for me at a shop in Pontchatoula. Once I can get up there to pick it up, I'll be able to cut it in to the size of blocks I started using as a display. For now I'll just borrow the display I made for my Dauntless to film with since they're both Navy birds. I might take a couple of extra pics once I build the new one.

=]

bvallot

Questions, comments, critiques....hit me. =]

Ok so as for comments: The attention to detail you are showing is the most impressive I've ever seen! It's really made a difference with all the landing gear work you've done since there is so much to see on the wildcat. So for critiques: I've got nothing! As far as questions: I've only got one, can I have this when you're done with it?

I am speechless!

Toshi