War In The Pacific Group Build 2009 - 2010

*WHEW* A deeper dig into my spares box yielded a still-bagged sprue with a set of nice flat dive flaps on them (Let this be a lesson not to shun e-bay items offering kits missing parts).  So technically I'm off the hook.  But my curiosity is peaked and I think this is a good forum for demonstrating techniques.  I'm going to try both techniques water/hair dryer and see how they do.  Pics.

Hi all, dont like how my paint job came out on my  Jake . I think the waves on the side are to big.

What do you guys think. I havent painted the folats yet

jg

Sherman1111 wrote:

Hi all, dont like how my paint job came out on my  Jake . I think the waves on the side are to big. What do you guys think. I havent painted the folats yet jg

Jim going by this box art I'd say you're right and the waves are a tad too high, however it does look extremely cool sitting next to the catapult.

Well that was a disaster.......Glad I had the spares. The hairdryer was working perfectly until I left the heat on a bit too long.  Melted the plastic.  I had similar luck with the hot water.  We're going to chalk this one up to experience.  In the future I think holding the hair dryer a bit further back and not using the "High" setting.

My Dad always told me to learn from my mistakes, but to try not to learn something new everyday.

DiscoStu wrote:

My Dad always told me to learn from my mistakes, but to try not to learn something new everyday.

Good one.  

 Another update.

 The starboard side flaps are nearly finished, still need to final sand the rib profile. The port side flaps are framed. A photo of the flaps taped for a dryfit.

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 The ribs have also been added to the underside of the wing. I would imagine these areas were painted the same as the Landing gear bay, flat white.

 Carlos you were right again about the fit of the upper wing, it went together nicely and with a little Tenax the seam disappeared.

 Mo

I'm no cat expert but I would think green. It's hard to find any pictures of a Wildcat with the flaps down except from the front while landing, and I haven't seen one on the ground/ deck that way.

I'm taking a clue from the ribs that show with the wings folded. Why don't people model that as much?

Mo,I would have to agree with bondo, I believe they were green as well! Like the story of you and your son with the jets!! That's what it's all about, having fun!!!

JD, I would have to agree with Darren, they are a tad big and too high. Overall is looking great!!!

Disco, hehe your dad has good words to live by!!!!

Just to show that I'm not all talk...I'm actually working here and there on the Claude. Here is a progress pic of where I am currently. I'm really digging the white metal parts: engine, seat, exhaust pipes, gun camera, scope, propeller, etc. They are easier to work with than I thought and the deatil is quite nice.

Anyone out there with any color info or pics of the Claude engine? Since this will be pretty visible I'd like to make it nice.

 Thanks for the info bondoman, makes sense to me. All the reference photo's I've seen of the Wildcat are, like you commented, with the flaps up. Might be the reason the F4F isn't modeled with the flaps down.

 Thanks

 Mo

I know this is a museum bird, but this shot may interest you.

http://www.cybermodeler.net/aircraft/f4f/images/ord_f4f_15.jpg

http://www.cybermodeler.net/aircraft/f4f/images/ord_f4f_09.jpg

F4F-3 with flaps down from the rear.

 Hey stickpusher, those are great shots. I've seen photo's of Butch O'hares Wildcat, but not from those angles. Thanks for posting the link. OBTW, I plan on building O'hares F4F-3, sometime in the near future.

 Thanks again.

 Mo

 Update on the Wildcat, A few bits of styrene stock and stretched sprue added. A photo of the Pratt & Whitney R1830.

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 I'll go back and hit the pushrod tubes with Future to get a gloss on them.

 hey stikpusher, thanks again for the link. I'd just fixed the flaps and had them set too low in regards to the photo's.

 Mo

Hey Mo....

 The engine looks great....doing a hell of a job with that cat....I agree that the insides of the flaps should be green....that was the standard base coat/protective coat at the time. All the pics I have seen shows green.

Mucker...what engine did the Claude carry??

Carlos

Well I think the Jake is going back to the paint shop , after looking at it for a couple of days I dont like it

jd

JD I would just tighten up the waves and bring them farther down on the fuse then see how it looks before I would think about a repaint.

Mobious, the engine looks great!!!!! Just something that caught my eye though is the spacing of the pushrods near the crankcase. They are actually a bit more evenly spaced.

Overall the effect is great!!!

The A5M according to my refs, depending on the model, had 8 different engines. I would assume they were all very similar looking from the outside though! Nakajima Kotobuki was the most production models. Two prototypes were made with Hispano-Suiza V-12s!!! Were faster but they did not want to be dependent on foreign suppliers, which was a good thing because the two engines used came from France. I will do a scan of a cutaway of the Claude I have and hope it helps you out some.

Mucker here is a copule of scans I did of a book I got back in the mid '80s. Great book!!! Cutaways of fighters from WWI to the present!!! Hope these help out some, if not you have some cool stuff for your build!!

Enjoy!

Darson

Is it too late to join your build? I have a Testors 1/72 SBD Dauntless that I found for a whopping $6 at a local craft store. There isn't much to it. No Cockpit or anything but it has two blobs that I think are suppose to be pilots and they sit on two planks.

I have to admit I was surprised to see that it had recessed panel lines. Most of the cheap models I do come with raised lines. I haven't settled on a paint scheme yet but I started drilling out the Dive Flaps last night.

Dirk

 Hey Carlos, thanks again for the heads up on the landing gear. The struts didn't fit properly. The stop at the top of the strut prevented the assembly from setting all the way down into postion. I had to trim the stops and file them smooth to get the lower brace up tight to the fuselage. I finally installed the gear and double checked alignment before glueing. I had to add some styrene to the strut attachment points to strengthen them for carrier landings. The Wildcat is setting pretty good. Both wing tips are equal to the bench and square with the cat. I'll start adding plumbing/detail to this area before I install the tires and gear doors.

  I also placed the prop in position. The prop IMO,was setting to far away from the cowling. I sanded a little off of the engine and checked it again, A little made a big difference. And yes I was spinning the prop making airplane noises, Vrooom, takatakataka, Vrooom.

 Hey simpilot, a great shot of the Pratt & Whitney, I used the Squadron F4F Walkaround for color reference. It shows a color photo of a restored engine, I believe, one recovered from Lake Michigan. I kinda figured all that shiney brass would have been a no-no on actual combat aircraft. 

 Thanks for comments, critiques, and for checking in.

 Mo

  Wildcat update. Mated the Pratt & Whitney R1830 to the F4F. Attached the plumbing and electrical. A test fire and she lit off right nicely...

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 Vrroooom, Vrooomm!

 Just having fun, hehe.

 Mo

Simpilot 23, thanks! That's a neat cut-away!

Carsanab: It's the hitachi Kotobuki engine. According to my books the A5M2 had a Kotobuki 3 engine. I just can't find color references.

Mo: That's just TOO cool! It's a nice feeling when things work!

Here's a little update on the engine. With no color photos or rock solid info, i use creative licesnse for the colors of the enginer. It's no r-2800 like Mo's, but here is the Kotokubi.

Mucker, i came up empty handed on b&w pics, much less color ones of the engine for the A5M. I did find out however, that the Kotobuki engine was derived from the Bristol Jupiter engine. So maybe there are color shots of the Jupiter you might can use as a guide at least. Also found a book you might be interested in, here's a link.

http://ebook30.com/magazine/military/96220/mitsubishi-a5m-claude.html

I would say that your color rendition will do just fine!!! That looks great!!!

 Hey mucker, Nice work. The exhaust collector looks great. I like the plug wires too. I broke the camera's tripod after my last set of photo's. It may be awhile before posting more photo's.  I post too many photo's anyway. I'll be posting written updates until I can fix the octopus. I'm sort of at a lull in the action, so to speak, waiting for styrene stock. Just finished up more sanding on the leading edges of the wings, I noticed I'd sanded flat spots on the inboard edges. May need a little putty on a few spots along the seam.

 Just wanted to say the Kotobuki is looking nice, mucker, and I'm looking forward to photo updates.

 Simpilot, that is an awesome cutaway view. Nice to have reference material and even better being able to share it. Thanks.

Mobious wrote:

Simpilot, that is an awesome cutaway view. Nice to have reference material and even better being able to share it. Thanks.

No worries Mo!! I want to help out anyone anyway I can. If I have useful info to share I will.

Dirk to the build.  I must say I've never heard of that particular Testers kit so I'll be looking forward to seeing come together, blobs and all.

Charles the engine looks great, how much of it do you think you'll be able to see in the cowling?

Mo I'm glad I'm not the only one who test fly's his builds by doing strafing runs on the kids making TAKATAKATAKATAKA sounds

Richie thanks for the reference shot of the P&W particularly for the metallic colors on a used engine as compared to a restored one from a museum.