Official Alley Cat GB Sept2010-Sept2011

Very Nice pepper. 2 Beautiful aircraft.

Front page has been updated.

Hi Everyone:

Here's the Tigercat I promised some time ago ...

The F7F drone was developed by Bell Aircraft and re-designated F7F-3K under a USN contract during 1945/46. The overall yellow aircraft crashed at MCAS Cherry Point, NC after the final demonstration flight on August 8, 1946.

The first F7 prototype during developmental tests by Grumman and USN pilots during 1943 and 1944. The two prototypes were the only Tigercats to fly in the natural metal finish.

pepper

Progress.

Scorpiomikey

Hey everybody, just to let you know, if you've entered, feel free to keep going, i wont take any more entries.

Keep going and grab the badge when your done, post completed photos etc like normal.

I don't know how I missed this post.  I am glad you extended the end date.  I will get crackin on the Wildcat after I get settled into the new house. 

Looks good there ,bud.    BTW- I like your work stand.

I've several ideas for my Testors 1/48 Bearcat for when ever I get around to building it. From the orange and blue Gulfhawk markings to an all out unlimited gold racer that would make Rare Bear look tame . One latest idea is a  what if the F8F arrived on the scene a couple years earlier, with the Bearcat in tricolor markings and a nice collection of  kill markings . 

Howard

As usual my eyes were bigger than my stomach when it comes to group builds.  Never got around to the Wildcat, but here's where I got on the Bearcat for the Monogram Mafia GB.

 Will post pics when she's finished.

Nice builds everyone!  Sorry I haven't been able to get to my builds for the GB yet.  I don't think I will be able to by the end of the month either.  My work schedule changed and I was unable to get to the bench.

 I am moving again soon so I imagine most of my modeling stuff will be packed up sooner than later.   Luckily I'm only moving 20 miles south of my current residence so it shouldn't be that dramatic.......I hope I didn't just jinx myself. 

glad to see you back pepper, just take you time, no rush hope everythings ok now?

Hiya:

I'm finally back after 3 long hospital stays and other medical issues ...

I've my Tigercat ready for decals and finishing and will post some WIP photos in the next day or so and a complete and finished model by mid-week ...

Thanks,

pepper

Hey everybody, just to let you know, if you've entered, feel free to keep going, i wont take any more entries.

Keep going and grab the badge when your done, post completed photos etc like normal.

Very nice looking Hellcat Howard!! Looks great! I've been wanting to get the Eduard Hellcat. Nice job!!

Nice, i do remember one story of a pilot (not sure what he was flying) got in a dogfight, saw a flicker in front of his nose and fired. Next thing he knew he was watching a flaming wreck of japanese plane falling to the ocean. Fired 3 rounds. Ruined one pair of undies.

Scorpiomikey

 Is that mouth and eyes hand painted or a decal?

 

As for the intimidation factor, from what i understand during combat most pilots said they identified aircraft type or national insignia, nothing else.

 

 All the decals were downloaded from the web, resized to scale , and printed on Testors decal paper. The star'n'bars , mouth, eyes, kill markings and tail number were printed on white paper . 

 The colors on the star'n'bars , mouth , and eyes printed a bit washed out so I over coated with Testors Model Master paints thinned down to just this side of being a wash. Thin enough to paint without brush marks, but thick enough to cover well. 

 I used Navy Blue darkened with some flat black on the insignia , Insignia Red and Black on the mouth and eyes, thinned with turpentine.

 The mouth and teeth inside the intake grin were entirely hand painted. No decal there.

 Your probably right about the goings on in a combat situation. 

 First , friend or foe, then ( if foe) what type is the other guy flying and whether to fight or evade. Finally , act . All in the time frame of of a few seconds or less. Probably wont even think much about other markings till after the fight is over.  You'd be too busy before then.

 Although , I'm reminded of the story of a Japanese ace who liked to pull into a max climb with an F4F on his tail . Then at the top ( after the Wildcat had stalled out and fell away) he'd roll over and make an easy kill. 

 Imagine his surprise, when thinking he was tangling with another Wildcat , he pulled into a climb , rolled over at the top, expecting to see the Wildcat falling away . But this time it was a brand new F6F-3 Hellcat and the Jap ace was staring at a big P&W R-2800 still coming up at him. How do you say " oh poop" in Japanese?LOL

Howard

She looks gorgeous. Is that mouth and eyes hand painted or a decal?

Ill update the front page.

As for the intimidation factor, from what i understand during combat most pilots said they identified aircraft type or national insignia, nothing else.

I could be wrong though.

 At last , it's complete! Sittin' on all three wearing a big cat mouth grin. Here's the pics.

Here's looking at you.

I can only imagine the intimidation factor for some Japanese pilot seeing this big ,angry grin coming at you with six Ma Deuces blazing away. 

 Howard

Daddy1, Great looking finish on the Hellcat.   I love the detail and dirt on the underside.  That weathering really seals the deal.  She's gonna look great sittin on all three.   Rick

 Been a few weeks since I've posted. Man!, with the new job, summer heat and activities( beach time in Florida) , exploring and gaining experience with photography hobby. Still slowly digging out of this modeling slump I've been in. Getting there though. 

Randy and Rick- Awesome work on your Bearcats. Absolutely beautiful.

 I've got the 1/48 Testors kit in my stash to build one day.  I'm drawn towards the Gulfhawk markings but am tempted to add to my Daddy 1 racing stable and build a very tricked out unlimited Bearcat.

 I have made progress on my Hellcat and getting down to the fiddly bit stage. Here's recent pics, first the finished paint with a start on finale weathering. Don't think I'll add too many paint chips as I understand carrier based birds generally were touched up fairly regular.  

 I added a few bits of detail to the gear legs with bits of scrap plastic and polyester thread for brake lines to jazz them up.

 Researched several looks for replicating the tail hook. This is what I went with/ made from thin wire.

The landing light was carved out with a round dremel cutter to form a shallow bowl . Then painted chrome silver , a bit of clear stretched sprue added for a bulb. Finished  off with a disc punched out of clear sheet and glued over the top of the bowl.

 Got the prop painted and mounted  guns and external tank straps next.. Hope to have this finished and on the display shelf in a couple more days.

 Howard

BTW- Hang in there Pepper 

 Cant wait to see more of your work. Glad your still with us. Wrong time of year to join Biggles in the great airfield.

Scorpiomikey

Good to see you back pepper.

Thank you so much - the last one was pretty scary what with the docs telling my wife (this on a  Saturday night) they didn't think I'd see Sunday morning ... she told them I was too ornery for that nonsense and had things to do :-) ...

So, I'm back and have started getting some things done ... I shot a coat of paint on the Tigercat this morning - enamel -  the first time I've used it for an overall color coat - although it's hotter than snot today, I'm going to let the paint get good and dry - maybe do some things with it tomorrow ...

We're going to Arkansas late tomorrow through Sunday, so I won't be working on any projects, but will post the latest WIP photos by Monday next ...

pepper

PS  I also started the Bearcat today as well ... although it's an old Testors kit, I'm surprised at the good fit and lack of flash ... this one will be coming right along as well ...

Good to see you back pepper.

Hi Everybody:

I'm finally back after 3 extended stays in the hospital ... still have a chest drain in and feeling puny, but am back at the bench and rarin' to get some progress photos up here ...

Here's the first of the Tigercat ... it's standing on its' wheels and with props, none of which are finished or attached ... prime coat on and if the temps go down some, I'll be able to shoot some more paint ...

pepper

Here is my finished Bearcat racer, race #6 " Fat Cat " out of Belcher Louisiana.

This is the Testors F8F-2 kit in 1/48 scale built out of box. The only changes I made was to remove the guns and gun bubbles on the wings. I think the kit went together well with few fit issues and the usual lack of detail of the Testors kits. My only complaint with the kit is the gear legs are very very weak due to the soft plastic used to mold the kit with and the lousy decals in this kit.

Wabashwheels nice work on that Gulfhawk man, You really made those colors pop and I know that was a challenge with those decals. A Bearcat to be proud of for sure. Ya know we don't see many Bearcats here on the forums and they really are good looking planes.

Mate, shes gorgeous, if you havent already grab that badge and display it proudly, ill update the front page.

Well, I'm calling it done.  This has been an adventure, testing my patience more than my modeling skills.  Basic construction went very well.  Academy has a very nice kit, adequate cockpit detail, nice landing gear and bay detail, decent engine detail, good fuselage and wing detail and fit.  I threw some scratch detail into the pit, along with a generic Eduard seat harness.  I went overboard and installed a Quickboost engine.  You don't really see it and when it came unseated after painting was applied, it became quite a headache to reattach.  I also used a brass tube fitted into the crankcase, with the corresponding brass rod attached to the propeller hub for a smooth fitting prop.  WARNING: The propeller will fall off during a dive. 

I decanted some Rustoleum International Orange with a slight tweak of red to get the color.  I airbrushed the whole thing with three coats.  The Testor's wing feather decals are large, one piece slabs with a lot of clear carrier film showing.  I cut the individual "feathers" apart eliminating nearly all of the clear carrier film.  It took some work to get the individual feathers to settle in over the corresponding white painted strips, but it made for a cleaner, painted look.

The bulk of the work came with the fuselage details.  The fuselage pinstripes went on fairly well...until I destroyed about an inch and a half on the bottom stripe along the right side.  I got a pretty good repair with the 10/0 liner and a little custom mix Tamiya blues paint.

The cowling was work.  The Testor's decal was not made for the Academy kit.  The triangular sides were located were they need to be, but the rest of the decal did not wrap around the front of cowling properly.  After some nip and tucks and about a pint of Micro Sol I had the decal as good as it was going to get.  From there I connected the dots with liner brush and then filled in the blue areas with paint.  Fortunately the clear gloss finish over the top of it all helped it a lot.  It ended up not too bad.

I've had a great time with my two builds and following everybody's hard work in this GB.  Thanks everyone for the encouragement along the way.  I'm looking to see everyone carry this build home.    Scorpiomikey, its been a great group and a lot of support.  You should be proud of your efforts.   Rick

Wabashwheels That nose decal wont even fit the Testers kit as it is too small by around 1/16 of an inch at each end, go figure huh. I used it as a pattern for the nose art on my build which I cut from frisked paper.Had to add to the ends to make it work.

Vettman, We're both gonna display a pretty, shiny Bearcat !    I've had a rough time getting my markings on my Gulfhawk.  I went wit the the Testor's decals on the Academy kit.  The two cowlings must have a different profile, because the artwork on the nose was not even close to fitting.  I've spent quite a bit of time "touching up" this bird.  I'll get a few pictures up in the next few days.   Rick.

Pepperkay nice progress on the Tigercat

I have a few WIP pictures to submit.

Basecolor

And top color, I am giving thought to tryin some pin striping on this one.

Pepper,  I filled that nose with a couple of bolts and lead tape.  Pages 10 and 12 in this thread might be of some help as to the amount of weight and where I put it.  I think that I put some weight right behind the engines too.   Be careful how you secure it.  Don't make the mistake that I did.  Rick.