Official Alley Cat GB Sept2010-Sept2011

Hi Everybody:

I finally have all my medical issues under control and am ready to get started here ...

First off is a Tigercat that I'm going to finish in an unusual paint scheme ... these photos are just the start ... more in the next day or two as I'll have everything together and ready to spray paint ...

Getting some of the pieces sorted out ...

Fuse put together and ready for more parts ...

Getting close to the point I can add the nacelles and props and guesstimate how much weight to put in the nose ...

Thanks,

pepper

Front page has been updated, can people check and make sure i got your stuff right?

Wabashwheels that Academy kits looks nice and you have done some good work on it too, cant wait to see the Gulfhawk scheme.

Daddy1 you are givin me ideas for my Bearcat build as I still haven't decided on a paint scheme although it will be a racer I think, a mostly stock bronze class racer.

Here are some WIP pictures of my 1/48 Testers F8F-2 Bearcat. I started it while waiting for another build to dry and it went together fairly quickly. I didn't want to detail the cockpit and decided to add the figure so it wouldnt look empty. There were a bunch of seam issues however those were easily fixed because the plastic is quite soft and works easily. I also removed the gun blisters, guns and the hard points on the wings. I didnt much care for the engine but when painted up it looks pretty good in the cowl, I also drilled out the exhaust tubes a huge improvement there. Anyway here are the pictures.

All in all IMHO the Testers Bearcat isn't a bad kit at all really.

 That would be a great color scheme for a Bearcat racer. The two tone blue in that pic looks cool.

I"ve got the Testors kit. I think the Gulfhawk colors are beautiful , but I may one day build mine along the lines of a Rare Bear on steroids.

Howard

Hi guys,  I've been sluffing along at a slow pace with the Bearcat.  I've got quite a bit done with one picture to show for the work.  This is the 1/48 Academy version of the F8F.  I detailed the cockpit with some odds and ends from used photoetch sets, and fashioned the instrument panel using photographic copies of instrument faces, using the Waldron system to attach individual dials.  I'm going to paint this one up in the Gulfhawk scheme.  I've got a set of decals from the Testor's version.  I've read about the thinness of the white wing "feathers", so I'm going to try to paint white the areas where the decals will be applied.  This will end up being an adventure.  So, my only photo is my primed bird with the white stripes covered with blue tape.  I painted the white first , masked the stripes and then painted the grey primer.  I'll be continuing to creep along with the paint and decals.  This will be a different look from my usual wartime colors.

Decals and markings on , sealed with a coat of Future. Give it a day to fully dry, then dot filters tomorrow night.

Found many artist renderings of this particular 'Cat , some show kill markings on the right , some on both sides , some on the left.

I remember doing some research on the Army Air Forces forums about the correct colors for a P-400 I built last year. In the answer to my queries , I was reminded of how the Airacobra crews usually boarded from the wrong (starboard/right) side off the aircraft just as carrier crews did. 

 Makes sense , with WWII carrier aircraft   being lined up forward toward the bow, the crews would approach and ingress from the starboard. Also victory/kill markings would be on the starboard facing the island . 

So ,the ten Japanese flags are there , just on the other side. Which I believe to be correct. I'll also put more wear on that side along the hand/foot holds and wing walk area. 

Turning down the home stretch with this one.

Howard

 I've had a tough time getting to the bench for a couple weeks ,but am making progress on my USS Princeton Hellcat. Got my printed decals on and they look great but the red on cat mouth was a bit too faded looking for my taste and the dark blue on the stars n bars printed with some reddish streaks. Having to do some touch up hand painting with very thin, not quite a wash overcoat on the problem areas. I'll have it straightened out and post some fresh WIP pics soon. 

 I do have some interesting pics from my Fathers Day daddy/daughter date( dads got in free) to Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight that fits in here though.

 An FM-2 Wildcat and even though it's not officially a 'cat , you can sure tell the family lines. An F3F-2 Flying Barrel .

Also picked up Tamiya's 1/48 scale  F4F-4 Wildcat in the gift shop for a couple bucks less than what I've seen it listed for on several web sites. Weeks museum is not into price gouging like many of the tourist spots here in Florida. It's not his style.

 I'm also editing other pics to post in the misc. section later this week of the collection at Fantasy of Flight. There are some beautiful and rare aircraft at that place.

 Howard 

OK, so if paper is allowed, I'm putting in a Fiddler's Green 1/60 F6F Hellcat and an FG F8F Bearcat.

personman906

Are paper models allowed? Cuz I just got tons of Grumman Cat card models...they would be great to contribute...

I dont see why not.

iv got 2 more tomcats on the go 1 black 1 pink lol

Are paper models allowed? Cuz I just got tons of Grumman Cat card models...they would be great to contribute...

daddy1

 Thanks pepper. I'll have to give their paper a try. The Testors is good and the clear is thin enough but the white is just a tad thick, and it is in a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch size . Makes resizing images then printing down to a 5x8 index card sheet a bit more challenging.

 Must say I love being able to print my own decals. To anyone contemplating doing the same, give it a try. It opens up a whole world of markings options. 

Medicman - Looks good so far even though youv'e got some nasty seams to deal with. Sometimes it takes more work to get where we're going in this hobby ,doesn't it. 

Howard

Yeah it does. It's just the filling and sanding I hate. But after all those are taken care of it's gonna be easy.

 Thanks pepper. I'll have to give their paper a try. The Testors is good and the clear is thin enough but the white is just a tad thick, and it is in a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch size . Makes resizing images then printing down to a 5x8 index card sheet a bit more challenging.

 Must say I love being able to print my own decals. To anyone contemplating doing the same, give it a try. It opens up a whole world of markings options. 

Medicman - Looks good so far even though youv'e got some nasty seams to deal with. Sometimes it takes more work to get where we're going in this hobby ,doesn't it. 

Howard

daddy1

 I'll have to give some other brands of decal paper a try in the future. Any recommendations out there?

Fabulous work, Howard !! ...

Decal paper - try Micromark.com ... they have both clear and white and that's all I've used for years ...

pepper

Here's the pics of the nose reattached. Had to add a little styrene under the resin gun cause of a big gap. Now to fill and sand.

Ok. Got the gun and nose attached. That was not fun. My first attempt got the nose glued on in the wrong position. Had to take it off (scary) and reattach it. Here's the pics of before.

 Some update pics of my Hellcat.

First a pic of the ground pastels and the cosmetic brushes for applying. These brushes work great for pigments and pastels. It's a process not all that different from when women use them for applying make up and eye shadow.  

 I used the angled chisel eye liner brush to apply gray pastel to the panel lines on the underside. Followed by  the pointy round tip eye shadow brush to work the pastel into the paint along the lines, then blow of excess pastel and brush in direction of airflow with the large brush to soften the effect.

 Completed post shading on the underside. A little stark for my taste , but will be toned down with the next step.

  Next I used the pointy tip brush to apply and spread some white pastel from the center of panels outward. Followed by the large brush working in the pastel from center outward of panels.  Again blowing off the excess , then brushing in direction of airflow with large brush. 

 The topside got the same treatment ,but with black pastels along the panel lines and gray for the center of the panels. Go easy with the black, so not to overdo the effect. Gives a nice faded look to the paint. 

 With the extensive array of colors pastels can be found , the same technique could be used for OD/ Neutral gray , Luftwaffe , Japanese, anything .   

 View of underside before glossing her up for decals.

After a couple coats of Future in prep for decals. I start with a mist coat and build another coat until I have a nice gloss. Sometimes a third coat, depending whether I feel it has enough gloss for the decals.

Notice how the clear coat has lessened the intensity of the pastels . Just right for a pre-weathering  of the paint. 

Currently applying decals. I'm using Testors decal paper. Works good ,but is a touch thick withthe white sheets and does not react well with Micro-sol. Micro-set and water seems to be fine and the decals are tucking down into the panel lines well. One other warning of the Testors white decals paper, the decals will stretch like rubber to some degree, to the point of stetching out of shape if not careful. I'll have to give some other brands of decal paper a try in the future. Any recommendations out there?

That's all I've got for now . Back with more pics in a few days.

Howard

 Started the post shading on the Hellcat. Using a gray pastel along the panel lines on the under sides then to blend and soften the effect, working in some white pastel in the center of the panels. So far so good.

 I'll use black pastel on the panel lines on the topside with gray pastel in the center of the panels for a faded look.

Will post pics in a day or two.

Howard 

Another update on my Tomcat. Got the fuselage havles joined and the horizantal stabs cut off (did that before the fuselage). Next up is the nose and gun. Here's a pic.

 Did the touch-up airbrushing of the modified areas, also cleaned up and straightened out the demarcation lines in a couple spots. Here's pics.

Compare with earlier pic, notice the fairing over exhaust is gone and lower cowl flaps also gone, which was true of the late F6F-3s on the Princeton.  This was carried over to the -5s. The rear windows were really the easiest way to distinguish the late -3s apart from -5s.

Another thing in the pic worthy of note is my next step, a light wash of water and ground black pastel. Add a drop or two of dish soap to the water , dip the brush in the water then pick up just a little pastel , or add a few drops of water to the pastel makes a great wash. 

Brush on in direction of airflow. If the wash is two heavy , brush on more water. Then lightly wipe of excess with paper towel in the same direction of airflow. 

My decals printed and bonded (sealed) . One clear and one white sheet. I've included duplicate stencils in a couple sizes to better determine which looks best scale wise on the model. I've also duplicated some of the color decals from the white sheet to the clear in case I need to overlay to bring out a full rich color. I've also did some duplicates of  kill markings and prop logos , should I mess up and lose one or two for some reason.

 BTW- I love being able to print out my own decals. I still need more experience at it, but  I highly recommend anyone contemplating doing the same to give it a whirl. It opens up all kinds of markings ideas.  

A couple pics after the pastel wash shows up much more on the white underside. A sort of pre grubby weathering.

 Next to do some light post shading with gpound black or gray pastel and fading with white or light gray pastel worked into the center of panels . Then a coat of future and decals.

Howard

Daddy1,  Shaping up nice!  The extra details are making this cat special.  Make sure to give us a good shot of those wheel bays when you're done.  Rick.

I was doing some additional research on VF-37 ,USS Princeton and found all their Hellcats were late F6F-3s without the fairing over the side exhaust stacks and no lower cooling flaps . More like the -5s. 

 Double checked all my references and sure enough. I thought of going with what I had since it already had the paint on ,or going with a unit that used the early F6F-3s. Really want the cat mouth markings( rare to see something like that on Navy birds). 

Decided to carefully correct the inaccuracy by shaving off the little fairing on the side of the cowl and gluing in a small piece of sheet and filling in the panel lines representing the lower cowl flaps.

 I should be able to sand these areas smooth without damage to the surrounding paint and do a little touch up of the affected places on the cowl. 

 Howard 

I've got the tri-color on. I went with a soft edge demarcation between the blues and white. Found lots of reference for the markings I'm doing. Several three or four view color prints. Some showed a hard edge , most of the more detailed drawings showed a soft edge. I thought that looked more natural so I went with it.

Now to do some fading and shadowing with ground pastels before a gloss coat in prep for decals.

Heres the pics so far.

And one of the canopy ,all framed and and dipped in future. It will sit down on the back in an open pose much better than cutting the kit canopy and using that part .

Now I've got to fiddle with the sizing of my markings a little to bring together a decal sheet to print up.

This is going to look very cool with the big teeth and eyes. 

Howard

yardbird78

That is an awful lot of work, but you should certainly wind up with a really nice canopy.

Darwin, O.F. 

 It wasn't as bad as it seems. The trickiest part was to apply liquid cement to the frame strips with a fine tip brush and attach them without smearing any on the "glass". Successful , Now I just need to give it a dip in Future to clear and seal it up. It sits down on the rails nicely. 

Started a new job this week , a little later hours so I haven't had a chance to get past painting the white underside. I also missed a tad on the seam under the rear fuselage. One side was still a touch lower than the adjoining side. Not even enough for the green stuff , so I layered over the low spot with a couple coats of flat white paint . Then sanded with fine grit to blend. I think that will take care of it. Going to crank up the Aztec this afternoon and finish  getting the color on my 'cat.

Howard

That is an awful lot of work, but you should certainly wind up with a really nice canopy.

Darwin, O.F. 

 I've got the wing and stabilizer seams filled, sanded, and rescribed where needed.

 Then got to looking at the canopy , I really wanted to open it up but it would have sat too high on the back of the aircraft. Decided to give a go at a trying to heat a piece of clear sheet and drawing down over the whole canopy.  Couldn't keep the material hot long enough to get a good copy of the canopy. So heres how it went.

 First , selected a paint brush handle to match the radius at the top of the kit canopy. Then , with a long over sized strip of plastic ,the free ends held together with a clothes pin, and the loop of material draped over the handle. I applied high heat from a blow dryer till the plastic softened enough to pull snug to the brush handle.

Then taped in place over kit part to measure and trim to proper size.

Here you see the trimmed part with the framing lightly marked in . 

A test fit on the model , also to mark for length down the sides. 

Finished result minus frame. I will probably trim the sides a tad more and have the bottom  frame section lay over the fuselage track.  I thought of masking off the "glass" and painting the frames ,allowing the masked edge to simulate the frames. Decided to make the frames from strips of thin plastic,using a 10 0 brush to carefully apply some liquid cement  to the under side of each strip. Then carefully apply to new canopy in appropriate places. after all framing is in place ,I'll give it a dip in Future to seal and clear up the "glass".

Gap in left rear quarter window , Will replace them with sheet clear. 

You see how the kit part is too thick to sit down over the track rails. Also note graininess of kit "glass".  It actually looks worse under the camera flash as seen here. 

Begin work on the frame, and tools/materials used. 

I'll finish framing the canopy and post more plus I've started masking off the model and will start applying paint in the next couple days.

Howard 

Got the wings on . Here are the pics.

 Notice the shims on the under side , goes a long way toward filling those gaps. Also had to put a couple shims thick on the one side to bring the wing up level. I've got putty on them ,drying over night . I'll get them sanded smooth tomorrow and hope to have it prepped and paint going on by the end of the weekend.

I need to make up a gunsight  and install the canopy . The kit "glass" is fairly clear and free of distortion but a bit too thick to cut apart and pose open. Although, I have given thought to trying to heat a peace of clear sheet plastic and pull down over the kit part to get a thin enough part to pose open. We shall see.

Howard

Nice Hellcat Satch!! Looks great.

 Thanks guys, it was kind'a mind numbing cutting all those itty bits of plastic and some times my fingers get a bit stiff( hooray for tweezers and jewelers needle nose pliers). I did cheat a little by printing out a resized image of the Eduard undercarriage PE set. It really helped get close to the size of each part ,then a final trim when installed.

Not that I'm against buying the PE set but, when building on a budget , the aftermarket stuff can really add up. One of the reasons for buying the Arii kit was the $17 I paid for it.  Like the the ol' Revell/Monogram stuff , they make great inexpensive starting points. How far to go with it is up to you.

 As far as Mr Otaki , I have an A6M5 Zeke, and J2M Raiden by Arii. Now , I'm not sure if those are also old Otaki kits but, the detail on them is a bit nicer OOB than the F6F-3.

 I"ll be attaching the wings tomorrow. Actually , will be affixing the elevators as well so I can start getting her prepped for paint. Test fit shows a small gap along the bottom wing root seams. Nothing a little shim and putty can't fix . 

Daddy1 your scratch building skills are no less than mind numbing Beautiful work sir.