US CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD 2013

SchattenSpartan

Yes, those seatbelts do make a difference  they are definately worth thee money and effort!

I had some problems assembling them. Firstly, there are no instructions! Just a picture of how they should look when finished. I had no clue how to glue them together, so I decided to just make them look right from the front they are by no means assembled like they are intended to.

Your landing gear looks nice btw!

I just have to figure out how to get the struts in the gear bay... I glued the fuselage parts together already...

Cheers, Clemens

I have also.

I did a test fit, before I painted the fuselage. It takes some time, moving them around, but I got them to fit. I tried again and they seemed to " loosen up".. meaning it was easier to get them in place.the fit was perfect. Just don't force it. I almost did and stopped myself. If you wiggle them back and forth, they get into place. If you have left off the piece, that I had to repaint...good!! It seems it would be better to leave it off, then attach after the gear are in place. I will just have to be EXTRA careful, when attaching them.

Cheers my friend..

Yes, those seatbelts do make a difference  they are definately worth thee money and effort!

I had some problems assembling them. Firstly, there are no instructions! Just a picture of how they should look when finished. I had no clue how to glue them together, so I decided to just make them look right from the front they are by no means assembled like they are intended to.

Your landing gear looks nice btw!

I just have to figure out how to get the struts in the gear bay... I glued the fuselage parts together already...

Cheers, Clemens

Taps88

Taps88

Clemens,

Take a look at the landing gear assembly.

See the part, that will glue under the wings (looks like a small garden shovel)? I am thinking that should be the same color, as the under carriage, not black.

What do you think? I will try to find some pics on that.

Looks like the same color as the under side will be:

Well, I went back and repainted, the one section of the landing gear, to the correct color (light grey part)

I'm going to make sure everything looks ok and I will airbrush a coat of Future on, before the weathering process starts.

Wow, those seatbelts really make a difference. It sounded like they were a bit of a pain but came out really nice!  Looking good...

Don't worry about the struts, an easy fix....just be glad it wasn't on the fuselage halves!

Ok, fellas, here is the update:

I glued the seatbelts in place, glued the cockpit between the fuselage halves and painted the gear bay and the gear struts..

I made a fatal mistake though. I forgot that the wihte color I used is a gloss color. I touched the parts while the paint was still wet and left some reaaly bad fingerprints in the paint coat. I had to remove the paint completely and try to repaint the struts tomorrow. I'll probably do some touch-ups on the gear bay as well.

First, the good stuff:

SEATBELTS!!!

Now to the gear-bay:

It isn't looking really good, eh?

How the kitten looks right now:

I hope you are not too disappointed with my Wildcat...

Clemens 

I can't post the video, but it IS in the underside color

Edit: Nevermind, got it working!

Taps88

Clemens,

Take a look at the landing gear assembly.

See the part, that will glue under the wings (looks like a small garden shovel)? I am thinking that should be the same color, as the under carriage, not black.

What do you think? I will try to find some pics on that.

Looks like the same color as the under side will be:

I checked it for ya and found this:

I'm stuck with improvised stuff as I have no "real" reference material atm. I hope that changes in the future. I found a nice video though:

You can see the part you mentioned at about 2:00. It is painted in the underside color of the plane.

Cheers, Clemens

Yep, that one is light gray in your case (in mine as well)

I decided to leave it off untill I glue the gear in place (last step on my Wildcat).

Clemens

Clemens,

Take a look at the landing gear assembly.

See the part, that will glue under the wings (looks like a small garden shovel)? I am thinking that should be the same color, as the under carriage, not black.

What do you think? I will try to find some pics on that.

No update yet, but I'm making progress on my kitten.All the fuselage seams are sanded down (no filler needed!) and are now nice and smooth. I sanded down some of the rivets on the fuselage spine though... I hope i can recreate them... Landing gear is assembled as well and I'm painting it atm. I'll use flat black though (i have no satin black at hand). I'm thinking of spraying Alclad`s "Light Sheen" varnish on top later...

I don't know yet if I'm going to display the canopy open or closed. It has some fitting problems when placed in the open position and you can see a lot through it when closed, so I'll probably just go for it closed up. I'll take a picture before I glue the cockpit into the fuse, so you can see the belts in all their beauty (I got a little bit too much glue on one of them though)

Stay tuned for the update! I should be able to post some pics in 2-4 hours...

Clemens

Looking forward to seeing how the upgraded seat looks 

I AM A NEW OLD GUY WHAT IS A GROUP BUILD ???

Just a test fit of the landing gear. There is a certain part, that I have to repaint from black to the under side color.

Also, I am going to go to the local craft store here, and pick up a decorative display base.

I have had these Verlinden Carrier deck sheets, one with the elevator and one with just a regular wooden deck, for some time now and will put it to good use.... for Navy aircraft pictures:

I'm really looking forward, to seeing your progress John.

I think there are 2 naval aircraft, I have never built: the Viking and the Corsair 2

Today, I airbrushed the top half of the Wildcat. Once this coat dries some more, I will go back and blend the two colors so they don't look so harsh, where meeting:

I finally got those bloody seatbelts glued to the seat! It took me 2 hours building them, 1 hour repairing the broken seatbelts and another 2 hours glueing them in place. But it is worth the effort! Those are the best looking seatbelts I ever got my hands on. I had to leave the really tiny straps on the buckles off though, because i wasn't able to glue them in place...

i'll post an update later today.

Clemens

Here's a few pictures,  just started the cockpit,  adding bits to the ejection seats.  there's not much inside so I should be able to glue the fuse together over the weekend.

John

I should be able to post an update today evening... Those seatbelts are a real pain to assemble, but they look really nice when finished. I left the smallest strap on each belt off (shame on me) because they are just way too fiddly to cut and thread through the PE-buckles...

SchattenSpartan

That's looking really nice, Eric! I like!

Greg: More like: "There is no Grumman product like a Grumman product OR a Republic product"

Clemens

Thanks fellas!

I manged to rip the two top belts of the Wildcat apart at the glued joins, when I tried to glue them in place on the seat. Now I have to  get those fiddly things together again. I even lost a small piece of fabric, but there are 2 sets of belts included in the set and I need only one of them atm. My poor eyes hurt alredy from repairing the first of the 2 belts... They are so fiddly and those tiny PE-parts don't make things much easier...

Falcon, good to see you in this GB.

the Cat is looking to shape up really nice. If you are going navy than you better go Grumman or stay out of the sky.

Managed some more bench time and got the fuselage parts assembled and the canopy masked off.

hope to finish filling and filing the seams all before the week end.

I hope I can post some pics today... I just started with airbrushing the gear bay.... If  I can't post them today, I'll do so tomorrow. (It's already 11 pm here)

Clemens

That's looking really nice, Eric! I like!

Greg: More like: "There is no Grumman product like a Grumman product OR a Republic product"

Clemens

Eric - The 'Cat is shaping up beautifully. (No product like a Grumman product!) Keep the pics coming.

It hasn't rained yet so, I had a chance to airbrush the underside. It is a mix of Model Master Light Grey and Tamiya Flat White, thinned with 90% alcohol..

You can just see it, in the picture, but the pre-shading came out well. It's pretty neat, from different angles you see different shading. I will have to adjust lighting, for the next pics.:

For want of a desk!

Seriously, the only thing holding me back right now is the lack of a decent work space.  You guys all look like you're making huge progress.

MAgather,

  Are you from the twin cities area?

In between travel, I have gotten a serious look at my project, and even taken a few tentative steps. As usual, my ideas tend toward the grandiose and then reality sets in.

My initial attempt at resin casting has proven to be a bit more difficult than anticipated.  My casting of the EW canoe is not perfect but certainly serviceable. I've gotten a couple of seats out too, but will get some more as I work the nacelles. The engine nacelles themselves have proven to be a bit more problematic.

The best way to describe is think about casting an eggshell and then pulling the wide diameter of the mold through the relatively narrow nacelle opening.  I've cast 3 pairs and only managed to get a single nacelle out of the mold without breaking it.  I'll restart again this evening.

Got the Aerograph #5 last week which has some good reference photos, and I also started work on the EW station for the 4 crew n the belly of the beast.  I need to buy some 45 degree stock for part of it, and then on to building the actual panels. Pics as progress is attained.

Finally I would like to build the cockpit access in the open position, and Aerograph has presented me with another scratch building opportunity.  It is making the forward bulkhead for the EW station a bit more complex, but hey, I decided to do this, and so in for a penny, in for a pound.

Best, Marty