PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

Well I'm should be getting my seat belts around Saturday or so. Until then I'm turning my attention to the fuselage halves. Good grief! There's a ton of flash and misalignment issues to work out.  I think I built this kit as a kid and don't remember all of this but then again......it probably didn't matter then. lol

Hey gang, I'm gonna step away from the workbench and probably computer for a week or so.  Gonna spend a little time with the wife touring vineyards and breweries.  My other hobby.  May use my wife's Kindle to see what's going on around here.  Keep up the great work.

Craig

Have a grand time Craig. Although, you will be sorely missed.

We'll be here when you get back Craig.

For todays update: Man this kit needs ALOT of clean up to get not only to fit right but to get rid of as many seams as possible and to remove all of the flash. For those of you who don't know already, these sprue molds have been around for a long while:

Here we are with a fresh coat of zinc chromate with nothing added in the way of washes or detail painting (although there aint much!)

The seat belts should be here today or tomorrow and I'll finish up the cockpit.

Good progress Joe. No worries there. Once you apply some sound painting and detailing techniques you'll have that cockpit looking top notch.

Craig: Looking very nice, both the Engine and the Hellcat! I just got one of Eduard's new F6F-3 kits in the mail a couple o' days ago and it looks like they reworked it quite a bit. My older Royal Class release has a few noticeable differences regarding the parts breakdown and some subassemblies.

Joe: You're doing a great job on making that old kit shine! The IP actually looks like from a more modern kit!

Thanks Clemens. I could really use those seat belts right about now.

I had the opportunity to get on the U.S.S. Lexington yesterday as my family has a membership out there (it helps that I live nearby) and decided to take a couple of pics of an R-2800 from the maintenance deck.  There's also an R-1820 and R-2600 there that I can post if you all would like pics of those. For now there's a couple of folks that are building the 2800 so here goes:

Hope this of some help to you all.

Ooh those are some very nice pics, mate! Thanks for posting them!

Choice pics Joe. Thanks for sharing them with us Radial Junkies.

Hey , when youre that close to stuff like that , why NOT take pics?   Well the seat belts didn't come in on Saturday so I'm having to work around them for now. Didn't get a whole lot done in the way of modeling yesterday but will make up some of the difference hopefully this week.

Well the seat belts came in!! Got them installed and finished up the cockpit assembly minus the IP. The green is a little too green here in this pic but I found another feature on the camera today. Will be learning this thing for some time to come.

I will add that the seat belts helped this sad sack interior some.

Got the decals on, hoping to finish by the weekend!

Joe: Ah Yes! Much better. The seat belts definitely give it the "look".

Drew: Decals look great. Bring 'er on down the home stretch.

Time for an update on my efforts. It took a bit of time, patience and my optivisor but I finally got all the PE on the landing gear. I opted not to add the PE main mount scissors as they are so thin that they appear unrealistic to me. In the stead I drilled out the holes in them with my micro drill bit. I then added copper wire to simulate the brake lines. Here's a couple of pics prior to primer to show it all.

Ok folks. I finished up with the cockpit this morning and prepped the fuselage tor assy. I decided to leave the tail wheel out for now so I could have an easier time down the road with masking and all. It'll be a cinch to install later.

and here she is all buttoned up. I've done alot of sanding so far on the seams to get the obvious stuff out with the halves pressed together and I'm glad I did. I still have alot of work to do on this old mule but I think it's gonna be tamed sooner or later. lol

avipond

Got the decals on, hoping to finish by the weekend!

JOE RIX

Time for an update on my efforts. It took a bit of time, patience and my optivisor but I finally got all the PE on the landing gear. I opted not to add the PE main mount scissors as they are so thin that they appear unrealistic to me. In the stead I drilled out the holes in them with my micro drill bit. I then added copper wire to simulate the brake lines. Here's a couple of pics prior to primer to show it all.

Thanks Joe.  Good to see the fuselage together on your Corsair. You be lookin' good.

Thanks Joe

Joe, Joe and Drew:  that is outstanding work you've all got going on!  Just great!

Thanks checkmateking! Now the daunting task of seam removal..............

All complete!  I have no photography skills whatsoever and these were taken with my phone, but I tried a couple different lighting conditions. Suggestions, comments, questions, and snide remarks all welcome.

Drew, it turn out fantastic! I really like the subtle paint chipping! Great job!

Great work Drew! The paint and weathering is amazing

WHOOA! Drew, That is an outstanding Wildcat. Very very well done. Your overall construction and painting is excellent. And I believe you really nailed the weathering/ detailing. Congratulations on completing your build and Thank You very much for sharing your beautiful Wildcat with us. It really has been a pleasure.

Hey Drew,

Beautifully built Wildcat!!  Really captures the tough, stubby, determination of an early war fighter!!  Well done, sir!!!

TAD

Drew, you did an excellent job.  I love the detail you put into it.  The weathering looks great too.  You should feel good about this build.  Very nice.

Great-looking Wildcat, Drew.  Top notch!

THAT.................IS AWESOME!!! The detail, paint work and weathering are just fantastic Drew.  I know what you're talking about with the pics because I had the same issues early on in my picture posting days here.It took me acquiring a camera that was a little better than a "point and shoot" and then another two years later acquring the nice camera I have now.  Just hang tight with what your doing model building wise because youre dead on. That camera will come sooner or later bud.