Grumman Iron Works Group Build

I just went back and notcied Stephen's progres... WOW! That's a lot of work. Looking great so far.

mucker wrote:

I just went back and notcied Stephen's progres... WOW! That's a lot of work. Looking great so far.

Thanks Charles, I missed the Albatross pictures too.  It is really coming together.  You should put some lights in the interior so it can be seen when you close it up, Stephen.  It's going to look sharp in the Coast Guard colors.

Fred,

Outside of the real thing, your Wildcat has to be one of the finest looking models I've ever laid eyes on.  Looks like it's ready for another sortie out of some muddy South Pacific island.  Excellent weathering.

As for installing lighting inside the Albatross, I've considered it but haven't really convinced myself to go for that type of work.  Thanks for all your comments!

Hey Aggieman,

Another big one!  I must be nuts but it does keep me out of trouble.  Trumpy's 1:32 monster is under way and I'll post pictures when they are available. 

Regards,

Freddie from LI

 PS, under status, please put that the F4F-3 is finished?  thanks.

Well I've decided to go ahead with the interior lighting idea.  I've bought a few grain of wheat light bulbs that haven't come in the mail yet and today I picked up a simple rocker switch and battery holder at Radio Shack.  I am in the process of coming up with a diorama for this bird - any one know of any 1/72 airfield equipment that I should look for?  I have found a kit by Hasegawa that has a bunch of pilots and ground crew, plus what looks like a UPS-style truck and a boarding ladder.  I'm not real thrilled with that.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Steven

Today my modeling was limited pretty much to building a display stand for the Albatross.  I actually followed a recent article in FSM about building a diorama for a P-47.  I cut out a box frame and using the article as a guide, I made an approximate 1/72 scale "concrete" tarmac out of a piece of gray foam board.  It looks pretty good as is but I'll start putting some paint on it to break up its monochromatic appearance and try to give it some oil staining.

I've also started the wiring for the interior lighting but so far have not made much progress on that front.

Ok, so what am I doing wrong?  I have started connecting the wiring for interior lights, small LED lights I got from Radio Shack (I've ditched the grain of wheat lights I originally purchased since they were proving difficult to work with and didn't put out a lot of light).

I've soldered a twin-piece of wire (2 separate wires in one separated bundle, I'm sure there's a name for this kind of wire, I guess it's like speaker wire) to the metal prongs coming out of the LED.  I connect the opposite ends to a 9-volt battery.  Initially I got light when I was just test fitting the connections, but now that the solder is in place, nothing.

I'm getting ready to go back to the work shop to heat up the soldering iron so that I can loosen the connections and start over.  But if anyone has done this kind of thing before, perhaps you can shed some light (no pun intended) on what I may be doing wrong.

Thanks,

Steven

Ok, some pictures to show what I've managed to do with the lighting.  Regretfully I got some bad advice from the salesman at Radio Shack, so I blew both the LED lights I had by not using a resistor to regulate the flow of juice into the bulbs.  So I went back to the grain of wheat bulbs I had initially intended to install. 

I doubt that these lights are going to put much light into the interior of this Albatross but it was fun to put this together any way.

Here are the three lights installed and burning - one each in the cockpit, forward compartment and rear compartment.

I drilled a hole into the underside of the fuselage to run the wiring through.  Not sure if that really shows up in this picture.

Here is the base I did for this kit.  It's a piece of foam board cut in 2" squares.  I weathered it with a dirty wash and some smoke paint.  I didn't really like the way the smoke paint went down so I'll probably be doing some more weathering before this project comes to a conclusion.  I will also be painting the wood base, probably black.

Aggieman and Freddie,

Nice job on the builds so far!   That Wildcat is really a looker, and the Albatross is also coming along very well.  I feel more inspired to get this build going, but I need to take care of a couple of other builds first, and decide what the heck I am actually going to build.

As soon as you said what happened with your lights Aggieman, I immediately thought of the 9 volt battery being too much for the bulbs.  Of course, you soon found that to be the issue on your own.  I have considered trying to light up a couple of the projects that I have to build, and I have plenty of supplies to help with this, I just need to take the chance at some point I guess.

I just wanted to check in as I am back to working normal hours again, and should be starting to build again soon, which means I can finally get to this project as well.  I will check the postings more often now, and will let you know as soon as I pick which kit, or should I say cat, to build.

btp2k2, welcome aboard!  I have you down for the F-14A.

Scotty, thanks for your comments on the Albatross.  I'm finding that now that I'm done with the "fun" part - scratch building the interior and rigging the lighting - this kit is showing its age.  It has been difficult to get together and from what I can tell right now, it's going to require a good bit of putty to keep it looking as good as it has thus far.

Not that the putty effort won't be "fun"; after all, it's a model airplane and it's supposed to be fun!

Steven

Tonight I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel on this build as I put the decals on.  This used to be just about the last thing I would do when building but now I have some minor weathering I plan to do, a final gloss coat, and then add the final detail parts. 

Then it's on to completing the base, doing a butcher job on painting some 1/72 figures that came with the kit, and affixing everything to the base.  Considering the purchase of some model rail road "grass" to sprinkle into the expansion joints of my "concrete" base.  Plus I have discovered one major omission to my build - this bird is a tail sitter.    Guess I was so focused on completing the scratch built interior that I neglected to even consider how it would sit when upon its TRICYCLE landing gear (that should have been my first clue).

I hope to finish this weekend but I have in-laws coming into town, and with Christmas right around the corner, we're putting up the exterior lighting a bit early, family Christmas portraits, family time .... but I wouldn't trade this for anything.  Hopefully I can squeeze in some time in the shop and get at least a few photos.

Steven

Well, I'm done.  It feels like I've spent the last six months on this build (even though this GB hasn't been active that long!)

The lights are not very bright and with the camera flash I was not able to get any photos of the lights glowing inside.  Argh.  Oh well, but the build itself is something that I'm pleased with.  I did a very small amount of weathering with pastels for the engine exhaust staining, but that was it.

So now for some photos.  The first set of pictures are of only the airplane, taken before I actually finished the base and figured out how to attach the plane to it.  The second set are of the completed diorama.  There's not much going on in the diorama as I elected not to invest in any additional kits for ground equipment and the like.  Just a couple of guys, one standing at the boarding ladder and the other inspecting one of the main landing gear.  (And I'm not very good at painting figures, which is why I typically don't include them in my builds).

And the underside of the base.

I plan to build a second kit for this GB but I likely won't be starting on it (whichever kit it ends up being, perhaps a Duck, perhaps a Tigercat) until next year. 

Steven

Steven:

That's WAY too cool of a kit.It's goot abe pretty big in person.Definately tons of bonus points for the rare subject...I don't think I've ever seen this modeled. My hat's off to you!

Steven, it looks just like the one at the Museum now that it is done,  very nice, the base with just the two figures adds a lot of life to it, doesn't it. 

We finally got our Albatross out of the paint shop a couple weeks ago, so it is on the display ramp now.  If you have a run or two on the left float strut, that will be very scale!

Really nice Steve

I too like the figures, they add a little bit to the whole model.  Nice to see a "Coastie" bird being done.  They don't get enough credit for the mission they perform every day. 

Roger that with the figures by the the way.  I usually screw the pooch with them and just throw them in the spares box.  Never use them. 

I see you're thinking of tackling an F7F "Tigercat".  Good choice.  If you decide to continue with that, here are a few suggestions I have.  

First, get NEW resin wheels because the ones in the kit EAT THE PLASTIC!!  That's right, eat the plastic.  You might have to fix some "problems" right out of the box. The ones I had, ate holes into the fuselage, I kid you not.  I hear there is some sort of chemical reaction between the vinyl and the plastic that is just terrible.  So, get the True Details or Cutting Edge wheels and throw those rubber pieces of crap into the garbage. 

Second, you will have to add a bit of weight to the nose.  Cutting edge makes a metal landing gear leg to strengthen up the nose gear.  That really is NOT a must have, as the one I built stands just fine on the kit's plastic nose gear.  I also put weight into the engine nacelle to spread it out.  Depaneding on how much weight you use in the nose, the metal nose gear is something you might want to consider.

Third, those beautifully molded props.  They look great OOB don't they?  Yup they sure do.  Now look closer.  Does something look a little odd?  That's right, they're BACKWARDS!  The knuckleheads molded the prop blades in the wrong direction!  Both Cutting edge AND Ultracast make resin replacements that are VERY nicely done.  They will make those engines look great.

Lastly, the small things.  The pit and the engines are fantstic OOB.  If you want the pit opened up you'll need the squadron vac canopy because the kit part doesn't fit over the fuselage.  Closed it's fine and it has good visability to what's inside the pit.  The wing MG's need tubing.  The wing root on the bottom needs a little TLC when attaching the wings so go slow there.  The main landing gear is a VERY tricky fit and seem brittle.  Use aftermarket decals.  The ones in the kit STINK!

With all that being said, I found it to be a terrific build and worth all the extra care needed.  When it's done, you can see how on one hand, the F7F was such a beautifull aircraft.  One the other hand, you can see how mean and deadly she was.  You'll have a lot of fun with it I'm sure.

Regards

Freddie from LI

Minihasek, you're welcome to build as many F-14s as you'd like for this GB!

Freddie, are you referring to the old AMT/ERTL kit or the new Italeri release?  I've read about the rubber tire issue with the older kit but haven't seen anything related to the tires with the newer kit.

Steven

They are one in he same.  The only thing I don't know is whether or not Italieri re did the wheels.  The AMT kit HAS the rubber tires, or at least the one I built had them.  I don't know if AMT replaced them either.  You'll see when you pop open the box.  Either way, the kit is a good one and the addition of the resin wheels will only make it better.  and the replacement props too.

Happy Thanksgiving Steve

Regards,

Freddie

Here is the start of my big scale Tomcat.....

btp,

That's a fantastic looking pit you have going there on that big Cat.  Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Steven

Why thank you sir.

I think I may attempt my first scratch build on this....I am less than impressed with the landing gear on this kit, I am going to try and spruce them up a bit

Excellent job, btp. This will be one fantastic bird.

Steven: I'm back from a business trip, done with my previous build, and pumped up to start on the Wildcat! I'll remove parts from sprue tonight and maybe do a little airbrushing.

I've built the same Tamiya kit about 3 years ago and I will see if I can improve upon that one.

btp,

The cockpit looks good.  I have not seen a Revell 1/32 Tomcat built up yet, so I am going to enjoy watching your progress.  I have the original Tamiya 1/32 kit and their early 90's re-release with new markings.  I want to build one of the kits as a D model, and I have the interior/exterior conversion kit to accomplish this.  I do not know if I want to take on a project of that magnitude for this build or not though.

Aggieman,

I had almost decided on building my Tamiya 1/48 F4F-4 for this, then realized it would almost make this a Wildcat build instead of a Grumman build.  Back to the old drawing board... I still have a couple of projects occupying my time right now, but I hope to be starting this early next year.  I am sure that by then, something will inspire me to decide which Grumman kit in my stash to pull out, wipe off the dust, and build.

Charles, looking forward to seeing your new Cat as it comes along.

More Power Scotty, you know the world can't have too many Wildcats, right?     But it will be good to see variety in this GB, which is probably why I went with the Albatross since I figured there would be a number of cats of the Wild, Hell and Tom variety.  I just purchased the Italeri Tigercat that I may build for this GB  but I'm pretty booked up for the next few months, so I'll have to see if I can fit it in.

Steven

More Power Scotty wrote:

btp, The cockpit looks good.  I have not seen a Revell 1/32 Tomcat built up yet, so I am going to enjoy watching your progress.  I have the original Tamiya 1/32 kit and their early 90's re-release with new markings.  I want to build one of the kits as a D model, and I have the interior/exterior conversion kit to accomplish this.  I do not know if I want to take on a project of that magnitude for this build or not though.

Hey Scotty, the Tamiya is a good kit. I was looking at both and ultimately settled on the Revell because of the panel lines. The Tamiya kit has an odd mix of engraved and raised panel lines, so it is recommended that you rescribe the kit from the intakes aft. Plus, the Revell kit has a detailed cockpit OOB, whereas the Tamiya has decals OOB. I think the detail in the landing gear is much better and you get pilot figures and a better compliment of weapons with the Tamiya.

I took Thursday and Friday off and was ableto get a good jump on the Wildcat. I'm more or less done with the cockpit, and here she is, completely OOB:

I was certain the correct color was regular interior green, but post-facto I was looking through my Squadron walkaround and read it was closer to bronze green. I guess in the future I'll have to build a more correct one. 

If I can find some bench time today and tomorrow, I'll get going on the landing gear...

Steven:

Following up on the Tigercat questions....so is the Italeri kit a re-pop of the AMT kit? Supposedly the AMT kit wasn't that bad. I chuckled at your comment about the barrel they provided to keep it from being a tail-sitter...what ingenuity! If there's not enough room in the nose for extra weight, what about the engine booms? 

Have you decided on the markings yet?