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1/48 F4F-4 Wildcat


kolja

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Apologies for the somewhat late start, but I was finishing a thorough cleaning of my office/workshop before jumping into the build (and grad school next month :o). Finished that up this week, so I was able to get started:

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So far I've sprayed all the interior parts with interior green. I went with Vallejo Air - it's the first time I've used it and so far I really like it. The eye-dropper style bottle makes things logistically a snap, it sprays like a dream, levels nicely, and dries quickly.

And no, I haven't decided what markings I'll go with!

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It certainly seems that way so far (as have other Tamiya kits I've done). I'm looking forward to it, and also optomistic that the kit's quality will help me actually finish a group build ON TIME for once! :D

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After a very full weekend, I've thankfully got the work week to recover :P

The cockpit sidewalls were pretty quick to finish up, so I could get the halves together (as you would expect they matched up perfectly - the rubber band you see in the picture isn't on very tight at all and is really just helping to make sure that there's not shifting while the cement sets. I've also done most of the painting for the rest of the cockpit; I'll just need to do some drybrushing and am contemplating some masking tape belts. I'm not getting too carried away with the interior - the molded detail is really quite nice, and sadly I'm not sure much of it will be visible once it's installed...

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I present to you my first ever attempt at masking tape seat belts - first, a strip of regular old tan masking tape, using a glass cutting board. I cut off a long, narrow strip (which I suppose could have been narrower...)

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Then I cut pieces to become lap belt buckles, shoulder fittings, and adjustment fittings. If I'm not mistaken, 'hardware' like this is available in photo-etch - if so, I think that would be worth trying out next time because this aspect of the undertaking felt a little ham-fisted to me.

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The fittings I painted - silver for metal, black if I wanted to represent shadow, and the background color of the seat if I wanted it to look like nothing was behind the part. I cut the strip in pieces for the lap belts and shoulder straps. Then just stuck everything together, put them on the seat, and installed the rest of the cockpit parts:

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Not necessarily 'wonderful' but definitely an improvement over an empty chair, IMHO...

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Thanks! Here's the progress I've made this week (just now had the chance to upload the pictures):

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The only casualty so far is the tailwheel, which I'm pretty sure I can replace from my stock of spares.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Bet you thought I had fallen off the face of the earth, or at least petered out, eh? Nah, it was just a busy month. Trip down to Reno for Tailhook, a couple Seahawk Sundays down in Seattle, a few other social commitments, end-of-fiscal-year-shenanigans, and starting grad school all have eaten up a lot of time.

But I've managed to sneak in some time to get some modelling in. I soaked my clear parts in Future, masked the engine, gear bay, and windscreen (which I subsequently installed before masking the rest of the cockpit). I preshaded with gunship gray, and then applied camouglage gray on the underside. So far I think it's my most successful attempt at preshading.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks! Here's another (belated) update - last weekend, I managed to spray the rest of the colors - hoping to get some Future sprayed this afternoon before hitting the road for the weekend.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Despite the demands of grad school, COMPLETE chaos at work, and no let up in the better-half and I gallavanting all over the place for fun (2 weekends agi, a Bavarian style Oktoberfest in the Cascade Mountains then a Seahawk game in Seattle; last weekend a dinner party for work Friday night then a drive cross-state and back for a wedding; and as I write this we're in LA for the Rock n Roll half marathon), I've managed - for the first time EVER - to finish a group build on time, wrapping this one up last night. Better pictures after I get home and have a chance to bust out the big boy camera, but I wanted to post these to prove I got it done before the deadline!

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