Hasegawa 1/72 Brewster F2A-3 and B339C

[CedB]

Very neat stuff Stew, as usual. Love those engines  

[Stew Dapple]

On 1/19/2017 at 11:20 AM, silverkite211 said:

I seem to recall reading somewhere (it might have been here on BM) that those oval shapes in the window on the underside are actually openings, they are for venting fuel vapors from the cockpit.

 

On 1/30/2017 at 7:12 PM, jimmaas said:

...The oval thingies on the ventral panel are in fact openings - they were on the rear fuselage of the F2A-1/Model 239, but moved to the rear portion of the ventral window on subsequent variants...

 

Thank you gents - as Hasegawa include two clear part for the ventral windows and two solid blanking plates I thought I'd try to drill them out of the opaque parts - what do you think?

 

 

I'm not going to attempt the same thing with the clear part, as the transparent plastic always seems to be harder and more brittle than 'normal' plastic and I don't have a spare of the clear part anymore since I messed about with the other one.

 

On 2/13/2017 at 5:28 AM, Procopius said:

...The Buffaloes are looking good, albeit a teeny-tiny bit ridiculous with their absurd landing gear...

 

Thanks PC, apparently despite the super-chunky appearance they were still occasionally prone to collapsing after hard deck landings, which must have inspired even greater confidence amongst the men who flew them  

 

On 2/13/2017 at 7:48 AM, CedB said:

Very neat stuff Stew, as usual. Love those engines  

 

Thanks Ced, they are very nicely moulded aren't they? I have now painted them and added the reduction gear casing(?). I am a big fan of Hasegawa's method of including a poly cap in the engine assembly so that the prop can be added (and removed if required) after painting:

 

 

I didn't make any effort to replicate the wiring loom which is pretty noticable on the real Wright Cyclone engine, because... well I couldn't be bothered, really. Also I'm not sure I have the patience or talent, though I do have a variety of small reels of copper wire which would have been ideal for the job.

 

I've got the day off so I hope to get some more done today...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[rob85]

Nice to see these moving forward stew, engines look lovely 

 

Rob

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Rob

 

The kit exhausts are separate parts but are solid lumps, so I drilled them out - pre-drill at the back, drilled at the front:

 

 

Here one is fitted to the B339C engine:

 

 

... no, it will look fine with a bit of black paint in there when it is done

 

I attached the fronts of the cowlings - they didn't seem to fit spectacularly well, especially the one that attaches to the resin part for the F2A-3, and some sanding and bad language was required to get what I hope will be an acceptable finish:

 

 

Here is a tip I tried to explain to our forum-peer Ced yesterday, but I'm not sure how clear I was as I was in a hurry. If you need to plug an irregular-shaped hole to prevent the ingress of paint during spraying, cut a slightly oversized piece of an old washing-up sponge:

 

 

It doesn't have to be very thick as it is surprisingly impermiable. Then using a toothpick or any implement of your choosing, stuff the sponge into the hole that you wish to block:

 

 

Like that. After spraying you can just pull it out with tweezers. Works for cockpits, landing gear bays, intakes etc.

 

Still working on these, hopefully I'll have some more progress before the end of the day.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

It's less organic than using fruits and berries for masking, but I'll concede it's a good solution

[Stew Dapple]

5 hours ago, SovereignHobbies said:

It's less organic than using fruits and berries for masking...

 

Perhaps, but it's more eco-friendly than my previous preferred method of using the wings of baby Sea Eagles 

 

Rhinoplasty:

 

 

The fit wasn't bad, I'm hoping the joins will be concealed by panel lines. I've just dunked the canopy parts in Klear, the next step will be masking those when I can rustle up sufficient motivation...

 

Cheers

 

Stew

[CedB]

Nice work Stew, they're looking the part now eh?

Thanks for the sponge advice - I'll certainly be using that later (watch out Mrs B!)

[Cookenbacher]

Yes, thanks for the sponge idea Stew. The engines look incredible, scratched copper ring or no. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Nice work Stew, just had a quick catch up and these two are looking splendid. 

 

I'm getting quite jealous TBH.....For some reason I like dumpy birds. 

[TonyTiger66]

Hello Stew. I just caught up. I hope it's ok to sit at the back and watch until the end?

 

I have the Revell Buffalo. It was one of the first kits I completed as a child, perhaps the first that was built as it should be. This is, in comparison with a Corsair I made with the wings put on upside down. I was four at the time, I've improved a bit, not much. That was in 1970.

 

I bought the Revell one late last year, 46 years after my first one. Time to give it another go .

 

Your Hasegawa models are light years ahead of the Revell; really nice detail. I love the decal for the window framing.

 

It's great that you're doing  a KNIL version, it's a superb scheme with the orange triangles, I wish we saw more models of the Dutch aircraft.

 

Great stuff, apologies for being so late to the show.

 

Best regards

TonyT

[TheBaron]

Very nice work Stew.

Tony

[tonyot]

Good effort so far Stew, I like the old Buffalo and you are doing a great job on the nice Hasegawa kits, looking forward to following the rest of your build,

Cheers

           Tony 

 

Edit,... i this film of Dutch B-339`s of any interest?;

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by tonyot

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks gents, I hope they will turn out acceptably when they are finished

 

Thanks Tony - quite an interesting bit of film... if I had seen a model with the yellow tips of the prop blades painted that far down I would think it had been overdone a bit!

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Those are the very Buffaloes I'd like to model.....Does the old Airfix kit even have the right bits? 

 

For some reason I have a soft-spot for the Airfix Boomerang too.....But that's another (rivetting) story. 

[Stew Dapple]

9 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Those are the very Buffaloes I'd like to model.....Does the old Airfix kit even have the right bits? 

 

For some reason I have a soft-spot for the Airfix Boomerang too.....But that's another (rivetting) story. 

 

It depends how fastidious you are Andy, I think the Airfix kit would cover all the bases except for the 'cranked' pitot tube* . I think the other details are much the same as for the RAF/RAAF Buffalo represented in the Airfix kit.

 

I hate to play 'top trumps' but I've got the Special Hobby Boomerang in the stash - that looks like a nice kit too.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

* "luckily" the last P-40 I built resulted in my standing on the main canopy; I then had to rob a replacement from a stashed kit, so I effectively have a whole P-40 spare apart from the canopy - I've swiped the cranked-type pitot from that kit, it would be a (genuine) spare if you were building the Flying Tigers version anyway.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I've promised myself 'No more new wingy-things!' Stew.  

 

Indeed if any of the regular gang want to take some of my lesser quality kits off my hands for use as spares or to use as mules (free & gratis, just cover the postage costs), let me know what you need (by PM) and I'll see what I've got (no I am not doing a list, if you know me well enough, you can probably guess what I might have bought).  The kits may be robbed out of decals and any useful bits for my own projects before they're sent, but obviously I won't swipe any of the bits you need (if I don't want any of it I'll send all of it). 

 

Folk I've never spoken to before probably needn't bother. 

[Stew Dapple]

I applied the Eduard masks to the B339C canopy:

 

 

I need to consider the order of assembly/masking for the F2A-3 canopy which has the telescopic-type gunsight projecting through the windscreen. Hopefully I can get that done tonight or tomorrow, and get the primer applied on Sunday...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[GREG DESTEC]

Your Buffalos are looking great Stew. I have just completed the Airfix one and although not so sharp in detail as your two, and a bit "lumpy" in places still looks like a Buffalo to me. If our ancient laptop behaves and I can persuade photo bucket to play ball I will post it up over the weekend. I look forward to your next update. Very nice work indeed , cheers Greg

[CedB]

Sharp masking Stew - those frames look tiny and it looks like you've nailed it. Good job!

[rob85]

6 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

I applied the Eduard masks to the B339C canopy:

 

 

I need to consider the order of assembly/masking for the F2A-3 canopy which has the telescopic-type gunsight projecting through the windscreen. Hopefully I can get that done tonight or tomorrow, and get the primer applied on Sunday...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Nice bit of masking that, not an enjoyable task, especially the little curved edges! I didn't enjoy masking mine....

 

a special hobby boomerang you say? I wonder how that would look built....  

 

Rob 

[TonyTiger66]

A Boomerang would look nice alongside these two 

 

TT

[jean]

Hi Stew,

 

just went away for a few days and I come back to find your two (!) Buffaloes almost finished!

Beautifully different plane and the Hasegawa kit is a pleasure to build (OK, I finished mine as a yellow wing one, call me biased!).

Congrats on what you have achieved already.

Keep having fun.

 

JR

[Navy Bird]

Looking good! I love the tubby little gal. The Hasegawa kit is quite nice, innit?  

 

I need to start up my Special Hobby F2A-3 Midway bird someday, plus I also have the Special Hobby yellow winged F2A-2, the Special Hobby 339C/D (for the Dutch version), and the Hasegawa 239 for the Finnish scheme. It would be like re-opening the Brewster assembly line.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Sgt.Squarehead]

IIRC I have a decal set for the new Airfix P-40 with some resin bits including a pitot, I may have to dig out my Buffalo.....One less box on the shelf, but it will mean all of my current work-trays are full again, fortunately I have been given fifteen more by a friend! 

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks Rob, Tony, I do have a great affection for the little Boomer too, the only problem is fitting in all the kits I want to build next (it won't be the Boomerang I'm afraid, as I have one or two Mosquitos lined up on the perimeter track ready for the De Havilland Group Build)...

 

Thanks Jean, yes, they have mostly gone together very smoothly, as one expects with a Hasegawa kit, with a couple of baffling fits of parts, as one also expects with a Hasegawa kit, where you can never be really sure if they did something wrong, or if you did!  

 

Thanks Bill, yes I decided that the Hasegawa was definitely more user-friendly than the Special Hobby kit - I do hope you start the production line, as I always enjoy your WW2 subjects  

 

Hi Andy, go for it - if I recall that Airfix kit is pretty straightforward so would be ideal if you wanted a quick build with no fancy work involved - the only problem would be where to score the RNEIAF markings for the Dutch aircraft?

 

I got the canopies masked and fitted - I added the F2A-3's telescopic gunsight and just cut a little cross-shape in the windscreen mask to allow it to poke through. Hopefully it is still a tight enough fit to prevent any paint getting in. Hopefully. I do recommend the Eduard mask set, it isn't perfect but it does allow you to sidestep quite a bit of work most of us would find tedious.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew