LanceB

Uf, those resin R2800s don't look too good, crankcase is much too "domed". And are those nosewheels a joke? The mains look like they may be usable, but the nosewheels... yeesh!

I hope they got licensing for those markings, or hilarity will ensue...

Well that's looking alright, then! The Bearcat was a small plane, so I assume well-fed pilots were similarly compressed getting into the real thing. I've had a model or two before where getting the pilot in afterwards was difficult, with the result the model is now flown by a double below-the-knee amputee. Barely visible when done!

Yeah, I tend to be guilty of overengineering my personal projects - bad habit of mine. A couple of cases of things popping off in ways or at times when it was hardest to fix them, so I started to create more work for myself in the form of "brace the heck out of it, glue solid, slap it with my palm and say "that ain't coming off!" " Your way is good too, of course. But yes, I think I may agree - the tailwheel might be a bit too deep in the well, but that looks to be an issue with the way the kit parts are designed, not an issue with the way you put things together. It looks like the fairing on the tailwheel caster might be a bit chonky, and the caster itself raked too steeply aft (if the gear was extended)? edit: found this, FWIW, and it looks like the whole assembly forms a straighter line, tracing down the outer surface of the door over the A-frame, and the caster is more vertical on the real thing, so that the forward edge of the wheel itself would touch that traced line. Looks like Hobby Boss made the lower leg of the "L" of the A-frame door too long, and the caster cover too chonky, as well as possibly having the caster arms raked too much. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/f8f-bearcat-tailwheel-door-t497147-s10.html Probably not worth redoing what you've got, though.

My unsolicited suggestion: Cut the actuator (rod running from B15 to top of B13) and trailing arm (rod running up and aft from B15 to bottom of B17) off part B15 (tailwheel). Attach B15 and B18 (A-frame arm) to B13 (forward tailwheel bulkhead) by applying glue only to the join of B15 and B18. Test fit and trim the lower corners of B13 as needed so that the tailwheel can pivot up into the fuselage. Continue assembly as per top half of page in step 2 (gluing fuselage together), but make certain early on that the tailwheel opening is indeed long enough fore-aft so that you can retract the tailwheel without it banging on the aft end. Then take a quite side quest to step 6 and glue parts B19 and B14 tailwheel covers in place. Push the tailwheel into the fuselage so that B19 is flush with the belly around it and flow some thin cement into the area to bond everything together. As the covers were fastened to the tail gear A-frame (B19) or the wheel swivel arm (B14), and due to this physical attachment none of the relevant bits moved in relation to each other during retraction or extension, simply modifying the tailwheel and possibly the mounting bulkhead for same to allow the tailwheel assembly to pivot up into the fuselage should be accurate. Just note from the image in the link 72modeler posted that the A-frame forward pivots went into small cutouts with a tab of belly skin between them, and the door closed aft of this tab, so you may need to add a little bit of sheet styrene into the gap between the arms of the A-frame from side-to-side and between the belly forward of the door and the door itself - filled and smoothed on the forward edge only, of course. I might also suggest cutting or grinding of the MLG wells from the lower wings, aside from the bit forming a back wall to the LE intakes, and gluing the MLG strut doors to the lower wing first, so you can get at the inside of the join and add shims or supports as needed, and glue the inner MLG doors to the fuselage halves similarly before gluing the fuselage up. Then when attaching the wings to the fuselage everything would be solid in case trimming is needed or gaps need filling.

Sabre Kits from Czechia have also been offering various Frog kits in new boxes, with new decals. I asked about provenance and was told a "cache" of kits was found in Czechia that had been there for quite some time, and the kits were not sourced from Mordor - or at least, not since the current troubles. However the molds are not in Czechia.

Just my 2 yen, and period photos of the Ju388, at least high-quality ones of the cockpit area, are vanishingly rare, but I think what we are seeing with the sole survivor is some sort of sealant or adhesive that has aged and become more opaque, or possibly even reacted with the plexiglass and discolored the edges of the panes proper. . There is a decent photo on Wikipedia of the bombed-out factory at Liepzig-Mockau, and even if you zoom in that white-ish, yellow-ish line around the panes doesn't seem to stand out. Also, images of this aircraft on display at Wright Field just after the war don't show that opaque line around the second window from the front on the pilot's side. The crazing of the plexiglass from age is quite apparent in the museum photos, the canopy would have looked a lot cleaner in 1945.

Rumours are already starting that, perhaps, Pit Road is thinking of doing a "Beast Mode" release with weaponry, and as none is included in this first release that is why the instructions tell you to chop off all the dangly bits and glue the weapons bay doors closed. There are also two underwing pylons included (marked as unused on the fuselage runner) and flashed-over locating holes in the lower wing half for at least the two inboard pylon locations and one of the outboard pylons per wing. Max is supposed to be four pylons per wing, two inboard of the inner engine and two more outboard, but the most I have seen pics of is three per wing, with the outer pylon between the inboard and outboard engines, which seem to be what Pit Road's instructions show.

Mask the light cover, paint the tip Vanta Black as a primer, then paint the camouflage. That ought to prevent stray reflections. 🤣

Or do what this chap did: Although I would be tempted to use a smaller bit and drill in at an angle from the corner, to make a "bulb" penetrating into the clear cover.

Nice try, but I think the technical term was "Flugzeug-Ruderpedal Großhandelslager"

Likely so, it is also certainly true that other countries didn't go quite so far as to standardize their rudder pedals, even as there was a good deal of standardization with other bits. Germany was known for extensively farming out component production, even early in the war and such arrangements became ever more common as the war progressed. For example, Fw190Ds had their engines and cowls assembled in one place, fuselages somewhere else, wings at yet another factory and then the tailfeathers somewhere else again! And that is not even considering subcomponent manufacture at smaller shops. By the time they got done, not even the paint matched up from one end to the other...

It would seem not, generally speaking. Much more efficient from a production standpoint for the various makers to buy bulk from Rudder Pedal Emporium, rather then everyone either a) making their own pedals, which would not be replaceable in the field if you were surrounded by other makers'/other types or b) everyone making pedals to a common standard for their own production and thus duplicating efforts. You wouldn't have each factory produce its own tyres, or airspeed indicators, or seatbelts, or radios, why have them each make their own rudder pedals?

Just talked to a Czech friend in the business (and when I say "the business", of course I mean "the industry"...), who knows HpH personally. He says "not so". Infinity Models is gone. HpH is alive, but with amazingly conincidental timing their website is down for maintenance. But HpH is NOT gone, they are still in business.

According to my former bosses who worked on them back in the 80s, the LIDs fence often removed itself, which led to the rest being removed by squadrons. It was a scabbed-on addition , not integral as on the B.