F3H-2 Demon, VF-31 Tomcatters 1/48

[Christer A]

Yet another long-term project is initiated!

This a big beast, and I was very surprised when I opened the box and discovered the large amount of plastic :-)

But that size is intimidating, compare to a well known example (tamiya Bf109e)

Right. I'll make the box-top example, just because Felix the Cat is cool =)

(Just a coincidence that a Hellcat, Bearcat, and Superbug bearing those markings have found their way to my stash, honest!)

So far i've been messing around in the cockpit

and wheel wheels

This was the first time with Gunze Acrylic for me, an they worked just as easily as Tamiya. Wow!

I think I have found a new favorite paint-maker!

A very good thing with this kit is that Hobbyboss has made the wingfold optional

That will surely save some grief in the long run!

Lastly, here is a shot of the completed armament

I must say that the missiles were very nicely detailed! If they are correct is another matter, but in plastic they look very nice. Lets see what happens after a coat of paint or two.

And with that, the race to finish before end of August 2013 is on!

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

NIce start Christer - its a great model. Its also a big model too!

A tip - open up and enlarge the locating holes on the lower fuselage for the fuel tank pylons. There are a real tight fit.

Cheers - Im watching this with interest

Jonners

[raguk]

Also watching this one with intrest looks to be a good kit in the box, so will be intresting to follow your build

[fatalbert]

Looking good,the Demon is my fave US Navy aircraft,a little kmown fact is that with two external tanks fitted ,the drag negated any increase in range,Very often only one tank was used and gave the aircraft around 10 mins extra endurance........Neil

[Christer A]

Thanks everyone!

That tip of opening up the locating holes is duly noted.

I've heard the comment about external tanks decreasing the range, on some other aircraft too, so I guess it's quite common after all

[Christer A]

Well,, my somewhat erratic build has now come to the exhaust.

I tried to figure out a way to fit the exhaust after the fuselage halves had been closed, but I could come up with a good idea, so instead I'll glue the inner part first, and fit the outer part later. That might work...and by removing the guiding lugs I can hopefully get it to align a bit better than originally intended

After a quick job with citadel boltgun metal and some other colours it now looks like this:

It seems that I have to start working on the cockpit next, but that should be fun!

[jynski]

I'm going to do this same kit also. My father was a photographer on the USS Saratoga when VF-31 was on board in these markings.

[Christer A]

Ejector pin marks. :|

There must be a rule somewhere that states that all marks must be placed on the least accessible surfaces.

This model is no exception:

These outer walls to the cockpit contains 4 of these buggers, where three of them are visible. Some filler and sanding later and then I primed the while thing in Tamiya NATO Black

Some Xtracrlyix Fs16320 was airbrushed at an angle to exaggerate all recesses, and after further drybrushing and detail painting i arrived at this:

There is decals for all instrument panels but the sideconsoles are very deep and I don't think that even Mr Mark decal solutions would have solved that.

That's it for now!