Pat C Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 (edited) One of the things I have enjoyed about modelling is finding out more about real aviation subjects. I had no idea that the F11 Tiger existed until I started modelling USN types. It's rather a neat little fighter that didn't serve with the Navy for very long - presumably replaced by the beast that is the F8 Crusader that probably outperformed it in every way. Given the Tiger was replaced quickly I think it would make quite a convincing What-If in FAA Extra Dark Sea Grey and White - it's small enough to fit on the RN's carriers of the 60's maybe in an alternative universe where the Scimitar never existed and the RN bought second-hand Tigers to replace their Sea Hawks. Anyway this one is in more conventional USN colours! This is a fairly old Hasegawa kit that was a Blue Angels boxing in hard dark blue plastic. I gave this a rescribe but is otherwise pretty much out of the box. I lost one of the cannon shell ejector chutes to the carpet monster and had to fabricate one from plastic card. The AIM-9Bs are from the Hasegawa weapons sets. Decals are mostly from an old Microscale sheet. As always whenever I do supplemental research on these old decal sets I find things that aren't quite right. It's probably because the designers had access to photos that I do not but the photos I had of this particular aircraft of VF-33 showed that it did not have the "Astronauts" badge and writing that were shown on the instructions and feature on many other VF-33 Tigers. Another thing to watch is the orientation of the lightning flashes on the tail and wingtips - I have seen other finished models on the web where these have been wrongly placed i.e. zigging up rather than down on the tail (if that makes sense!!). The pic of this aircraft showed that the wingtip flashes zigged the other way to pretty much all other VF-33 Tigers and contrary to the decal instructions - beware!! As it happens I accidentally got it right for once!! The jet intake and danger stencils were taken from various other Microscale sheets as there were none on the Tiger sheet. It is missing a yellow "danger" stencil aft of the cockpit which has the letters vertically orientated which I could not find anywhere. Hope you like!! Pat Edited October 4, 2015 by Pat C 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordfunker Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Lovely looking build of a much overlooked aircraft. Karl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Elegant plane and neat result. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Av8fan Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Nice build. Would love a new tool 1/48 one. Maybe one day. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Your Tiger looks great! I built it eons ago when I had never heard of rescribing,,, but I still like the way it looks with raised panel lines. It was a most enjoyable build, so I am sure you had loads of fun building it! Congrats JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Nice one Pat, I like the Royal Navy idea btw! Lovely build of a lovely aeroplane. I seem to think that one of its unusual features were that the wing tips folded downwards? Anyway nice build, a 1/48 would be nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 That,s a cracking build and finishPat,love seeing these older moldings built to such a standard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Rhodes Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Beautiful build of a plane not seen very often at all. Hope mine comes out half as good. Darren 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Nice build, Pat! I saw one in Pensacola today, in the same markings, Probably the prettiest plane Grumman ever built. Pilots loved flying it and it had an excellent safety record, unlike the F8U. Trouble was, it was so small that it couldn't truck enough fuel along, which was a tremendous advantage the F8U had that nobody talks about. -d- 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Looks great, very nice paint finish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Very nice build of an old kit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hythe Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Very nice! Would have been an easy thing for an RN version to run a British engine, too, as the Tiger had a Wright J65, the Americanised Sapphire! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdonnell Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 Hello,PatC - Very well done on your grrrreat looking 'Tiger'! I love the quality of paint finish and your choice of scheme.A delightful looking subject.All the best,Paul. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denford Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 Nice build and finish but I see you had the same problem as I did: smoothing the upper fuselage to blend the two halves removes all traces of a louvered outlet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat C Posted October 11, 2015 Author Share Posted October 11, 2015 Thanks for the comments guys! Nice build and finish but I see you had the same problem as I did: smoothing the upper fuselage to blend the two halves removes all traces of a louvered outlet. Don't you just love intricate detail moulded right on the join line!! I think at one point I mused on how to scribe this back in but it got forgotten about once the first coat of Light Gull Grey went on! Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now