MattSimps74 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 So I fell in love with this beauty... . Read around a bit, saw Jonners' stunning one here on this site and thought I'd have a crack at bashing a Hobby Boss FJ-4 with the wings from a Monogram Sabre Dog. Turns out the ESCI ones are getting thin on the ground. Thought I was safe as the Kitty Hawk one looked like it wasn't going to happen for a while - turns out it's nearly ready!!!! Oh well - this one has been a lot of fun so far - tons of details to get obsessed over. Massive thanks go to SabreJet for his post on the FJ-3 in the Cold War section - what a brilliant resource on this airframe, and of course to Tailspin Turtle for the whole of Tailspin Topics - endlessly fascinating. Cockpit - nearly all FJ-4, Aves epoxy cushions on the seat and Airscale dials and decals. Canopy's going to be shut so tried to rein it in a bit! I tried the hairspray method for the first time on the cockpit floor. Tried to get that lovely 50's 'Hospital green' as per Tommy's suggestion too - could be a bit ott but there's already far too much grey on the shelf! The canopy's the Sabre Dog rear section mated to the Fury windscreen, and they weren't far off each other. I had to polish the detail (Aerials?) off the inside of the rear section, and re-shape the aft edge a bit. The sill doesn't match up very well but I'm hoping to lessen the difference when I paint the canopy seals. The rear decking was scratched. I reshaped the front fairing a bit, too. The spine down the back of the FJ-4 had to be taken off and faired over. The Kitbash bit - Naively thought this would be simple! The Sabre Dog's fuselage was wider than the Fury's, so it all had to come in a shade! I changed the angle of the wing sweep a bit here too. Deleted the rocket tray, chopped, modifed, added, carved, shaped, etc., etc. for hours and hours til I got to this ..... Scratchbuilt 200 gallon(?) tanks - really happy with these - excuse the manky thumbnail! I used Aves epoxy putty again for these -it's great stuff in nice big pots and I think it works nicer than Milliput. The Cannon openings had to be re-done too. Pilots found gunnery in the FJ-3 nigh on impossible as the guns were aimed at a notional point under the nose optimised for certain flight conditions. I backdated the FJ-4 fuselage by slicing brass rod at the right angle, supergluing the new barrels to a scaled template and puttying the whole lot in one go. These are the early oval openings - I suspect the skin split at either end when the guns were fired so they changed the shape on later aircraft. Worked fine as you can see circular openings from head on (you'll have to take my word for it) For me this is the most enjoyable bit of what we do. More to follow when I get time to post - loads more details large and small! TTFN 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ad-4N Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 My hat is off to you, my man. That is some stone cold, He-Man modeling #@$&$#*+=%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Sadly the K/H one isnt a myth. Thats the only reason i haven't done what you're attempting. That being said Im grabbing a seat since im a Fury fan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 You, sir, are a steely-eyed model builder! Never in a million years would I have thought of using an F-86D to make an FJ-3...in any scale! The cockpit looks outstanding! Can't wait to see how it turns out; Incredible job on the gun ports and the external tanks, too, which are a distinctive feature of the FJ's. How 'bout scooting over Dennis, @Corsairfoxfouruncle so I can see better, and don't hog all the popcorn!🍺 Mike 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Well Well ! Another hooked fan ! Welcome aboard Matt ! Great idea ! I started mine on the basis of the old Esci kit mixed with Matchbox parts ! Hello Mike, You can have all the pop corn, I'll sit next to the bar with my rocket fuel ! Hello Cousin, Nice to see you here ! Let's have some cheese blocks ! One more guy with golden wings on his models !! Mmmmh Goooood ! Sincerely. Corsaircorp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matti64 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 (edited) It's looking very good so far and I wouldn't lose any sleep over what Kitty Hawk will be offering as it's bound to have some failing somewhere along the line. You'll know that what you've done will be right where it counts, after all You are making all of the decisions as you go with this build, and I think that gives a lot of confidence and satisfaction. I particularly like the neat solution to the drop tanks, what's the source for the resin front sections? Edited October 4, 2018 by matti64 A question added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 8 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Sadly the K/H one isnt a myth. Thats the only reason i haven't done what you're attempting. That being said Im grabbing a seat since im a Fury fan. Hello Cousin, Knowing what KH can do sometimes, I'm a bit less enthusiast, see the poor Banshee...😓 Sincerely. CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Whats wrong with the Banshee ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 5 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Whats wrong with the Banshee ? The belly is not good at all, they have done almost worst than the old AMT kit. It's incredible, with the tools of our days, I don't understand, they flatened the engine cowlings on the undersides.... Just like the Trumpy HB Corsairs.... Not to mention the fabric wings on the -5 serie... So, I will surely buy a KH Banshee but I wait a bit, who know, they will may be fix it. Just like Eduard did with their Me 109 Sincerely. CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSimps74 Posted October 5, 2018 Author Share Posted October 5, 2018 Thank you for the very kind words gentlemen! Matti I'm totally in agreement with you about owning the build! The resin front bits to the tanks came from Australia. Red Roo Sabre tanks I think - before I realised that they were so different on the Fury! Never ceases to amaze me how we can call in rare and niche 1/48 bits and bobs from all over the world these days - these decals from the US, for example - bet there aren't many of these sheets still in existence!!(hope they don't disintegrate I had to re-mortgage the house...) Been working on the aft end too - The fin came from the Sabre Dog, also the fairing in front of it. The Hobby Boss FJ-4 has a weird scoop taken out around these parts. Cue the putty and some hours re-shaping til I was happier with it. The fuel dump pipe is squashed brass tube, and tail bumper was scratched from Sabrejet's excellent reference pics. The ram may be upside down - I've found pictures of both - but it's too late now.... Horizontal Stabs were made from the Sabre Dog's ones - the thing that's struck me on this build is how North American must have re-used their tooling and jigs to make different members of the Sabre family - efficient, I guess, and it makes a kitbash like this easier! I had to make the trim tabs and they're mounted on brass tube now so's i can angle them a bit, and make painting a bit easier. The undercarriage has been painted - loving the idea of adding (acrylic) wash in with a coat of Future - works beautifully and dries really quickly (I miss the smell of White Spirit though) Here's a quickie for painting the stripes on the Hook without too much swearing... Cheers All - thanks again for your kindnesses - very motivational!! TTFN 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 You have a fantastic build going on here. The cockpit is really good and l like the aerial structure behind the seat, looks very convincing. Regarding the decals get some Microscale liquid decal film and paint over the decal wih it, maybe teaching your mother to suck eggs. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 Wow! This is brilliant; full of ideas and some great execution. Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 Following this one with interest. One of my passions is Sabre's (builds elsewhere), but that is matched by the Fury. I normally model in 1/72 but last year I acquired the 1/48 Collectaire FJ-3/M at Telford Kit Swap. It needs a lot of work but it looks very nice indeed. Turning an FJ-4 back into a 3 is some challenge, but you are cracking along splendidly! Will keep watching! Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSimps74 Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 The FJ-3 is finally past the scribing phase (the Horror! the Horror!) and has been primed and top-coated with Tamiya AS-8, decanted from the spray can. All this following a brilliant two day Airbrushing course with Robin Carpenter down in Lancing, West Sussex. I'm finally up and running with my big boy airbrush - and totally hooked. How did it take me this long to overcome the heebie-jeebies? Thanks, Robin! Poke through the scale template with a pin in a pin-vise and join the dots, right? Easy! I marked all the lines out in pencil so I could make sure they were right from every angle, then scratched and filed them in with a Trumpeter scriber and an RB scrib-r file. Still not perfect, but I found if you run some Extra Thin into the lines you can play around with them a bit before the plastic solidifies again. Not much, but enough. What a pig of a job! What I usually do at the scribing phase is distract myself with a more appealing project, and this was no exception!! Distraction no.1...... Eduard's 1/48 Essex Class carrier base.... Nice fine detail, but I felt the planking was a little smooth, so I masked off the metal strips with Double sided tape (nice and thick) and brushed in some texture. Then sprayed the basic material colours for the steel and the timber. A coat of blue-grey "deck stain" and a salty weathering next.... Masked up for the deck markings Until eventually got to this.... In the end a LOT of paint went on but as this pic shows the decks were petty scungy (is that a word?) Check out this dude ... Distraction number 2!! North Star Models beautiful, beautiful little MD-1 Deck Tractor. A real joy to make - detailed, lovely hard plastic, a modeller's delight, truly. Took a few nights to ASSEMBLE - not just a joyless lump of resin!!! I ended up making some chocks from wood offcuts (Walnut & Poplar) - nothing looks like wood like wood!! I also wanted a tow-bar but no-one does a 1950's one (Except Tamiya, with their Moto-Tug, as I discovered later!!) so I scratched one from Albion Alloys brass tube after scouring the interweb for good pictures for what felt like months. And with the MD-1... And painted up!! Still no more scribing done by this stage, by the way!!!! Distraction no.3! -Really deep in the "not doing the scribing" zone here - converting a Tamiya willys Jeep to a NC-1A APU These mad little fellas supplied the power at startup for the early jets. A company called Dusenjaeger released (?) a lovely looking one in 48th but it appears it sank without at trace. Long story short it was such a big job that I bit the bullet and scribed up the Fury! Job done!! Nearly done on this but it's been a long haul!! Tamiya Jeep (not much of it, in the end), sheet brass, wire, bits from the spares box and a fair bit of cursing have produced this obscure, tiny, ugly little object, much to the bemusement of la famille .... I did stumble across this amazing stuff though, offcuts of which are available from a well known auction site - "PU board CNC 150 grade" - it's used for prototyping stuff and is close to solidified car body filler in consistency, maybe a little softer? Great stuff though, really easily shaped and sanded, then sealed with some thin superglue. I used the panel saw at work to slice it into friendlier chunks for cutting at home. So after all the procrastinating the Aeroplane in question got some paint on it. Many, many thanks again to Robin Carpenter for demystifying the airbrush for me - I never thought I'd be decanting anything from a spay can!!! So happy with the cannon openings!! I sent the drop tanks ahead to get a feel for spraying the white trim (I'll experiment with the coroguard (Alclad) on these too. As happened to Jonners the old decals totally disintegrated so I put the Microscale decal film to the test and it worked. You have to put a fair bit on so they end up thickish, but i'm happy they'll be ok with some TLC. And that's about it for now, and I think I've figured out that the best way to overcome a consistent stumbling block in your builds is to bore yourself into action with something else that's utterly arduous. Boredom can be a great motivator! Cheers, TTFN! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massimo Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 All components look great!!!! I'm watching with extreme interest! You're doing a wonderful detailling job!!! Well done!!! Massimo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyK Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Beautiful work! Love it! J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Stunning work !! Congratulations ! And great attention to details ! Sincerely. CC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Fantastic work on everything so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 It looks fantastic, for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 And I thought I was the only totally mad nutter to try this!!!!!!!! Magnificent. That is all I can say. If my build helped then I'm only too happy, even if all it did was confirm your insanity! LOL I raced to the end of the page , after seeing you'd got the decal sheet, thinking NO, mine fell,apart, please don't use them without realising this. Phew! , you did. Really like you gun ports too, but I love it all. As you say, it's amazing what assistance can be globally gleaned nowadays. loved the tanks too, the fuelvent detailatthe rear is cool. Esci missed that, as did I. As soon as KH release theirs, I'm sure I'll get one if only to compare to mine.. I'm hoping it's good. fingers crossed. Hats off to you old chap, top quality modelling. Jonners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSimps74 Posted January 31, 2019 Author Share Posted January 31, 2019 Thanks for the lovely comments gents, and great to hear from you Jonners! Are we insane? Probably, but I think I’d be really, properly la-la if I couldn’t sit down for an hour or 5 and just zone into making things exactly 48 times smaller than they really are!!! 😉 Thanks again chaps!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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