dnl42 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 (edited) Here is my entry. Without doubt, ugliest aircraft Grumman ever built. At least they redeemed themselves with the F7F. The box art. Have to love those yellow wings... Decals are simple. There's actually some AM for this, from Lone Star Models The sprues. Not much to this kit And here's the LSM resin cockpit. Edited December 28, 2018 by dnl42 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 I'm using Grummnan XF5F-1 and XP-50 Skyrocket (Naval Fighters Number Thirty-one), by David Lucabaugh and Bob Martin as my primary reference. Here's an interesting quote Quote The design engineer for the XF5F was Dick Hutton, who stated in the 1980s that, "two-engine safety was always a desirable goal, but resulted in a larger aircraft, spanwise, for parking on the carrier. By eliminating the width of the fuselage, the engines could be located close together. By locating the guns on the centerline, the boresight problem could be eliminated. Landing visibility from the cockpit could be improved. Good space coverage of the wing by the slipstream would improve the take-off. Engines close together, along with the twin vertical tails in the slipstream, made single-engine operation easier. Location of the guns on the centerline and close to the center of gravity permitted various gun combinations to be accommodated, including 30 cal, 50 cal, and 37mm cannon. Engines used were about the lowest power-to-weight ratio, and by having two, total power would give good performance. Form follows function, indeed. Perhaps the XF5F is a part of the genesis of this cartoon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 (edited) Glued the wing top and bottom halves together as the wing top forms the bottom of the cockpit. These were, without doubt, the best fitting pair of plastic parts I've ever done, bar none! Separated the LSM cockpit bits from the pour blocks with the coarse teeth of my trusty JLC saw. The floor piece on the right is warped and needs a little warm bath to sort it out. The LSM seat and sidewalls are unquestionably better than the kit's versions, which are nearly devoid of detail. I'll see how the IPs compare after painting and highlighting, but the LSM IP will likely win. The kit suggests bare metal or Interior Green. Some shots in NF31 show bare metal, but I'm thinking Bronze Green is more plausible and looks more consistent with the painted color. Edited November 7, 2018 by dnl42 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share Posted November 7, 2018 5 hours ago, dnl42 said: The floor piece on the right is warped and needs a little warm bath to sort it out. Now that I primed the resin with my usual primer, thinned Mr Surfacer, I'm trying to figure out how the bits goes together. I did give it that bath and "straightened" the part before I primed it. If I lay the part along the airfoil trailing edge, it would be tilted backward. That would be a little wonky. It would make more sense if the floor was level while the aircraft was level, which suggests that "warp" was intended to more correctly align the floor. to the wing The sidewalls would also fit better with this arrangement. It's a mystery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 8, 2018 Author Share Posted November 8, 2018 Pondering the cockpit. The resin has a substantial curvature on the upper-half of the sidewall, while the plastic is nearly flat. I stripped the primer off with Mr Color Thinner so I can try to fix it. Here's the resin And here's the plastic Warm water didn't have much effect on this larger casting. Need to think more on this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 10, 2018 Author Share Posted November 10, 2018 The sidewalls are in. They were too thick at the top to bend, so I sanded the backs as much as I could, enabling them to conform quite nicely to the fuselage sides. The prototype had a channel at the canopy edge that I gather was for the canopy to slide open. I cut off the resin versions and epoxied some evergreen C channel atop the sidewall. Here are the final sidewalls epoxied in place. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 Well done persuading those resin parts to fit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 10, 2018 Author Share Posted November 10, 2018 Thanks. It took a while to figure out how to approach this. Just thinning it down ended up being quite effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 Such a strange looking beast! You're off to a good start, well done fitting the resin. Looking forward to more of this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 11, 2018 Author Share Posted November 11, 2018 The cockpit bits are painted. The LSM seat had shoulder harnesses, but cockpit photos show the seat without shoulder harnesses. I had a spare Ultracast Wildcat seat that looked exactly like the photo, so I used that instead. Minicraft claim the cockpit is bare metal or Interior Green. It looks to me like the earlier cockpit was painted metal. Given the time frame, I used my tin of WEM Coulourcoats Bronze Green instead The IP needs a little more dry-brushing highlights... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 (edited) Cockpit is in and the fuselage is buttoned up. Edited November 13, 2018 by dnl42 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 14, 2018 Author Share Posted November 14, 2018 It's beginning to look more like its ugly self I just noticed the nose piece has some strange wart. I'll need to remove it before I attach the nose piece. The white bits are plugs for the gun ports, which were never actually installed on this aircraft. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 Dry-fitting the MLG. Some reviews of this kit used "fiddly" and "landing gear" in the same sentence. Well, they're right. I like to assemble the unpainted LG off-model in order to get the strongest glue joints before I paint them and ultimately install at the very end of the build. The problem on this model is that that trailing arm is captured between 2 sockets, one from either side of the nacelle. I can pop the trailing arm into place by squeezing the nacelle when it's sitting freely, but that won't work once glued onto the model. Hm, I might just remove the top of each socket (bottom in this picture) to enable it the trailing arm slip in during final assembly. I think I'll also remove those filled-in webs on the side arm before I glue the MLG together as the webs should be open. BTW, if you choose to build this, be careful about which parts you use. Minicraft put the trailing arms (36 & 37) among the other side's parts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 A strange looking aircraft for sure, the resin details look good fitted 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 Thanks! Strange indeed! I removed the filled-in webs on the MLG side arms. Looks much better. Still pondering how I'll assemble the nacelles and MLGs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 16, 2018 Author Share Posted November 16, 2018 The nacelles are on... I only installed the MLG trailing arm into the nacelles as they could not be readily fitted later. Next are the engines so I can mount them and then attach and fair the front quarter of the cowlings. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Nice work, but it really is an oddball isn't it!? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 I think my plan was to install the trailing arms free (no glue), then insert the rest of the gear legs later. It has been a while since I fiddled with this kit, though. Now I'm beginning to want to start fiddling again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 16, 2018 Author Share Posted November 16, 2018 5 minutes ago, gingerbob said: I think my plan was to install the trailing arms free (no glue), then insert the rest of the gear legs later. It has been a while since I fiddled with this kit, though. Now I'm beginning to want to start fiddling again! That's what I've done. The trailing arm is in place, swinging freely within the nacelle. Once I'm ready to install the MLG, I'll just install the strut and side arm, rotate the trailing arm up, and glue the lot together. In the mean time, I need to make sure I don't break the trailing arm when I mask the nacelle interior in preparation for exterior painting. BTW, I painted the nacelle interiors FS36440 as a stand-in for "Grumman Gray". My claim is Grumman would have used the same colors as on the Wildcat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 The engines are done. Not bad OOB. The rear detail is only minutely visible. Dang...I left out the prop shafts. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 The nacelles took some work to fair in, but the airframe is done; the paint shop is next stop. Only the smaller bits are left... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 19 hours ago, dnl42 said: The engines are done. Not bad OOB. The rear detail is only minutely visible. Dang...I left out the prop shafts. Could you use brass or aluminum tubing ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 The shafts are not a functional problem. I'll just cut the end off the plastic versions and glue them into the prop boss. The annoying part is the reminder that my memory is turning into a pile of mush. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted December 2, 2018 Author Share Posted December 2, 2018 Painted the props, which are almost the most complicated props I've done. Red, yellow, and blue tips, black blades, and aluminum hub. The kit includes blade tip decals, but, I didn't think those would work out well. After priming with thinned Mr Surfacer, I sprayed the tips with Mr White Base, then gloss white (C1) followed by yellow (C329). Then red (C327) tips and blue (C328) inner band. I masked the complete tips and painted the rest of the prop semi-gloss black (C92). I then wrapped the blades with Parafilm M and painted the hub Alclad Aluminum. With the black blades, it's hard to see the blue inner band. I also primed the rest of the small parts. Finally, I masked the canopy with Parafilm M and attached it with Pacer Formula 560 Canopy Glue, an acrylic glue used by the RC crowd. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jb65rams Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Looking good. Will have to have add one to the wishlist. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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