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FM-1 Wildcat 1/48 Hobby Boss


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Ahoy! 

On the bench at the minute I have my first Hobby Boss kit. Completed an Eduard Hellcat last year and decided it was time for the cat collection to grow...

Having never build a Hobby Boss kit before I was a little reluctant to begin with, but having read several positive reviews thought it was worth a crack.

Nothing fancy with this one, just using the box kit and some Eduard belts to spruce up the pit. 

This is my first WIP thread! Not sure it will be too exciting.

Had two days off work earlier in the week and this is how it stands at the moment.


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When it came to gluing everything together I was getting a bit worries that there might be fit / alignment issues as there isn't a solid fit - bits tend to be a bit floaty. Probably not a problem for most, but I am a bit spoilt as I mainly build Tamiya kits!
So glued the fuselage together and then the cockpit floor to the bottom tub section. Once the glue had set nicely, popped the other bits in place, quick dab of Tamiya liquid cement and then held the tub section into the fuselage - wiggled bits around so that everything sits as it should.  Even so, there is still going to be a bit of filler needed above the headrest. 

The undercarriage section almost came a cropper, again due to vague locations, as a tip to anyone I'd recommend trying to get the  struts in place and then popping it into place in the fuselage tub section to make sure everything fits. As in my case the fitment of one of struts is a little wayward, wasn't to bad thankfully and with a bit of prodding with a cocktail stick got it in place. 

Tonight should get a few more hours to crack on. Decided I wanted to the leave the fuel tanks off, which will mean a few holes need filling in the wing. Spotted a tip somewhere about stretching sprue to get a rod of plastic to fill holes, so might give that a bash. 

Thanks for popping by...  More to follow

Aaron

Edited by AaronKSJ
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Spent quite a few hours on the Wildcat over the weekend. Got the fuselage glued up and been working on the seems. 

Previously when sanding seems, I've sanded of the panel line / rivet detail and then attempted to re-scribe - and it would look horrendous. Wonky lines and slips etc. 
This time round, I decided to deepen the panels / rivets before doing any sanding which I found a lot easier. Although there must be a better way to do. I will ask Google at some point.

Filled the holes in the wings for the absent fuel tanks and also made a possible rash decision and opted to leave out the wing guns. I couldn't face trying to drill out the barrels and think it looks fine without them in place. 
Truth be told, I think I'm cutting a few corners with the kit so far, as I'm eager to get stuck in with the Hobby Boss 1/48 Black Widow that I got earlier this month. The P-61 has been a long time favorite aircraft of mine, so very excited to make a start on it. 

Anyway, here's how it stands at the moment.

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I'm going be using the black base method for this again. While I paint the camo I'll need to decide what to do about the canopy. Might just leave the canopy closed as not a great deal can be seen of the cockpit anyway. Or I can venture down the vac form replacement route - something I've never tried before.

Thanks for popping by...  More to follow

Aaron

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Got a couple of hours done last night. 

Applied the white lower colour - Mig Ammo Satin White thinned 50/50 with Mr self levelling thinners.

Can't decide if the mottled effect is too much and needs some further thin white coats... I'm probably just going to carry on, as when I tried this technique on the Mustang I recently finished (I will at some point get round to taking some pics for RFI!) once I'd applied klear coats, washes and weather the effect is very subtle. 

Tonight I'm aiming to get the top colour masked off and sprayed. First time I'll have used Mission Model paints. I really hope it can be thinned with self leveling thinners! When I was at the IMPS show in Bolton a few weeks back I was searching for a Dark Gull Grey and ended up buying the MM paint in a panic as couldn't find anything else. 

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It did tickle me this morning when trying to get this snap, that the face detection software on my phone kicked in and started focusing on the newspaper picture. 

Thanks for popping by...  More to follow

Aaron

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Got a bit more paint down on the cat over the past few days.

The masking was a bit of a faff - something I need to practice more. Tried using the Tamiya curve masking tape (5mm one I think) and after several failed attempts went back to the blu tack method.

Used Mission Models dark gull grey - luckily for me thinning with self-leveling thinners was possible. 

I think the contract between the white and grey is a little too harsh at the moment. Thinking of adding a light grey filter using oils to try and tie the colours together. And then weathering should help it along.

Despite my best efforts, I've managed not to knock off either of the masts yet. They have taken a beating and the plastic is quite soft and bendy. 

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Aaron

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Not had chance to do a great deal on the Wildcat over the past week for one reason or another.

Give it a coat of Klear and got the decals down.

Still struggling with using oils for the panel line wash. As there lots of rivets on this, I applied a dilute wash of grey / dark gray - left it for about 10 minutes and then wiped of the access with some kitchen paper. 

But this hasn't defined the panel lines and rivets as much as I was hoping for.
Think i might just go over the panel lines again but using a fine brush to get the wash just into the groves and then tidy up any smudges with a flat brush.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated! 

Also realised that I'd forgotten to paint the walkway strips black - so that's on the to-do list.

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Thanks for popping by...  More to follow

Aaron

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  • 2 weeks later...

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