Crankycraftsman Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Sounds good Peter, can't wait till mine get here. Ron G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 And here are the main legs in primer: the brake pipes are a delight, as are the scissor links that span the oleo part. My assumption is that the flexible part will be rubber grey, or braided stainless, anyone know for certain? WARNING: when unpacking the castings look out for a 10mm long bit of brass tube. This is supplied as the axle to be used on the tail wheel casting. I almost missed it, as I wasn't expecting to find it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 To answer my own question... From a web search the brake hoses seem to be rubber, so should be tyre colour. There are metal clips holding the hoses to the leg. and the hose continues up into the wing, so a bit of stretched sprue will be needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted October 19, 2019 Author Share Posted October 19, 2019 On 15/10/2019 at 15:18, Crankycraftsman said: Hey Peter You can use the 1/24 scale Master Model's brass/aluminum barrels for the P-47. I have them, you just need to mount the tips a little different then how they were on the P-47. I can't post a picture here, sorry. Let me try to explain. The P-47's tips are recessed in the aluminum piece and the Hellcats were not, if you get the Master barrels you will see what I mean. You will need a piece of Alum./Bass tube for the inner gun, as those are recessed into the wing. Ron G Ron, The P47 pack arrived today. I discovered that the P47 blast tubes are the same O/D as the F6F gun barrels that protrude from the wing: my guess is that they are blast tubes. So a simple job to cut down the P47 blast tubes so they protrude the correct distance and fit the gun barrels. I wish I'd known this when building the kit... it would have been much easier to fit the metal guns at that point! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crankycraftsman Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 Hey Peter Master actually has two new sers out for the 1/24 scale Hellcat #AM-24-018 for the F6F-3 and #AM-24-019 for the F6F-5. They won't be for sale for a week or so though. There not even showing up on there site yet. Ron G 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 The legs are painted, the resin tyres in place and the resin doors fitted. I've not glued the legs in place and the rear strut isn't fitted, but these brass legs are solid and robust! The bomb rack is a British style one, stolen from a 1/24th Typhoon kit. Next the under side, with the British style rocket rails fitted, and the correct number, 4 per side. Again, donated by the 1/24th Typhoon! I don't plan to fit bombs or rockets, the aircraft is imagined as just having returned from a raid. Not sure what has happened to the colour ballance, the sky under side looks the correct colour on the kit, here it seems a bit greenish! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Great legs. The plane's, not yours... Or maybe so, I don't know...😅 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crankycraftsman Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Hey Peter The brake line should go to the brake drum on the wheel, not stay attached to the leg, you need to cut it from the leg, because he only put it there so he could cast it, also the cylinder of the oleo should be a chrome silver color, other then that looks great. Ron G 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Were the rocket rails fitted directly to the wing or were they fitted to a blast plate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted October 29, 2019 Author Share Posted October 29, 2019 27 minutes ago, Grey Beema said: Were the rocket rails fitted directly to the wing or were they fitted to a blast plate? An excellent question! This is the photograph I used as guidance.. Clearly 4 rails, BUT they are single guide rails a side, not double as the ones from the Typhoon. The Typhoon ones also seem longer than the ones fitted to this A/C, but that may be an effect of the angle. Also, is there a blast plate or not? I don't see anything that looks like one, BUT I don't really know what I'm looking for. Blowing the photo up it does look as if the rear pylon goes directly onto the wing, but there is something odd at the front, where the white band curves round. It could be an illusion, I just don't know. The rails are not glued in place, so it isn't too late to change. Advice would be very welcome. 2 hours ago, Crankycraftsman said: Hey Peter The brake line should go to the brake drum on the wheel, not stay attached to the leg, you need to cut it from the leg, because he only put it there so he could cast it, also the cylinder of the oleo should be a chrome silver color, other then that looks great. Ron G I see what you mean, easily fixed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 3 minutes ago, 224 Peter said: An excellent question! This is the photograph I used as guidance.. Clearly 4 rails, BUT they are single guide rails a side, not double as the ones from the Typhoon. The Typhoon ones also seem longer than the ones fitted to this A/C, but that may be an effect of the angle. Also, is there a blast plate or not? I don't see anything that looks like one, BUT I don't really know what I'm looking for. Blowing the photo up it does look as if the rear pylon goes directly onto the wing, but there is something odd at the front, where the white band curves round. It could be an illusion, I just don't know. The rails are not glued in place, so it isn't too late to change. Advice would be very welcome. Yes that aircraft has the blast plates. Calling it a plate is a bit of a misnomer as it actually seems to be quite a significant structure. If you study the starboard wing you can see the edge of the plate and how it is thicker that the leading edge. The white stripe looks to be extended slightly onto the plate.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Here is a previous debate on the issue.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted October 29, 2019 Author Share Posted October 29, 2019 Another photo I found shows 4 attachment points on the U/S of the wing, this ties up with drawings of the firefly installation. It makes me wonder if the Hellcat installation was a minimally adapted Firefly one. Anyway, a bit of scratch-building seems to be needed to make the rail carrier/blast plate. I can't thank everyone enough for the wealth of information available: it looks as if I'll have a FAA F6F with the correct rocket installation! Airfix should have deleted the rocket installation for the FAA Model, I feel. Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted October 31, 2020 Author Share Posted October 31, 2020 Well, there we paused.. In early December my wife was taken ill and all modeling activities ceased. Thankfully she is better, fully recovered and I'm back at my modelling bench. A progress report on the Hellcat soon, I'm painting the 3" rockets and the bombs. Blast plates were made using a section cut from the spare outboard lower wing section, which allowed the 4 rocket rails to be correctly spaced. A photo will follow. I've also managed to remove the inboard guns so I can fit the Model Master blast tubes. Once all this is done it will be time to apply all the stencil transfers, followed by the main A/C ones. I'm looking forward to getting this finished! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 As mentioned above, I made wing blast plates using a section cut from the spare lower wing section intended for the folded wing version. The rocket rails and rockets are from the 1/24 Airfix Typhoon, as are the bomb racks and bombs. The kit parts are only suitable for the US Navy versions, with 3 x 5" rockets a side, not 4 x 3" I need to put the transfers on the bombs and colour the rocket warheads, before fixing to the rails. There is an "ignition lead" from the end of the rail to the end of the rocket. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaotic Mike Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 Looks superb, but shouldn't the wheels point outward rather then inward? Or are they just sitting in-glued? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 Mike... Oops, just sitting there, not glued!! The next photo, with bombs and rockets finished, will show them correctly mounted!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted November 8, 2020 Author Share Posted November 8, 2020 I spent the last few days painting and applying transfers to the weapons under the wing. Getting all the stencils lined up was not easy, it needed the use of Microsol and Microset to get all the transfers to conform! I ended up making a jig to hold the rockets and used that to line up each rocket with the "master". I'm reasonably happy, there should be a red ring behind the grey nose, but my skills are simply not up to that! When I finally fix the rockets in place I'll put the igniter leads from the rail to the rear of the rocket. Next it is time to apply all the other stencil transfers on the airframe: more time using the magnifier and carefully getting every one in line. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaotic Mike Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Hi Peter, when I was painting the nose rings on an unfeasible number of bombs on my enormous Lancaster, I trapped the weapons in my Dremel and used a fine brush to lay down the paint as the bombs spun. Might be worth a try next time? Mike 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iang Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Your Hellcat looks very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 13 hours ago, Chaotic Mike said: Hi Peter, when I was painting the nose rings on an unfeasible number of bombs on my enormous Lancaster, I trapped the weapons in my Dremel and used a fine brush to lay down the paint as the bombs spun. Might be worth a try next time? Mike Mike, I'll try that when I do the 1/24th Typhoon. Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 (edited) Does your canopy fit nicely onto the fuselage ? Mine is molded to wide with a 3 mm gab on each side. I fear it will crack if I force it when glueing in closed position. But it also doesn't fit in open position. Edited November 9, 2020 by Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Erwin, I've no idea! So far I have not test fitted the canopy parts... I'll go and check as soon as possible! Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Canopy Test Fit It seems to be perfect, a relief! I'm impressed with the clarity of the plastic, no distortion looking inside! If your canopy is too narrow then the moulded part must be deformed, perhaps removed from the mould too quickly. I suggest an e-mail to Airfix, with a photo of the canopy not fitting! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t15dja Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 On 11/9/2020 at 1:37 PM, Erwin said: Mine is molded to wide with a 3 mm gab on each side. I fear it will crack if I force it when glueing in closed position. But it also doesn't fit in open position. Mine was exactly the same. Don't want to force it so it is just balancing there for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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