gamevender Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 Current project. Aurora did three kits (I think) of aircraft that other manufactures would not make kits of for 20-30 years, the F4-B4, the P-12E and the SBC Helldiver. All are typical kits from the late fifties with questionable accuracy, little detail and absolute minimal interior. So I started off by cleaning up all the mold seams, flash and injection pin marks. Next I moved to the interior. Originally there was a non-descript seat perched on a platform suspended between the fuselage halves with a half-moon shaped instrument panel. I added an extension to the platform so I could add the rudder pedals, added a control column, jazzed up the seat and added seat belts from tape, and that whateveritis lever next to the seat. Then I detailed the cockpit walls with rod/strip stock and added a more realistically shaped instrument panel and the butt ends of the MGs. Next step is to close up the fuselage and work on that seam, then on to the wings/tail assemblies. The microphotography makes it look a lot grubbier than it really is. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 That’s panache! And it looks great so far! Even though that kit probably is moderately collectible by now…Not sure if it’s any less accurate than the more recent alternative (Classic Airframes, I think?) is. Just for the record, I think the mould was copied by Marusan, which was also sold under the RSL brand from New Zealand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 Great work on that interior, it does look splendid. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamevender Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 It was also re-released in the states by Entex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Nice work on the F4B! BTW, F4B is the aircraft designation based on the 1922 USN aircraft designation system; it was in use until 1962. F is an aircraft with a fighter mission, B for bomber, T for torpedo, &etc. 4 is a manufacturer-specific generation. Boeing's F4B followed their F2B and F3B. B identifies the manufacturer as Boeing. D for Douglas, F for Grumman, &etc. HTH -- dnl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Oh, that's a challenging project, but it will result in a very nice piece of nostalgia. The cockpit looks great so far. I did a similar exercise here with this kit re-released by Twin Wings. Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamevender Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 Got the fuselage of the F4 buttoned up and the elevators, landing gear and cabane struts on. The engine has shortened cylinders to fit in the ring molded into the cowl to hold the engine. It makes both the cowl and engine look odd, so I ground out the ring in the cowl and sanded the exterior to better look the part. In addition, it looked too short in cord, so I added a few millimeters to it. As to the cylinders, I added pieces of styrene tubing to their tops and sanded them until the engine just fit in the cowl. Then I added the exhaust stubs that protrude from the cowl, including one that gathers three cyliners on the port side for some reason. They look kind of rough in the photo, but the cowl hides all but the ends. I drilled out holes on the fuselage and wings to accept the rigging later on and some holes in the forward fuselage. Two of these have pipes (exhausts?) coming out of them and one is blanked off and I have no idea what its function is. Two photos show what the interior I added looks like with the fuselage closed up. I was pleasantly surprised as the fuselage joint took no putty at all except where I had to fill in the slot for the stand on the bottom. I included a photo of the elevator joints on the tail to show what a great fit it was. That joint took no putty and no sanding. I put the cabane struts on at this point to both make painting easier and to aid in aligning the top wing later on as it will have a firm base to hold it in the correct position. The landing gear part did not fit as well, however. It kind of sunk in about a millimeter or so too far, so I had to shim that up and then some putty was needed to fair it all in. Also, the V shaped shock absorbers in the middle were missing, so I added those. After a quick look-over to see if I missed anything, I'll apply a coat of primer to find all the mistakes I made so I can hopefully fix them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamevender Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 F4B-4 update. Got it all painted and pretty much ready for decals. Upper wing is not glued in place to make decaling easier. I can see several areas that need touch up, but all in all, it doesn't look too bad for a 50 year old kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamevender Posted June 27, 2021 Author Share Posted June 27, 2021 I got it gloss coated, decaled and dull coated. The top wing and engine are still not attached. Next up is to add what rigging I can before I put on that wing then glue on the wing and finish the rigging. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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