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1/72 F6F-5 Drone


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Very small update on the wing situation. Foolishly, I didn’t take a before photo. However, I’d previously managed to glue the halves of both wings together with the exception of the tips as I didn’t have a suitable clamping method to close the gaps. This left me with a gap that got wider as it moved back, meaning the trailing edges of the tips had some pretty sizable gaps. Locking tweezers were purchased and locked onto the offending tips. Some tape secured them as even the slightest knock would ping them off the wing:

 

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Checking this morning and the tips have closed up. The leading and trailing edges meet, leaving just a small gap in the middle of the tip to fill. Far better than having to fill the trailing edge!

 

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Until next time

 

James

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  • 1 month later...

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Life’s conspired to eat up all my time the last few weeks, but I have been doing the odd bit here and there. Mostly filling & sanding the cowl and drop tank, followed by more filling and sanding. Then a bit more besides. Hopefully I can get them presentable soon!

 

What I have managed to do is make progress on the cockpit. I got myself into a bit of a mess with the side panels, particularly detail painting. I got myself into a descending cycle of trying to get the details painted neatly, followed by touching up the interior green where I’d made a hash of the detail painting, which then meant I had to touch up the details as I’d overpainted some with the green… :doh:

 

I could see I was only succeeding in making it worse for myself, so tried to use the kit decals for the tops. The one for the righthand (from the pilot’s perspective) went on really nicely. My first time using decal solutions (Microsol & Microset) and I’m definitely a convert. Freshly buoyed with my success, I promptly wrapped the left-hand decal into an irretrievable mess. :doh: In the end I just hit the details on that one with an ultra-fine Sharpie and left it at that. I did stick the PE throttle quadrant on, but I couldn’t get the other control pieces to stick at all. I think the interior green I’ve used is too gloss for them as they just slide off with the slightest touch.

 

I had similar issues with the PE belts and resorted to the kit decals. I think they’ve gone on ok, not amazing, but passable. At this point I decided to glue the cockpit components together and just run with it. Given my success with it on the other assemblies, I chose to not attempt to fit the PE levers to the IP as I suspected I’d do more harm than good. As it was, I lost the bezel from the compass and nothing I did could convince it to stick back on again. However, the end result was decent enough. Not as detailed as some of the ones I’ve seen in this group build, but passable once in place:

 

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Control stick was painted interior green while on the sprue, with the Sharpie coming to the rescue for the black on the handle.

 

After that, I took a brave pill and glued the fuselage together. Noting other’s comments on the lack of location fixings I started at the front and lined up a section at a time, taped it together and then ran the TET over it. I got up to the front of the cockpit before I realised I’d forgotten to put the tailwheel in. Thankfully I managed to gently prise the rear halves apart slightly and wedge the end of a cocktail stick in to keep them apart enough to guide it in. Even better, the glue/tape at the front held! All in all, it’s not looking too bad now. Some sprue goo will be required on the seams, but it could have been worse:

 

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Cockpit still visible so far:

 

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Lastly, a couple more shots of the ‘pit with a bit more light on it:

 

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Until next time

 

James

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I think it’s time to admit I won’t be making the deadline. Between work, the house, and some rather messy family stuff I just haven’t been getting enough time to work on it. There has been progress sporadically, but I’ve also been rushing and that’s caused some silly mistakes that are going to take some sorting out. The biggest issue being the tail. I installed the horizontal stabilisers, but that cracked the seam up the front the vertical stabiliser in the process. The joint wouldn’t close back up without clamping force and I couldn’t get any of my clamps to stay on the joint. I thought I could hold the joint together and very carefully wick in some thin superglue. I think you can work out where this is going. I now have just as big a gap as I had before, but I also now have some superglue residue on the left stabiliser and a wonderful glue/skin splodge on the right of the fin:

 

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The only saving grace is that thanks to all the sanitiser I’m using on my hands thanks to Covid, my fingertips are constantly dry and cracked. That meant I could gently prize my finger off the plane without any pain. My plan now is to cogitate on how best to remove the superglue mess (suggestions gratefully received), then take a bit more time to get this finished properly rather than make a hash of it just to get something done by the deadline.

 

Progress that I haven’t taken photos of yet is that the engine cylinders have all had a base coat of aluminium and are now awaiting the pushrods to be picked out in black and a wash over the cylinders to highlight the detail. After that they can be joined to the gearbox which is already painted grey and assembled. I’ve also applied all of the canopy masks. Test fitting them indicates a small amount of filing will be required around the edges. The wings are nearly there. I’ve filled the mounting holes for the rocket pylons and just need to do the last bit of sanding to make them smooth, probably followed by some rescribing.

 

Until next time

 

James

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Sorry to see you've been been suffering a few issues with this one James. Best of good luck with getting the glue cleaned off (perhaps superglue remover?) and please keep us updated with your progress.

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that's a shame Jamie

 

I agree with Col, superglue remover/de-bonder applied with a Q-tip could help remove most of the excess...

 

this is available from Amazon for  £2

 

71exhDeNalS._SL1500_.jpg

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stick2-Superglue-Bonder-bonding-cyanoacrylate/dp/B0012RGLBM/ref=asc_df_B0012RGLBM/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=223170773229&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11517088903146413766&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046398&hvtargid=pla-420890085499&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

 

keep on with the build when you get a chance, I really want to see a drone version

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Thanks gents, I'll keep you updated when things progress. It's on hold until after the 10th so I can concentrate on getting as much of the Shelby completed for the Mustang GB.

 

Thanks for the recommendation John, I've ordered a bottle.

 

James

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  • 2 months later...

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? But this isn’t abandoned! Far from it, work has been recommenced with a view to getting this one (and maybe even the Mustang) finished off by the end of the year.

 

Picking this back up, the horrible remains of my botched attempt to fix the vertical stabiliser back together were plain to see, with a nasty CA fingerprint (and possibly some skin) on the starboard side, with some glue runs on the portside:

 

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The lower fuselage also has some rough spots that will be getting attention:

 

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As a first task, I set about removing the remains of the CA with a debonder which (as I’m sure many of you will now work out) also debonded the seam. Again. Now, wise to the risks of CA, I thought I’d try fixing it with Tamiya Extra Thin instead, keeping my fingers well clear this time. At least, that’s what I thought right up until I tried to remove them, when I realised I had stuck myself to the model yet again! After removing the bond between myself and the plastic, I commenced round cleaning off the residue of this attempt, managing to not debond the seam thankfully. A splash of filler and it’s ok now. Not perfect, but I figure that by the time an aircraft is turned into a target drone it’s got to have had a pretty hard life and be somewhat beaten up, right? At least that’s my excuse for it maybe not being 100% perfect. I’ll review if I want to do any more correction after it’s had some primer:

 

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I’m planning on hitting the fuselage seams with some sprue goo, I’m just having some issues with finding a container that doesn’t let all the solvent evaporate. I’ve decided to sacrifice my current bottle of TET and duly ordered another, along with a scriber and some weathering powders. Once that lot arrives, I’ll start sticking offcuts of sprue in the old bottle. The scriber will help bring back the panel lines after that.

 

I did get slightly rash and decided to fit the wings. I may regret that later when I’m trying to deal with the fuselage seems, but for now it made me feel like I was actually making progress. Surprisingly, I found both were larger than the apertures Eduard have allowed for them in the fuselage, so both had a bit of careful sanding to reduce the root over the section that inserts into the fuselage whilst trying not to remove any detail. Current state of the main airframe:

 

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I did some detail painting of the pushrods on the engine, gave all the sub-assemblies a bit of Flory Dark Dirt, then put it all together. Not the best photo, but it looks suitably dirty for an engine about to make it’s final flight:

 

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That’s where things are for now. I’m going to be working on some of the smaller parts until the postie turns up with my new supplies. I did however strike lucky and bag myself an airbrush for almost nothing on a certain well-known auction site. If I’m really lucky then Santa will bring me a compressor to use it with:

 

CSCsJDr.jpg

 

Until next time

 

James

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  • 2 weeks later...

Much has been happening since I last checked in. To start with, my delivery of goodies arrived and I’ve been putting them to good use. Current progress can be seen in these two photos:

 

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As you can quite obviously see, I’ve stuck the front and rear of the canopy on and (very roughly) painted the grey framing on the rear section. That still needs a little bit of filler to help blend it in and a bit of attention to the hand painted finish. The front glazing needs a bit more filler and the framing painting. I’m still trying to master the art of cleaning up excess filler with a damp cotton bud, no mater how carefully I try I always seem to remove 90% of the filler from the joint as well as the excess I was trying to remove.

 

This nose shot shows the remaining gap a bit more clearly, as well as the results of some of my first attempts at re-scribing to the panel outlines just after where the cowl will attach:

 

fSlL2Rg.jpg

 

You’ll probably notice a lot of sanding marks in the various photos. I’ve treated myself to one of the boxes of Meng foam-backed sandpaper, which is very nice, but I’ve found that the finest (800 grit in this box) seems to be courser than my 400 grit skinny sanders from Albion Alloys. I’ll use some of my finer sandpaper to take the worst of the marks out before paint.

 

As the underside shot shows, the bottom of the aircraft is coming along nicely. I’ve dealt with the seems using a combination of Games Workshop Liquid Green Stuff (as recommended by a friend, and really only used here to try it out) and sprue goo. I’ve got some re-scribing to do, but otherwise I think it’s pretty close to needing paint now:

 

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Finally, here’s a shot with the cowling in place. That was the guinea pig for my first attempts at re-scribing. Not perfect, but not bad for a first go. And definitely better than it was before I tried. Ignore the reflection in the photo, the seem line down the middle does line up with the one on the main airframe. The reflection is yet more glue, as it seems every time I work on it the seem splits. This latest one was even more annoying as it happened while trying to mask & mount it for primer! A couple of flicks with a sander should take the excess off, then I’ll try and get it ready for paint without breaking it again:

 

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I’ve used up the last of my holiday for this year and booked the majority of next week off, meaning I’ll finish work at lunchtime on Monday, then not have to work again until the new year. I’m hoping I can get enough modelling time in to at least get this painted, even better if I can get decals and weathering done.

 

Until next time

 

James

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Col, I have indeed, I've just not posted an update. Life and the weather meant I didn't make the end of the year deadline I was hoping for, but it's currently all in white primer. With any luck I might be able to start getting some colour on it tonight. Lack of opportunity to paint this has meant that the Fw-190 on floats has seen a lot of attention, so that one's due an update as well.

 

James

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As alluded to in my last post, progress has been slower than I hoped, mainly down to limited painting opportunities. However, between Xmas and new year I did manage to get the primer on:

 

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When I started this project, I had no airbrush, and the plan was to use Tamiya rattle cans to tackle the paintwork. A couple of posts back you’ll see I struck lucky and bagged one for a bargain price. Santa very kindly brought me a compressor to go with it, so last night was my first time to give it all a try. While I had one of those Humbrol mini spray guns as a teenager, it’s got to be over 20 years since I last sprayed a model with anything other than a can and I’ve never used a double action one before. And this is primarily red all over. Nothing could possibly go wrong here…

 

As ominous as that last part sounds, the reality wasn’t that bad. Not perfect, but I’d say a pretty respectable result:

 

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Photographing under artificial light really hosed the red balance, so here’s a daylight picture on the window cill for a better representation of the colour:

 

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I’ve used Tamiya XF-7 red for this even though the actual plane was finished in gloss from the photos I’ve been able to find, easily fixed with a gloss coat before the decals. Plus I don’t have any gloss red in stock (yet). A few more pictures to show the overall coverage, which so far is the underside and as much of the flanks as I could sensibly cover with the airframe upside down. There’s some nasty bits on the starboard side, but I’ll fixe those before I paint the top surface:

 

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Some more shots of the smaller bits & bobs. I’ve painted two canopies as I struggled to get the “closed” canopy on prior to priming, so I’ve done both and will make a call on open or closed at final assembly:

 

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There’s some paint runs on the cowl that I need to sort:

 

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Finally, a close up of the smaller gear doors, pitot, radio mast, and finally the wheels (which got a coat of Tamiya XF-85 rubber black):

 

qgDTSsd.jpg

 

I think I’m most happy with the wheels of all of this, probably because black is much easier to work with than red!

 

Until next time

 

James

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Thanks Col. I'm hoping to find the time to deal with the paint runs and get the topside sprayed this week, but for a first bash with a double action airbrush I'm extremely happy.

 

James

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A chance to do some more airbrushing last night, she’s now red all over:

 

CzR6K6B.jpg

 

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There’s a couple of more intense patches on the starboard wing, but otherwise I’m pretty happy. I’ll give it a coat of gloss red when I next have a chance, then mask up for the grey tail. The idea with the gloss coat is partially to even off the finish (I hope!) and partially that the drones were painted in gloss red.

 

The eagled-eyed may have spotted an upgrade to the photos. My parents are prepping to downsize and the last time I was over there my dad said he’d got a portable photo booth he’s never really used, and would I like it? I didn’t need to think twice about that.

 

Coming back to the painting results, the prop now has its first coats of black on the blades. I think I thinned the paint to much for this, you can still see the excess yellow from the tips in places and there’s a couple of spatters. I’ll give it a light sand and another coat of black later:

 

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They look a bit washed out here, but the wheels have come up nicely:

 

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The cowl is proving to be my nemesis on this build. After sorting the run from the last session I’ve ended up with a massive run on the underside due to me being overzealous with getting paint into the vents that make up the “smile”. At least it gives me a chance to deal with that less prominent panel line:

 

vNEY8uV.jpg

 

Until next time

 

James

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Thanks John, it feels pretty good getting it progressing again. With any luck this one might not be far off of getting finished

 

James

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  • 1 month later...

DIY is rather hampering my painting efforts (both in terms of time and the dust that's being thrown up by it). Hoeever, I have managed to get the gloss red on now (didn't seem much point in taking a photo as it looks pretty much the same, just gloss) and I'm hoping I might find the chance to get the grey on the tail in the next week. My nemesis of the cowling is still fighting me though; I sanded back the runs and gave it a coat of gloss, but it didn't set properly and stayed sticky. It's currently having a nice Dettol bath to take it back to bare plastic and try again.

 

James

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