opus999 Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 (edited) F8F-1 Bearcat | Hobby Boss | 1/72 US Navy VF-3, Lt. A.M. "Mike" Granat, 1946 Finished this on 11/22/2021. I originally intended to use the decals for Lt. Cmdr. D.C. "Whiff" Caldwell, which came with the Monogram kit I had. It was the only scheme out there for years and was done many times, but I still like it. My reference book had a picture of Caldwell's Bearcat, which was a F8F-1, not an F8F-1b (which is what the Monogram kit is more like). However, the Monogram decals turned out to be unusable and so I ended up using the Hobby Boss kit decals, which I rather liked. This is probably the best Hobbyboss easy assembly kit I've ever built, everything went together well, and the one seam that needed fixing really didn't take that long. I did improve the landing gear bays and added my own scratch cockpit. Since I wanted it to be a dogfighter, I left the ordnance off. This meant I had to cut the bomb off the pylon they provided as one piece, and I had to make new rocket pylons. I built this concurrently with my Monogram F8F Bearcat, which I converted to an F8F-1b and which can be found here. WIP is here. Finishing: Gaps filled with Testors putty and CA, scratch built cockpit, scratch built engine access bay and ducting in the wheel wells. Paint: Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer / Marbled with Mr. Color Dark Ocean Gray and Mr. Color Dark Earth / Mr. Color Midnight Blue main coat / top coat of hand-brush applied Alclad Aqua Gloss The cockpit was just a tub, but I liked the seat. I found a way to use my Dremel tool to cut the cockpit away leaving just the seat: I scratch built a cockpit and inserted it. It's hard to see from the outside, so it may have been a wasted effort... Thanks for looking, I hope you like it. Comments, questions and constructive criticism always welcomed! Edited December 27, 2021 by opus999 32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Duvalier Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 Lovely little model, Opus. When it comes time for me to do a Bearcat, I think you've convinced me to start with the Hobby Boss kit rather than the Monogram F8F I already have or hunting down an Art Model or Sword kit. The cockpit removal was tricksy indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 That is a wee beaut. Definitely one I'm after now I've seen this. 👍 Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedingBlue Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 Nice job on the cockpit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 27, 2021 Author Share Posted December 27, 2021 11 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said: Lovely little model, Opus. When it comes time for me to do a Bearcat, I think you've convinced me to start with the Hobby Boss kit rather than the Monogram F8F I already have or hunting down an Art Model or Sword kit. The cockpit removal was tricksy indeed. I don't remember if I described it well or not in the WIP, but the seam on the left side was really the only one that needed fixing and about 5 minutes with a file and some micromesh made it look like it was never there! Definitely one of the most painless assemblies I've had in a while. I am a bit proud of carving out the cockpit -- I wasn't really sure if I'd get away with or not! I had a backup plan though... 9 hours ago, stevehnz said: That is a wee beaut. Definitely one I'm after now I've seen this. 👍 Steve. It was a fun build -- I would recommend it. 2 hours ago, BleedingBlue said: Nice job on the cockpit. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 Great result - well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted December 27, 2021 Share Posted December 27, 2021 Wow! This one is near and dear to my heart, as I converted the Monogram kit back to a stock F8F-1, yellow I-40, BuNo 95443, which was used for operational training. A couple of years ago, it got knocked off of the shelf and the engine/prop broke loose from their mounting pegs; you are no doubt familiar with the kit, so will know there is no way to fix that without cutting the entire cowling off of the model, as the cowling was molded with each fuselage half! Was not aware of how good the Hobbyboss kit was, or that it was a genuine -1, so wouldn't need all the corrections that were required on the Monogram kit! Guess I need to score one of them and replicate my dear old I-40, which was my very first conversion and built over a week end! Thanks for sharing your build and WIP- I will definitely save it as a modeling reference! Mike https://www.biblio.com/book/f8f-1-i-40-us-navy/d/316371462 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 2 hours ago, 72modeler said: you are no doubt familiar with the kit, so will know there is no way to fix that without cutting the entire cowling off of the model, as the cowling was molded with each fuselage half! Yeah.... ouch! I can see how that would be a near-impossible fix. 2 hours ago, 72modeler said: Was not aware of how good the Hobbyboss kit was, or that it was a genuine -1, so wouldn't need all the corrections that were required on the Monogram kit! I'm not a rivet counter, but as near as I can tell the shape and the panel lines are right. HB is supposed to have a F8F-1b out in early 2022, and a F8F-2 out after that, but I don't know when. I'm keen to get a hold of the -2! 2 hours ago, 72modeler said: Thanks for sharing your build and WIP- I will definitely save it as a modeling reference! You're welcome -- I hope something in the WIP is helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Fantastic job! In line with what was said earlier, I too wondered about the way Hobby Boss did the cockpits, but you’ve proved there’s nothing to fret about. Now where’s that F-86 listing? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Dyck Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Wonder- and powerful replica of this nice plane! Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
112 Squadron Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 (edited) A superb little Bearcat. You did an outstanding job. 👍 The new F8Fs from Hobby Boss are really nice. It is too bad that there are currently no after market decal sheets available with Post War USN Reserve markings for them. Starfighter Decals did two sheets in 1/72 with some nice options but both were long sold out before the release of the Hobby Boss kit and have not been reprinted yet. Edited December 28, 2021 by 112 Squadron 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 29, 2021 Author Share Posted December 29, 2021 18 hours ago, Brigbeale said: Fantastic job! In line with what was said earlier, I too wondered about the way Hobby Boss did the cockpits, but you’ve proved there’s nothing to fret about. Thanks! It wasn't much more effort to fix up the cockpit and I'm glad I did. 18 hours ago, Brigbeale said: Now where’s that F-86 listing? it just shipped today... so it won't be long now! 14 hours ago, Andy Dyck said: Wonder- and powerful replica of this nice plane! Andy Thank you Andy! 12 hours ago, 112 Squadron said: A superb little Bearcat. You did an outstanding job. 👍 The new F8Fs from Hobby Boss are really nice. It is too bad that there are currently no after market decal sheets available with Post War USN Reserve markings for them. Starfighter Decals did two sheets in 1/72 with some nice options but both were long sold out before the release of the Hobby Boss kit and have not been reprinted yet. Thanks! I agree... I'd like to see some more post war markings available. Maybe now that HB is planning the release of a F8F-1b and F8F-2 in the next couple of years, we'll see some more decals released? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
112 Squadron Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 (edited) On 29/12/2021 at 04:04, opus999 said: Maybe now that HB is planning the release of a F8F-1b and F8F-2 in the next couple of years, we'll see some more decals released? The F8F-1B was released recently by Hobby Boss but there was no USN option included. Only Thai and French decals can be found in the box: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=product&a=show&id=1635&l=en So I really hope for nice decal sheet from Xtradecal or another manufacturer with plenty of options for all variants of the Bearcat. Edited December 30, 2021 by 112 Squadron 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 Beautiful Bearcat, great work ! Wulfman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 31, 2021 Author Share Posted December 31, 2021 On 12/28/2021 at 10:53 PM, 112 Squadron said: The F8F-1B was released recently by Hobby Boss but there was no USN option included. Only Thai and French decals can be found in the box: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=product&a=show&id=1635&l=en So I really hope for nice decal sheet from Xtradecal or another manufacturer with plenty of options for all variants of the Bearcat. I didn't see it was out yet until you pointed this out. Too bad there's no US Navy decals in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 29, 2022 Author Share Posted January 29, 2022 I need to mention that the canopy on this kit doesn't stick up as high as it should. I know that Squadron makes (made?) vacuform canopies for the Monogram kit. I don't know if they will fit, but I plan to find out when the HB F8F-1B. I have these pictures as a slide show on my computer desktop at work and when I saw this after the same side view of the Monogram kit, it was obvious that the canopy is too "flat". Looking up side views of real F8F-1s, it looks like Monogram got it right. Typical that HobbyBoss goofs up the canopy. That seems to be their standard operating procedure. I'm no expert but I don't really see any other major errors, although I did notice the shape of the fuselage behind the canopy between the monogram and HB is slightly different -- I'm not sure which is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Love it! I've never built a model of one but I always admired the sleek-&-brutish lines (if that's not an oxymoron) of the Bearcat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 That’s a lovely clean and neat result from a somewhat limited kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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