Sharpening an old Cutlass

[Ferrata]

Inspired by the build thread elsewhere on this forum by Corsaircorp I dug this old girl out of the loft and decided it was time to try and get it finished.

I think this one wins the prize for longest time on my shelf of doom! Bought and started circa 1999 the build stopped due to a combination of lack of skill and rubbish decals. Does anyone else have a SoD resident older than this?
Comments on the aforementioned thread lead me to do a search for new decals and success, with these in hand the build could start again and may even get finished!
 

Originally, I had gotten a fair distance with the build before stopping but there was still a lot of filling, sanding and rescribing  to be done.

I have to point out at this stage that anyone looking for a masterclass in turning this old turkey into an eagle with exacting accuracy may be disappointed. I will be aiming for something that looks like a Cutlass based on the information I can get and the skills at my disposal and, hopefully, learn something along the way. Anyway, on with the build. The main areas of difficulty on the airframe are the rear of the fuselage and the joints of both vertical stabilisers. These and a couple of other spots have had a couple of applications of filler and are coming along nicely. The air intakes are very poor fit so I may go aftermarket or see what I can do first.

The nose undercarriage is going to need some work too. The cockpit is in line with its age and not too bad . The seat however is very basic and nothing like the pictures I found online. I couldn’t find any aftermarket replacement for this so thought why not have a go and see if I can build my own? So I did. I used the seat from an Academy F86 as a basis and shortened the seat base before adding a new structure around it and a new headrest. I have some eduard seat belts to add after painting. The result I think looks passably like the Vought manufactured one on ejectionsite.com.

 

Next challenge is paint. The photo looks like a light colour? Possibly grey or green? Can anyone help? I’m assuming the cockpit should be black for this period (1956)?

I’ll end it there for tonight but if anyone can offer advice on colours or improvements feel free to shout out.

Thanks for looking and happy modelling.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Ferrata

[Graham Boak]

Lots before 1999 - I think 1969 id the oldest but I was working on it last year.  Airfix Skyraider to AEW, which was delayed by general unhappiness with two previous conversion setsmand has only been stepped up by the Aeroclub one - hmm, just when was that released!

[Tail-Dragon]

About 5 years ago I finally finished a Monogram 1/48 Phantom that I had started before my kids were born (they are now 33 and 34). The biggest hurdle was washing off the dust and cobwebs!

[Tailspin Turtle]

5 hours ago, Ferrata said:

The result I think looks passably like the Vought manufactured one on ejectionsite.com.

 

 

Next challenge is paint. The photo looks like a light colour? Possibly grey or green? Can anyone help? I’m assuming the cockpit should be black for this period (1956)?

I’ll end it there for tonight but if anyone can offer advice on colours or improvements feel free to shout out.

Thanks for looking and happy modelling.

That's an early version of the F7U-3 seat but it's in the ballpark. Cockpit color guidelines here: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/12/cockpit-confusion.html

[billn53]

Oh! That does look nice!

[Ferrata]

Thanks for the comments everyone, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one with kits on gathering dust for a long time! 
 

Thanks Tailspin Turtle, the link for cockpit colours is really useful.

[Ferrata]

Evening all,

Progress recently has been all on the filling and sanding side of things and not great for photos so I’ll post more on that when the scribing is done and I start on fitting the intakes. The fit of these is questionable and the shape is a bit different to the pictures I’ve seen so there will be a bit of fun there. A bottle of Vallejo fs34151 arrived in the post last week so I could make a start on painting the seat. This was applied over a coat of black primer to give a hint of depth. Once dry, details were picked out such as the headrest and launch rod at the back in their respective colours. 

Next I will add some chipping and dry brush some highlights before adding the seatbelts and a dark wash. 
Sorry it’s been a short update this time, I promise the next one will be longer as I’ve started looking at replacing the kit instrument panel to go with the new seat.

Thanks for looking and happy modelling.

[AdrianMF]

Nice seat!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Ferrata]

Made a good bit of progress since the last update despite the F86 I’m also working on taking up my attention, I usually work on two projects at one time to stop me getting builders block. The seat is now finished and I built a replacement instrument panel and revised joystick to complete the cockpit.

 

With the bulk of the filling and scribing done I could turn my attention to the air intakes. The fit of these was poor and a section of the internal trunking splitting it from the fuselage side was also missing. I made a template for this and added a small spacer to allow it to fit with the correct gap. 

With this done I could then fit the intake and reduce the size of the miss match with a sanding stick before applying filler. To add to the problems, the inner gun port on the port side was miss-moulded but I’ll drill that out later.

And that’s it so far, another sanding session awaits! To stop me getting bored I’m going to start putting the decals on this…

 

then look at doing something to improve the undercarriage on the Cutlass but that will be for the next update.  
thanks for looking and happy modelling.

 

[billn53]

Very nice work, I especially like what you’ve done with the bang seat. You’ve inspired me to pull out my 1/72 Tamiya kit and seriously look at starting a Cutlass of my own. Like yours, the kit seat is far from accurate and that will be my first challenge.

[Marklo]

On 4/3/2022 at 9:10 PM, Ferrata said:

Does anyone else have a SoD resident older than this?

 

Started around 1990, spent 30 years in various attics finished in 2020  

[John_W]

I have a Heller Golden Hind, started in 1989, packed in a box when I moved down to London, still waiting to be finished....

[AdrianMF]

A couple of figures, started 1976, still waiting for horse reins and a base.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Ferrata]

Looks like there are plenty of kits out there that have been gathering dust for a long time! Hopefully we may get to finish some of them 😆

[Ferrata]

Boy, it’s been a while since I last did an update on this! There has been some progress but I have to admit I have been focusing on finishing another project that was not a wip. 

Now that’s out of the way I can get back to this. 
The sanding and scribing is now done

so it’s time to look at some smaller items.

 

 

The main gear is pretty good, only needing some brake lines added I thought the nose gear looked a bit basic so I decided to add the hydraulic ram on the torque link that extends the nose gear for launch. I also added a few more details and corrected the mounting point for the ram that lowers the nose leg.

The nose wheel bay is a bit flat and basic so the next step will be to try to add some life to it. To be honest the main gear bays are just as bad but they are so narrow that with the doors in place you won’t see much anyway. The biggest problem and the one that has been bothering me for a while is the windscreen.

As you can see from the picture there is a sort of ramp where it meets the fuselage. This should be more of a straight line with the line of the windscreen blending more into the line of the radome. I honestly couldn’t think of a solution to this until eventually I found a vacform replacement from Falcon. 

This is much better and should sort this problem assuming I don’t wreck it cutting it out! Am I the only person that finds these vacform canopies stressful to cut out? I find the best way is to stuff it with bluetac then use a new scalpel blade and razor saw but I’m open to any other techniques.

I’ll also get the nav lights and slats sorted out.

That’s it for this time, I’m planning a visit to the East Neuk model show tomorrow so might not get much done but will pick up some inspiration. Happy modelling and thanks for looking.
 

 

 

[Tailspin Turtle]

There was in fact a small ramp at the bottom of the windscreen. The ram on the nose gear torque link was for nose gear steering; that small tube that goes down the exterior of the strut actually extends down between the wheels to provide the air to spin the nose wheels up to speed prior to landing. Also see https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/08/its-not-that-easy-to-get-it-right.html and

[Ferrata]

Hi Tailspin, good to hear from you again. You're right about the ramp at the bottom of the screen, the kit rendition looks to severe to me. The vacform replacement still has a ramp but it is less severe and looks more like the photos to my eye. I'll post a comparison of both once I cut it out. Thanks for the correction on the nose wheel ram, It's nice to know what some of these bits are actually for. The air tube to spin the wheels is quite an ingenious solution. 

Thanks for your input, it's good to have someone keep me right. 👍

[Ferrata]

Had a few spare minutes this morning so sanded and blended in the nav lights on the wing tips. Another job done. 😀

 

[Ferrata]

Morning All. I don’t think I ever posted the colour scheme I had decided on for this build. It’s this F7U-3 from CVA-31, Should be quite smart in the grey and white with the yellow fins.

Got a bit of detail added to the front gear well to add some interest and make it look a bit more 3 dimensional. Only loosely based on the real thing, if I was doing this kit again I think I would scratch build a new bay as the kit one is too shallow but since most of this was assembled years ago I will settle for this. 

While I was at it I also added a little detail behind the cockpit, this area will be visible with the canopy open.

One question, any one know what the part is that’s taped on at the wing/fuselage joint? The instructions are vague on this and I’ve not found a good picture to help. I think the kit part may be a bit heavily moulded and/or inaccurate in shape but I can’t tell for sure.

 

Thanks for looking and happy modelling.

[Tailspin Turtle]

2 hours ago, Ferrata said:

One question, any one know what the part is that’s taped on at the wing/fuselage joint? The instructions are vague on this and I’ve not found a good picture to help. I think the kit part may be a bit heavily moulded and/or inaccurate in shape but I can’t tell for sure.

 

Thanks for looking and happy modelling.

That's the fairing over the port for 20 mm shell case jettison. It's close in shape. Also see http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2022/06/f7u-3-cannon-link-and-casing-jettison.html

[Ferrata]

1 hour ago, Tailspin Turtle said:

That's the fairing over the port for 20 mm shell case jettison. It's close in shape. Also see http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2022/06/f7u-3-cannon-link-and-casing-jettison.html

That's brilliant, I really appreciate your help with this build. I'll need to add the catapult spool as well. 👍

[Ferrata]

Afternoon all,

The shell casing ejection fairing is now modified and in place along with the catapult spool. Had to blend it in with a little putty but it wasn’t too bad a fit.

Next job was the vac form replacement canopy. About 10 minutes of careful cutting had the two pieces cut out and ready for tidying up. I followed my usual technique for this. First I mark all the areas to be cut with a fine marker, and fill the canopy with bluetack to give some support, then I start carefully scoring all the edges with a new scalpel blade. I also use a trumpeter micro saw for some of the curved areas. The windscreen is a pretty reasonable fit,

and looks better than the kit version?

Other little jobs now done included adding some of the little lumps and bumps, attaching the main undercarriage and drilling the hole for the refuelling probe. I also started cleaning up the slats then in a test fit discovered that some of the mounting points are misaligned and one slat is too long. Lesson here - it pays to test fit! I’ve not taken any photos of these but I will do and will post later.

Not too many jobs left to do now, with any luck I will be able to get a coat of primer on by the end of the week and then start the painting proper.

 

Thanks for looking and happy modelling.

[Ferrata]

Been making a lot of progress with this lately but I forgot 

to take any pictures, doh😖, so you will just have to take my word for it. Jobs done include fitting the control surfaces, canopy, a number of little antenna and finishing off the undercarriage. The slats were also a poor fit so I had to spend a bit of time sorting them out as well. I then got a coat of black primer on and discovered a large (5mm dia) sink mark on the underside of one wing. Damn, don’t know how I missed that. Out with the filler and sanding sticks then more primer and this is what we have now.

I’m away on holiday for the next couple of weeks so plenty of time for the primer to cure and I will get started on the camo’ when I get back.

 Thanks for looking and happy modelling.

 

[Pete in Lincs]

To paraphrase the A teams Hannibal Smith, ' I love it when an old plane comes together'.

I always think that there's something more satisfying in beating something like this into shape, than a shake n bake kit.

It's looking good. Enjoy your holiday.

[Ferrata]

15 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

To paraphrase the A teams Hannibal Smith, ' I love it when an old plane comes together'.

I always think that there's something more satisfying in beating something like this into shape, than a shake n bake kit.

It's looking good. Enjoy your holiday.

Thanks for the holiday wishes. I definitely agree, there is a real satisfaction to putting together one of these older kits. You can learn an awful lot more from them. Besides, how else can you get 1/48 scale Cutlass?