Hasegawa/Hales Grumman F9F-8 Cougar - with guest appearances of a Grumman F9F-2 Panther. ++FINISHED++

[nimrod54]

The Cougar is almost ready for paint. The forward section of the canopy has been masked up and glued in place but I want to try tacking the the rear canopy section in place with some PVA so that I can open it up later, I haven't done that before so we will see how that goes. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

The Panther is coming along too, I decided to pop a pilot in this one and close the canopy up, here he is painted up.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

And fixed in place.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

But as this build is about the Cougar, the F9F-2 may not put in another appearance until the end now.

 

Cheers.

John

 

 

[nimrod54]

Painting is now underway and I thought that I kick things off with some Orange, so after a coat of white primer on went a few thin coats of International Orange for the VT-26 option given in this boxing.

I have been unable to find images of this aircraft other than in a Dark Sea Blue Gloss finish, and those that I have come across for VT-26 have been of a two seater. My copy of Detail & Scale states that single seat F9F's were used as Advanced Trainers, so I guess that this was used by VT-26 at some point, anyway that's what I am going for. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I will mask up the orange areas tomorrow, then after another coat of primer to cover the overspray I can apply the white. _{Oh! and this is on the QT so don't let} @Hockeyboy76 _{know, I had to use some pink stuff on the Panther.}   

 

John

[nimrod54]

I masked off the orange this morning and then sprayed the remaining areas over with a light grey to act as primer coat. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Then, taking advantage of the dry weather it was off outside to airbrush on the white, here she is unmasked. The next job will be to mask up for the black wing walkways and anti-glare panel.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Cheers for now.

 

John

 

[nimrod54]

Just a brief update, the walkways and anti-glare panel have been masked and brush painted with Citadel Abaddon Black. Once that had dried the intakes were masked up and painted red and I have fixed the undercarriage in place - I know that's a bit of a risky move, hopefully it will survive.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

And a quick look at the Panther shows that it is almost finished.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Thanks for checking in.

John

[Hockeyboy76]

On 4/7/2023 at 8:19 PM, nimrod54 said:

Painting is now underway and I thought that I kick things off with some Orange, so after a coat of white primer on went a few thin coats of International Orange for the VT-26 option given in this boxing.

I have been unable to find images of this aircraft other than in a Dark Sea Blue Gloss finish, and those that I have come across for VT-26 have been of a two seater. My copy of Detail & Scale states that single seat F9F's were used as Advanced Trainers, so I guess that this was used by VT-26 at some point, anyway that's what I am going for. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I will mask up the orange areas tomorrow, then after another coat of primer to cover the overspray I can apply the white. _{Oh! and this is on the QT so don't let} @Hockeyboy76 _{know, I had to use some pink stuff on the Panther.}   

 

John

“Bout time you did a proper job lad” 

 

Pink is the word brother!

[nimrod54]

After a busy couple of days decalling, the Cougar is almost finished, underwing tanks, undercarriage doors, and airbrakes fix in place, then lights to paint will leave me with the missiles to sort. I am trying to determine the colour for those, the kit art seems to show them painted black but I don't think that would be correct. Here is the model in its present state.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

As for the Panther, it's all but done apart from the missing letter D on the upper surface of the starboard wing. This was down to me messing up during the application but having discovered a couple of sets of US 45^o letters (one set being white) that should have been an easy fix - well it would be if I could remember where I put them.  Anyway, here she is minus the D.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Back with a final update soon.

 

John

[modelling minion]

They're both looking great John, I particularly like the Cougar in it's attractive colour scheme.

 

🇺🇦

[nimrod54]

On 15/04/2023 at 21:09, modelling minion said:

They're both looking great John, I particularly like the Cougar in it's attractive colour scheme.

 

🇺🇦

 

Thanks very much Craig. I have really enjoyed putting these together and finished the Cougar off today.

[nimrod54]

As I said above I completed the Cougar today. I did some checking on AIM-9B colours and came across this site  Shelf Oddity who manufacture parts for models. On their site there was a brief colour history and it seems that in the late 50's early 60's the US Navy carried AIM-9B's with a black motor section and white seeker head or overall black version, most likely to indicate a training missile. So maybe the colour choice isn't that far off, in the end I have gone with all black. Here is the completed build.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

And a final shot of the Panther.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Thanks again to all those who dropped by throughout the course of work on this pair, I hope that you have had as much fun tagging along as I have whilst building this pair.

 

John

[JeroenS]

She's a beauty John, that's a great scheme. 

[modelling minion]

Really great result John, they look fantastic.

 

🇺🇦

[Hockeyboy76]

What a pair!!

Great work good buddy. 

[nimrod54]

On 17/04/2023 at 06:23, JeroenS said:

She's a beauty John, that's a great scheme. 

 

On 17/04/2023 at 09:06, modelling minion said:

Really great result John, they look fantastic.

 

🇺🇦

 

7 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

What a pair!!

Great work good buddy. 

 

Cheers guys, they didn't turn out too badly for a couple of 'old codgers'.  The original decals worked brilliantly.

[AdrianMF]

Nice work on the pair of them. The schemes make them look very different from each other.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[JOCKNEY]

Congratulations John, they both look amazing 

 

Cheers Pat