Trumpeter F4F-3 Early 1/32...Final Reveal

[fightnjoe]

Biting off more than I can chew part 1.

This will be one of two upcoming projects. This will be my 2016 Pearl Harbor Tribute build.



Stay tuned folks. This could get interesting.



Joe

[shortCummins]

love yellow wings

[fightnjoe]

This will end up as the Blue/Grey over Grey of the early war Navy birds.



Joe

[fightnjoe]

Well here I am.

Here we go.

First step is .................well..................some destruction.

First up was to mock up the mount for the landing gear/engine. From what I remember this is one of the problem areas. I added a bit of styrene to get it to sit level and then centered. I then mocked up the pit floor to make sure where the cuts would end up. Out came the dremmel and after about a half hour.......



Not much to it. I cut out bits of the upper wing as well. Going to do that a bit different than the previous ones.

Next is clean up and then I can begin to work on the details.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

[fightnjoe]

A quickie update to show what little work I have done.

Work was isolated to fabrication of the radio equipment for this aircraft. The SCR-274 N. Composed of several components here is the still very rough initial look.





Should be pretty cool when done. Debating on whether to paint it now or wait as I did with the P-40B equipment.

Next will be to continue fabrication of the parts aft the cockpit.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

[fightnjoe]

More done on the SCR 274 and a bit to the plumbing on the interior of the fuselage.

Some paint is a good thing right? Going blind with the white work. Using the Testor small bottles I got some color on the different receiver and transmitter equipment.



The work on the interior of the fuselage begins with the different boxes and fittings for the starboard side.



The interior is coming right along with much more to do. The wiring and fittings for the radio and then the different boxes and fittings for the port side of the fuselage are next up.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

[Twokidsnosleep]

Very interesting
Good to see someone making some 'guts' with scratch work, looking forward to where you are going with this

[fightnjoe]

Scott many thanks.



Joe

[fightnjoe]

Work continues. Two updates in three days, wow.

Watching YouTube was good for me and I was able to make some decent progress.

The radio is 99% finished.




All that is left is the wiring after it is installed into the fuselage.

I was able to work a bit on the port side with the fabrication and addition of boxes and fittings.



I worked a bit on the rear of the cockpit bulkhead.



I then threw some paint. On the interior of the fuselage I sprayed Gloss Gray and then Alclad Chrome.



And then with the rear of the cockpit I sprayed Gloss Black and Alclad Chrome. To show the comparison.



There we go. i am thinking I can now move onto the cockpit.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

[Twokidsnosleep]

Your Alclad work is spot on....that ain't easy stuff to deal with, so we'll done
The radio and other details are awesome
Really liking this

[shortCummins]

another excellent build Joe

[fightnjoe]

Many thanks for looking in. Greatly appreciated.



Joe

[fightnjoe]

Well folks here I am again and after a couple of days of fighting with Photobucket I can post an update.

First up I began working on the cockpit. Here is the bare bones and the kit pieces in place.





Using these photos out of Squadron Signal Walk Around for the Wildcat I began to fabricate the sides. This is for discussion only.



I went off of them and this is what I ended up with.




I was pleased. Then I turned the page and found these. Again for discussion only.




At that point I noticed several big issues that I just could not live with. I scraped some of the detail off and redid it. Here is the result.




And the cockpit floor.



And there you have it.

I like it.

Next up is color for the pit.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

[fightnjoe]

Just a brief update.

Attention is now turned to the cockpit fully.  With most of the parts fabricated I can throw a bit of paint on and then some detail painting.



Actually pretty happy with this but I do see some areas that will need a touch up.

I could not help myself and I jumped ahead a little and started working on the firewall as well.



Still a long way to go before I can turn my full attention to that.  Next up is to add some of the detail that I have not fabricated yet as well as working on the instrument panel.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

[fightnjoe]

Another really quick update.

The cockpit comes closer to being finished.

Some detail painting as well as a pretty heavy handed wash with Acrylics.





Other than the seat and headrest it is done. I am a bit put off by the seat though and will be searching for a replacement. Next up will be to finish it off and then set it aside.

I also did a bit more on the firewall and gave it color and an over all wash.



The color is Alclad Chrome over Testors Gloss Gray. I still have to pick out some of the details. And I will say this now. The chain gear are going to stay. I had zero luck trying to get my hands on replacements. I know they are out there but I had no luck finding chain that looked anywhere near what the real chain looked like.

Time to put color on the engine/landing gear mount and get it detailed.



All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

[Twokidsnosleep]

Your cockpit green is fantastic, best I have seen. What paint are you using???

[Icemannique]

Looking very good so far. Nice detailing !

[Madmattmodels89]

Talk about fine details! I love it! Great source of inspiration! I'm about to receive a 1/32 plane also and your tread just amazes me!

[fightnjoe]

Many many thanks all.

Scott it is Model Master Acryl Zinc Chromate with a wash of craft paint Black.



Joe

[fightnjoe]

An update.

The cockpit is finished off. From the kit we have the floor, rear bulkhead, inner frame (where the seat rests), the control stick, and the instrument panel and frame. The seat is a resin cast of the seat out of the Hasegawa P-40E. All the detail work is scratchbuilt.




The firewall is almost complete. I went with the molded in chains for the gear as I could not get my hands on decent replacements. I also added a number of things that I had seen in pictures but were not represented in the kit.



Now next, logically, should be the engine. I am going to detour just a bit and work on the landing gear as there are some hoses and fittings that will need to be constructed and they fit into the firewall.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

[fightnjoe]

Back again and the interior is getting close.

With a bit of fixing on the cockpit I was able to move on to working on the engine. Once the parts were cleaned up a bit I used Alclad Polished Aluminium, Gloss Grey, Gloss Black, and a wash of Acrylic Black.





To this point other than a bit of wiring the forward sections are now done.




There are just a couple of items left and then I can hook it all up and close her up.



Oh so very very close.


Next will be finishing up the little stuff and then installing into the fuselage and closing it up.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

[Twokidsnosleep]

Wow, you do some great work
Could display just as is so could see all the gorgeous engine and cockpit details
Wow again

[fightnjoe]

Many many thanks Scott. Some of the engine work will be seen for sure.




Joe

[fightnjoe]

Just a quick update.

All the components have been installed into the fuselage.



And the fuselage has now been closed up.



There were some issues with the fuselage seam. It was of my own making. There is just a few small items to finish off for clean up but it looks pretty good to me.


Next up will be beginning on the wings.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

[fightnjoe]

Ok, a redo of sorts.

I was not happy at all with the previous pictures. Part of this is I am working on my picture taking and trying to get good print level pictures.

To that end here are a couple of others. These are marginally better.




I have started the seam work and will continue with that as well as working on the wings.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

[fightnjoe]

Here we are. 2017. A new year with new hopes and dreams.

It is time however to finish something off.

In July I began my annual tribute to those who died and to those who survived the attack on Hawaii, December 7, 1941. Although it began much like the previous issues it ended a bit different. In September I made contact with the editor of Military Modelling. He was introduced to me by a mutual friend and was interested in my work. I showed him my progress on the Wildcat and he asked me to go dark so that it could be published in the magazine. I agreed.

The issue was published and went public in early December. I waited til now to post anything public as I wanted to respect the wishes of the magazine. Now with the newest edition of the magazine making its public debut very soon it is time.

A Marine Wildcat from Ewa. The markings are from several sets and portray MAG-21 as they appear December 1941. The specific aircraft however is very fictional, at least I am unable to verify the aircraft number existed.





And the glamour shots.





Thanks to all who followed this build. This particular build is very important to me each year and the fact it made publication as part of a tribute edition made it so much more special.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

[PrivatePublic]

That's amazing. Awesome job, and grats on getting it published!

[fightnjoe]

Many many thanks.



Joe

[Kevthemodeller]

Wow amazing

[Timplastic]

WOW dude that is proper good looking
The extra time spent on the cockpit controls was well worth the effort
Even better you got it in a mag feature !

[fightnjoe]

Many many thanks.



Joe

[Avgas]

Awesome work. Some of the builders on this site are top notch. Congrats on getting published, quite rightly as well.

[sheppsea]

Really interesting build, and congratulations on getting featured in the magazine

[Timmie]

Amazing job you did there.
It's like candy for my eyes

Grtz Arjan

[fightnjoe]

Many many thanks.



Joe

[Twokidsnosleep]

Wow Joe
You finished it off really well, superb in fact
So good on so many levels

[fightnjoe]

Scott you are very kind. Thank you.



Joe