Global Scale Modeller

Here is my entry for PTO. This plane was found to be too sluggish as the performance of the basic F4F-3 was already below that of the Zero, the F4F-3S was clearly of limited usefulness and as such only one was converted.The Americans wanted a counterpart for the A6M2-N Rufe so it could be used on the island hopping campaign in the pacific where landing strips were unavailable.

Weird one. Bit like that Devestator on floats. Somebody does a Spit on floats as well, might be Hobbyboss.

I think it is a 1/32 kit but by whom I do not know.

I could not wait to start this one, I did notice that the detail on the parts is a little soft and so is the plastic.
No colour call out for the engine and front part what ever that is called, so I painted the engine black and then dry brushed silver. The front part I painted Tamiya XF-64 Dark Sea Grey. The fit was not a very good fit, no solid locating pins/ lugs.


The interior was painted with Mr Hobby H 422 RLM82 Light Green.

I glued the two halves of the fuselage together and glued on the bottom fin(?) Then I glued on the tail fins, both needed a small amount of filler.



I will be going quiet for a while after this, as I am heading off on holiday to Thomas Hardy's Wessex.

I never knew this aircraft even existed, coming along well

Hi a odd one you have found there, nice start, Dave it's Hasegawa 1/32 and 1/24 Trumpeter that make a Spit on float's also 1/72 convention kik though you would like to known

A float one! Sweet!
Looking forward to this one!

OliveDrab wrote:I never knew this aircraft even existed, coming along well

Thank you for that, I do like a plane with floats.

privatepete wrote:Hi a odd one you have found there, nice start, Dave it's Hasegawa 1/32 and 1/24 Trumpeter that make a Spit on float's also 1/72 convention kik though you would like to known

Thank you,I do lie odd. I had a feeling that there was one out in kit land, thanks for putting it right.

fly1ngdutchm4n wrote:A float one! Sweet!
Looking forward to this one!

Yes it is small but well formed.

I'll just set down over here. Enjoy your trip, can't wait to see more on this.

Back from Hardy country and on with the build. Going out of order I glued the two halves of the wing together, just a little sanding to get a nice fit.

I then painted the oil cooler grills on the wings( sorry if that is not what they are ) and exhausts Citadel Leadbelcher.


I then assembled the cockpit tub. It went together very well with no problems.




I glued in the cockpit and closed the two halves of the fuselage together. It left a large step to sand down and smooth.

My word I am enjoying this build, so my next move was to remove the steps in the fuselage. This done I the set about joining the wings and the fit was very good with only a small amount of filler used on the wing root.



All good so far.


The engine was glued in place, only a small sanding job for a good fit.

This picture is out of step with the others as this shows the wing root filler. A tiny amount pushed in with a cocktail stick and the excess was removed with a damp cotton bud.

On with the build, I chose to start the floats next. The fit was okay but I had to sand down the top of the floats for a good fit once joined.

The float struts have been lightly glued in position as where they join the fuselage, no locating pins or holes are provided, so a little bit of manoeuvring will be required.

On to the trestle wheels, I have only done two here dumb model builder syndrome here me thinks, I have two more to do.


Next I gave the model a coat of matte black paint.( Halfords car paint, spray can)




Next move is to paint the floats and underside of the aircraft, but that will be another day.

Coming together really nicely mate. Going to look cool on floats.

Thank you, I do hope so.

After watching a YouTube video on paint effects I thought that I would try a "marble paint job" on my catfish. Basically you spray the model black and then do a random marble pattern on the kit.

I chose Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey.

I then lightened the original colour with Tamiya flat white, then blended the colours into one.
I do not think it worked for me this time.



When dry I gave the model a coat of flat clear. Once this had dried I started to spray the top coat of paint. Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue to the inside of the panels.



When dry I then mixed XF-18 with XF-2 Flat White at approximately 75%-25% and picked out the centre of the aircraft panels.

Please note my new cake decorating turntable from Wilko, under £10.


Once dry I then gave the model a coat of matte clear and added the floats.

When mixing colours always keep the rest of the mix for touch ups.

surper work! that Catfish looks the Biz. the paint job has come out a absolute treat!

Great skills displayed, your pre shading is superb.

Coming together nicely

Always48 wrote:surper work! that Catfish looks the Biz. the paint job has come out a absolute treat!

Thank you sir for your kind comments.

DC87 wrote:Great skills displayed, your pre shading is superb.

Thank you, I was trying out something new on this one.

privatepete wrote:Coming together nicely

So far so good,a wash next and then decals. Thank you for your comments.

Where to go from here? Time to build the two wheels that I missed out in an earlier post and paint all the wheels.


I then gave the model a coat of Tamiya clear and Flory wash.

Flory wash(Black)


Wait until dry and remove excess.

Decal time, and they went on with no bother at all. With a splash of Micro Sol, nice results, well, good enough for me.




Over the top of the decals went a light brushing of Johnsons Klear. Once dry a wash of black(The F word)was brushed on and wiped off when dry.
Sorry for poor picture, my eyes are old and my bladder is weak.






Canopy masked and sprayed.

I can see the end in sight, and the opening of a new box of plastic.

Okay, so on to the end of this build. Canopy masks removed I wanted to do a bit of exhaust staining as the aircraft is well weathered, it naturally goes it should have exhaust staining as well.


For the staining I mixed Tamiya Flat Black XF-1, Nato Brown XF-68 and a wee bit of Smoke X-19 @ 45% 45% 10%.



The last few bits and bobs needed to be added along with a final coat of matte clear and then it's done.

That is looking absolutely awesome.

Always48 wrote:That is looking absolutely awesome.

Thank you so much.