F7F-3N

[thug626]

Good evening DickyF,
Thank you for the compliment. Yeah, I had a pang of not wanting to paint it, for all of the prep that went into the base coat. Then I thought of the dark blue and white markings and, I was over it.

Good evening Bill,
Thank you as always. The aerial must have been hanging on by a couple of molecules of paint. As there was a 1-2 second delay after inverting the 'Cat in the cradle. I found the aerial but since it was soldered and the post for it was still in the bird, it was all rather moot. Well, at least with the aerial v2.0, if it gets pranged, all it will do is bend. That's the theory at least.

Going to head out to the bench. Dang head cold is keeping me out of work. Nothing fancy, just going to putter about.

Dave

[bbd468]

Very nice chipping Dave, thats something that scares me....chipping on a wingy! Easy to do on a tank, but seems its hard to make look right on an aircraft. Great job.

[bbd468]

Mar 27, 2014 20:17:59 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Gary can be one sneaky ninja sometimes! LOL

Ya never know when or where i might be lurking..... zzzzzzzzz.....OH!

[thug626]

The aerial is fixed.

In lieu of the kit decals I'll be using Woodland Scenic dry transfers (for lettering and numbers) and, Super Scale decals.


Currently working on salvaging the pitot tube. Drilling out the base with 0.011" carbide drill bit. This will be threaded with 0.010" stainless steel wire. Where it is to mount just received a dollop of filler and the area, small as it is, looks quite bodgered.

Dave

[thug626]

Good evening Gary,
Always good to see you bro. Thank you. This is the first real serious go I've had at chipping on a wingy thingy. And certainly using this technique. The only items I've ever done this on were small parts. The biggest being a jack for a CV3/35 tankette ( a very small jack). Lurk away! Or would that be "nap away"

Dave

[wbill76]

Nice save on the aerial Dave! Markings look like they will be a lot of fun but will definitely bring this bird alive in the process.

[thug626]

Good afternoon Bill,
Thank you. They certainly will be interesting. I'll be doing a dry run or two with the transfers. Seeing how they behave, getting them aligned without ruining the paint and such.

Dave

[thug626]

Before I went all out on the dry transfers, I decided to try out one of the kit decals. Just to see if indeed they will work. I painted the nose section I cut off way back when. It was primed with Vallejo primer and then painted with the Lifecolor Gloss blue. For the decal I used Micro Set. After the decal was down and blotted for air bubbles, I then applied some Solvaset. The decal "65" is one piece so, there is carrier film between the numbers. I decided to do this to see how badly they might silver. I was not relishing the idea of spelling out "MARINES" with dry transfers and getting them all perfectly aligned. The letter "A" is one of the dry transfers for comparison.

The more I looked at the beastie, the more I realized that certain areas still needed more and better blending. The lower channel for the bottom exhaust stacks were the worst offenders. I laid down some Mr Surfacer 1000 and, after through drying, I wet sanded the areas.

The HVARs are all done with the exception of the PE mounting straps.


Dave

[bullardino]

Fine progress Dave, I can't see any silvering in the decals.

[thug626]

Good afternoon Luigi,
Thank you.I figured if anything would pick up any silvering, it would be the unblinking, unforgiving, digital eye.

Good afternoon DickyF,
Thank you very much. Being able to use the kit decals obviates a lot of angst for me.

Dave

[fightnjoe]

looking very sharp. very nicely done so far. the decals look like they went down ok. one of my bigger issues with each and every build.



joe

[thug626]

Hello Joe,
Thank you as always for the support. It always is one of my biggest fears when building. "Will the decals silver?" And I knew nothing about these. Currently I'm working on the HVAR mounting straps…..I'm going to need some sedation soon. I was wondering if I need to scrap the current mounts and go for v2.0. I have decided to go with v1.0. Reminding myself that this is a "representation" of a Tigercat. NOT a shrunk down version of one.
Dave

[bbd468]

Decs look great to me too Dave!

[wbill76]

I'd say you were good to go with the kit markings there Dave! Solvaset is wonderful stuff, it's all I use on my builds these days.

[thug626]

Good afternoon Gary,
Thank you very much. If you really look hard at it, you can just make out the border of the carrier film. This is not enough to dissuade me from using the kit decals. I will use the Super Scale insignias. I feel they look better than the kits stars-n-bars.

Good afternoon Bill,
They are indeed green lighted for this build. I used Solvaset on a WnW Junkers J1 build. It had the stereotypical corrugated surface. Solvaset sold me on that build.
If it can work on this:

then I'm good with it.

It has finally happened. Gentlemen, we have a top coat. At least on the upper surfaces. I chose this way as it will be easier to apply the multiple light coats necessary to get the dark blue with the aluminum undercoat.




Dave

[deafpanzer]

LOVING IT!!!

[thug626]

Good evening DickyF,
Thank you good sir. I don't think I have ever laid down that many light layers in one build.

Good evening Andy,
Thank you my friend.

The lower side is now painted. This is all I can do today. There are other bits and bobs that I could work on. I just worry that if I'm puttering around at the bench that, something will get pranged and my mood would be fouled. Not what I want on a lovely Friday.



Tomorrow: Decals, airbrushing some highlights and, chipping. Oh Boy howdy!

Dave

[fightnjoe]

dave it looks absolutely smooth. very nice.




joe

[thug626]

Thank you Joe. I reeeeeeaaaaaaly want to play at the bench. I just know that if I do there's going to be an oopsie and a poopsie. sigh

Dave

[fightnjoe]

i can understand that. finally at the bench myself after a week. with things as they are i am afraid i am going to mess something up myself.




joe

[bullardino]

Love the paintjob, Dave.

[thug626]

Good morning Joe,
I hope you were able to have some quality time at the bench. :)Sometimes I'll just go out to the bench and eyeball stuff and, often I'll end up working on some smaller details. The kind of detail that if I do prang it, no big deal. Replace it with some easily cobbled up scratch replacement.

Good morning Luigi,
Thank you very much good sir.

Today will be the day for decals and chipping. It has to be as I committed to it when I started the top coat.

Dave

[thug626]

All of the decals were applied in one sitting…..save for two. These two were the left and right red propeller warning line on the nose. No matter what I did they would not line up and, when I got the ends quasi lined up, the overlap stuck out like a sore thumb. The overlap point was on top of the nose, right smack dab in front of the cockpit. So I made the snap decision to scrap the decals and go with plan B. Not sure what that is yet but, I could not keep messing around with the decals for fear of messing up the paint. Anywho, everything else went swimmingly.



The insignia markings are Super Scale decals. All others are kit decals. I ended up using different decal solvents for the two. The Super Scale decals did not even react to Solvaset, so on these I used Micro Sol. The Sovlaset worked on the kit decals. Which is why I have both….if the decals won't react with one, they will with the other. There have only been a couple of times where NOTHING would touch them…short of gasoline and a blow torch.


Dave

[Leon]

Dave fantastic job on the paint and markings,looking really good.

[thug626]

Thank you Leon. I got some touch up work done. Now to go back over with the high light and chipping.

Dave

[wbill76]

Looking good with all the markings on Dave, really brings this long-nose bird to life!

[deafpanzer]

SHHH! I saw that very plane at the museum today... Air Force National museum in Dayton, Ohio. Let me see if I have a picture of it...

Markings look fantastic!

[MOOSE.]

Looking fantastic Dave!

Mike

[bullardino]

Great looking with the decals on

[Deleted]

Decals are bringing this to life, superb work