F7F-3N

[deafpanzer]

LOL! Believe me it will be my pleasure to send the death star over... take it easy buddy. Things must have been busy at the hospital because of the flu pandemic?

[thug626]

Thank you for the offer. I will certainly keep that in mind. A few cases of the flu but, mostly a lot of other really bad "stuff". I'm not sure when I'll be getting back to the bench, as my son has an urgent appointment tomorrow in Portland with a pediatric nephrologist. It's been ongoing but now things have gotten to the point that it's time to see a specialist. Unfortunately there are none here where I live....so it's a hour and a half drive north.
Dave

[deafpanzer]

Bad news... I am coming to Portland in June for a conference. We HAVE to meet while I am in city... LOL

[thug626]

Bad news....yes. There is good news. He had his appointment in Portland on Friday. The doctor pulled together resources to get the needle biopsy done on Wednesday. Normally this is done on Fridays. It sounds like they're narrowing it down to a viral infection that kicked this whole thing off. A light at the end of the tunnel.

You are talking about Portland Oregon, Yes? If so, it would be great to meet up with you there. I'll PM you with some info. With any luck we might be able to wrangle Bob "M1Carbine" Holmstrom as well. He lives about 20-30 minutes outside of Portland.

Dave

[thug626]

OMG DickyF!!!!
You've no idea how much I needed that laugh right now. The more I'm here at this forum the more I am liking it here. The humor is right up my ally. THank you again.

Dave

P.S. The bench should be up and running again by this week end. I really do want to bring the Tigercat across the finish line because I got some goodies in the mail for a Wildcat that is waiting in the wings......pun intended.

[deafpanzer]

LOL! Don't we all love Dicky... LOL Great idea about Bob too!!! Sent you an email earlier...

[wbill76]

Always amazes me how much detail can be added and packed into these cockpits. Some nice work going on there for sure...and Andy's threat is for real...he has 'daddy issues'!

[thug626]

Hello Bill,
First off, thank you for the compliment and looking in on this build.
Secondly, sorry for the protracted delay in replying. Life has been quite "interesting" for a while now. Fortunately things have backed off and I was able to get some bench time in today.

It's official! The nose is finally on. There remains some filling to do but, I must say, as well as this nose fits that I'd buy from DMold again.


The CG is at about the control column. Which is well forward of the main landing gear, which hopefully means that this beast will not be a tail sitter.


I couldn't resist "The Schnoz Shot"


Dave

[Leon]

That is looking sweet.Almost missed this one.

[wbill76]

Very nice update Dave, I can relate to things keeping you away from the bench. I was able to get back to a project today after a nearly three month hiatus myself.

[bbd468]

Hiya Dave,

This is a very impressive build fella. Your scratch work is outstanding and its great to see this built as ive not seen one built before now. Very nice indeed.

Gary

[deafpanzer]

Nice nose I have to say! Glad things are OK now... good having you back buddy!

[fightnjoe]

she is looking better and better.



joe

[thug626]

Hello Leon,
No worries good sir.  As long as this build is taking, there is plenty of time to catch it.  Think glacial pace.    Glad to have you along.

Greetings Bill,
Thank you very much for the compliment.  It's good to be back and good to see you back.

Hello Gary,
Thank you for the good words.  I remember seeing scratch work as a kid and as an adult and thinking "Wow, I want to try that sometime."  Well, I figured now is as good as sometime.  

Good morning Andy,
Thank you so very much.  It's good to be back in amongst the wonderful vapors of styrene.    I spent a bit of time last night lightly sanding the right side down to match the nose.  If you look and "The Schnoz" pic, you'll see a shadow at the junction of the resin and plastic, toward the bottom.  That's the slight step I need to feather and then fill.  I think it'll be important later as I am leaning toward a gloss blue finish.  That'll be a first for me in a very long time. 

Hello Joe,
Thank you for having a gander and the compliment.  Slooooooowly and surely, it's getting there.  

Dave

[Deleted]

Dave,it's good to see you back on the forum mate,and back at the bench ......This ole Cat is starting to take shape really nice now!!

[thug626]

Hello Chris,
Thank you. It's very good to be back and building. She is finally starting to take on her lines. If they ever re-issue the standard Dash 3 variant, I would like very much to try my hand at that one. They look fast just sitting still.
Dave

[thug626]

The nose is getting filled. The join between the resin pieces went fairly easily.


The join between the nose and fuselage......not so much. There is still a bit of a discernible step between the two. So.....more filler and possibly wet sanding.



No, this is not a half a$$ed attempt at a shark mouth. . I found some scratches on the nose after sanding and noticed that the area that wasn't masked off was filled and the area that was was not. They looked soft, like something that happened possible during the casting process. No big deal really. They are very shallow and fill easy.


Dave

[deafpanzer]

Hey buddy!!! Still looking good. What did you use for putty? Silver paint or primer something like that?

[thug626]

Hello there good buddy. The putty is Bondo. It's got all that good stuff that gives cancer to lab rats in California. Good thing I'm not a lab rat in California. . Plenty of ventilation going on during application and sanding. Along with an N-95 mask. It'll protect me against TB as well.
The silver is from a silver Sharpie pen to check for areas that still need filling. A trick not used much in armour building but, a lot in the building of wingy thingies. Just run it along a seam that you filled and, if there are any areas that are not just right.....they WILL stand out. This is why I've not done a NMF just yet. The prep work has to be impeccable. Otherwise, any flaw will stand out like a pimple on your nose just before going out on a really hot date.

Dave

[thug626]

Here are the offending scratches now filled. I am waiting for the other side to fully cure before attempting another feathering v2.0.


Dave

[deafpanzer]

AHHH! Always learning something... thanks for the great toot! It looks so even and smooth now...

[thug626]

Thank you and you are welcome Andy. I think, ideally, that the forward feathered edge needs to be about halfway from the plastic fuselage and the next panel line on the resin nose. Right now it's too much of a step. Which is why I'm going to need to cobble together my own sanding "stick" I love the Squadron sanding sticks but, they are not able to fill the bill here.
Dave

[thug626]

As it turns out, I was over thinking the whole feathering conundrum. I went back to keeping it at chimpanzee level. I placed some very fine sand paper at the tip of my finger and viola! I could tell how much pressure I was exerting. What a concept! There are a couple of rough looking patches. These were a couple of pits that presented themselves during the sanding.


Here is the left side all ready to go. I have since added a bit more putty to a couple of low spots. I'll sand it here shortly as it's had several hours to cure.


This is the microfine sanding sheets I picked up and the LHS some time ago. I now have a use for them. The green sheet is smoother than most paper I've written on.


Dave

[Leon]

Hope the hard part is almost over for you Dave.still looking good.

[wbill76]

The rhinoplasty effort is paying off Dave, looking good!

[thug626]

Hello Leon,
So far I believe it is. It always makes me a bit nervous blending between dissimilar materials. It looks like it'll work. Just have the final feathering to do.

Hello Bill,
LOL!!! I hadn't thought of it that way. But, how right you are.

Dave

[bullardino]

I've always hated resin conversions. And this one shows why

Great job, you're really taming it

[thug626]

Hello Bullardino,
They most certain are not without some bit of work. This option was far more appealing than the other idea I entertained for a brief period. Building up the nose with putty, to get the contours corrected.
I'd rather drive nails into my eyeballs than try to get the contours perfectly symmetrical. I think the best resin conversion I ever used was from the now defunct Tiger Models Design. It was a back date kit for the Tamiya Marder M. There were NO surprises at all. It pretty much just fell together.

The feathering is now pretty much done. I had to fill a couple of small spots that pulled up with the tape. That is being blamed on the loose nut located between the bench and chair. The tape may have been pulled up a bit too fast....not to mention it should have been pulled back on itself. Liquid paper to the rescue. I'll hit it with the sanding pads after its thoroughly dried.


Since the liquid paper was out and there were a few fine, shallow spots that needed filling along the resin join, I gave them a couple of passes.


Dave

[bullardino]

I have a couple of resing addons for some 1/72 planes I have in my stash and that will surely remain there

You're doing a stunning job on that nose, it already looks great

[deafpanzer]

Echo Luigi's comment!!! If I ever have a crooked nose, I'd hire you in a heart beat to fix mine!!! Keep it coming buddy!