Trumpeter 1/32 Grumman Wildcat early version

[mossiepilot]

Just caught up with this. Beautiful work Vaughan can't wait to see more.

Tony.

[Vaughan]

Thanks for that Barry.

The undercarriage was a real fiddle to put together but I think it's turned out ok. As for the tyres they were different to ones that Trumpeter normally provides quite thin and delicate.

The fuselage is now together a little work will be required on the seams, I'm not 100% happy with the fit of the wheel well bulkhead but it will have to do. Once the undercarriage is in situ and the wings are on it's not like it's going to be overly obvious. The tail wheel is well protected as I don't have a very good track record when it comes to breaking them.

Vaughan

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[BarryW]

I smiled at your tail wheel comment. Trumpy do seem to make rather delicate tail wheels!!

[Vaughan]

Here's an update from over the last 4 days. I've made a start on the wings unfortunately the tabs are very short and barely fit into their corresponding slots so this will make it a little tricky when attaching them. Drop tanks are primed followed with a coat of Vallejo aluminium, Klear and then weathered. The engine cowling had a slight sink mark where the the top locating pin is, a small amount of filler was required followed with a coat of primmer. Also a dry fit with undercarriage engine and cowling all looking good. I might not get much done over the W/E as busy today and off to the Seething Air Show tomorrow which has a good line up The Two Mustangs 'Janie' , 'Maninell' and a PD-13D Stearman from the Hardwick Warbirds Collection. There's even a Fieseler Storch dropping in. Weather forecast is fine so should be a good day, will post some photos tomorrow time permitting.

Vaughan

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[Guest]

fantastic so far

Roman

[BarryW]

Vaughan - I found that the wings are best glued to the fuselage before closing the fuselage with cement applied inside. Be careful about the dihedral though.

[Vaughan]

Barry, I should have dry fitted all the parts before closing the fuselage. Oh well you live and learn. I'm sure I will work around it somehow, it will just be a real fiddle.

Vaughan

[BarryW]

Sorry Vaughan - I had a problem loading the last lot of images before I posted and did not realise you had already closed up the fuselage. Its looking very good I have to say...

I am delayed with mine as I have decided to source a new undercarriage (had a bit of luck...) which should arrive within a week.

[Vaughan]

Well luckily after having a long think and a trawl of the many modelling forums I came up with a save on the fitting of the wings. Several build reviews had made comment about the poorly fitting wings and if possible, as Barry had suggested, to fit them first to the fuselage halves before buttoning it all up. Luckily for me there was an alternative which involved gluing the top half of the wing with the tab on to the fuselage first thus creating a near perfect fit and then follow up with the bottom half. I'm now half way through the process and all seems to be good.

There's a fair amount of detail inside the wings so I thought I might have the inspection covers for the cartridge belt feeds open, but typically there are some very nice ejector pin marks on the inside of the covers so filling and sanding will be required. The same again with the wing flaps, this time I have opted to cover them with thin plastic card as filling and then sanding would have been near impossible. So having done all that hard work fiddling about with PE hinges and once offered up to the wings on a dry fit the flaps hardly move. Next will be to attach the lower halves of the wings and maybe work out a way of freeing up the flaps more.

Vaughan

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[Vaughan]

Hi All not much progress at the moment but I have completed the prop usual colour of black and silver. The tips should be painted red,yellow and blue and I would normally mask and spray them but the kit did supply decals. So I gave them a go and to my surprise they worked. Needed a bit of decalsoft and I'm pleased with the result. I then followed up with some dry brushing on the tips and leading edge.

Vaughan

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[Vaughan]

Here's a further update for anyone who's interested. I've masked the canopy and attached the front section. The Wildcat has had a coat of grey primer and I pre-shaded the wings with yellow and a drop of brown followed up with straight yellow. The result is nice and subtle. The next step will be to mask off the wings in readiness for the aluminium.

Vaughan.

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[BarryW]

That is very nicely done... Yellow is such a difficult colour to handle. What brand of paint Vaughan?

[Vaughan]

Thanks Barry it's Vallejo Gold Yellow. I find you just have to build it up in layers and be patient. By the way how's the Martlett coming on?

Vaughan

[papa 695]

Thats looking sweet Vaughan some great work

[BarryW]

Done. Pics posted here Vaughan

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/aircraft-pictures/16850-rnas-martlett-iii.html