F4F-4 built as FM-1 Wildcat by Landlubber Mike - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/48

[Landlubber Mike]

10 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Hi Mike,   yep I used the one Coastal Kits base   it was sent to me  from someone,   it was used in my Airfield dio  with the mosquito and spit  with vehicles and  figures,    they are a  thick rubber type  material and really well made  - easy to trim to size you want also.

 

OC.

 

Good to know OC.  I'll put them on the list  

[Old Collingwood]

25 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

 

Good to know OC.  I'll put them on the list  

Glad I could help Mike, will look forward to seeing that.

 

OC.

[Landlubber Mike]

I've made some more progress on the Wildcat the last few evenings.  Would go a lot quicker if I didn't have to back to repair things that I broke 🤯  Case in point, as I seem to do on every plane build, I broke the tail wheel off.  Since I'm almost to the point of painting, I figured now was as good a time as any to put it back on so this time it's attached to the fuselage via a brass rod and 2-part epoxy.  I'm sure I'll find a way to break it off again.  

 

I also had to replace the radio antenna.  The kit part is only attached via a small nub into a tiny hole in the top of the fuselage.  I attached it a couple of weeks ago promising myself to handle the kit gently, but of course a few days ago I reached for the kit without paying attention and snapped it off.  Was too thin to pin, so I opened the hole up and built a new one out of plastic strip.  The new part extends well into the fuselage and is glued in with 2-part epoxy, so hopefully I shouldn't have any problems snapping this one off.  Of course, I had spent a good hour working on the first piece, test fit it into the fuselage, and put it down to get the glue ready and look forward to going to bed.  As I put it down, the part slid down into the fuselage, doh! 🤬  I couldn't go to sleep on that note, so I rebuilt another one and this time, added a little blob of poster putty to the end so the same thing wouldn't happen.  So, along with some minor putty work, here is where things are on the fuselage.

 

 

I spent some time with the Wolfpack resin wings.  After cleaning them up, I decided to remove the flaps so I could re-position them.  Apparently the flaps tended to open "up"/"out" when the wings are folded, so I'll glue them into that position.  One of the flaps came out a little thin, so in the picture you see that I added a thin strip of plastic sheet to the top that I'll shape into the right size.

 

 

The auction included a Taurus vacu-formed canopy.  After some research on how to release it from the mold, I managed to get it out (though the two rear corners would have to be glued back) and sanded it back to shape.  I was planning to model it with the cockpit open, but the Taurus piece doesn't seem to be molded in a way with a thick enough frame to cut into two frames for the windscreen and the rear piece (hope that makes sense).  So, I figured I would play around with it for practice given that these replacement canopies seem to be popular aftermarket for planes.  In the end, the canopy doesn't really seem to fit correctly anyway (seems to be slightly taller/wider) so good practice I suppose.

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

I've been thinking about how to paint the plane.  It's a fairly simple two-color scheme with insignia white on the bottom and gull gray (I think) on the top.  I was going to try out black-basing where I would start with a black primer, then pre-shade with a dark gray, then add the white and the gull gray.  Then I thought about how people add an early coat of aluminum for chipping.  Can that all work with black basing?  Maybe I'll just add the "chips" by hand.  Just curious as I've never used these techniques.

[Egilman]

Your modeling a mid to late war FM-1, there may be chipping but you wouldn't see most of it, maintenance on these birds was almost constant since they had complete facilities readily available, capable of almost completely rebuilding one of these... Like the ships they served on, they were constantly being painted and cleaned up....

 

Army birds serving in forward areas didn't have the maintenance facilities in the forward areas that the navy shipboard aircraft had.... If your going to put it on a carrier deck base, the aircraft should be mostly clean..... minor very small chipping, almost no oil stains, and very little exhaust staining.....

 

You want to see the difference in what I mean, research marine squadrons that served on carriers compared to those that served ashore..... Navy maintenance facilities and practices were legendary.....

 

One more note, Pappy Boyington once received some replacement corsairs from the navy, hand me downs from a carrier squadron, he thought someone had screwed up and sent him brand new corsairs, but each aircraft had over 1,000 hours and 200 arrested landings on it.... Navy aircraft were very well maintained aboard ship....

Edited December 11, 2020 by Egilman

[Landlubber Mike]

Thank you very much for that info!  Makes a lot of sense, and certainly makes things easier for me.  Really appreciate it!

 

That's a great story about Pappy Boyington!

[popeye the sailor]

that's my curse too........breaking off tail wheels.   wish they'd smarten up and mold them as separate parts     antennas and small bits,  I don't usually do until last.......I tend to handle the model too much too.  I wonder if one of those stands that I've seen used,  would help in that regard?  good to see your progress.......great stuff   

[Landlubber Mike]

I don't know the approach of the newer kits, of the older four Accurate Miniatures kits and this current (and older) Tamiya kit, the tail wheel is molded on one of the fuselage halves.  So, there is almost no support at the point where the tail wheel landing gear assembly connects to the fuselage.  Any stress and it pops right off, just like the radio antennae on my Wildcat 🤬  Adding the new radio antennae with a thicker base that extends into the fuselage seems to have be much stronger.  Maybe the newer kits take a similar approach.

 

All that being said, I tend to handle my models too much.  Part of the issue is that I do a lot of my work on the kitchen island so I can be around my family and new dog.  So, I'm sorta moving the model, the tools, etc. a lot more than I would like.  

[Canute]

Over on the Steel Navy site, there is a WWII color shot of USS Yorktown, CV-10. New Essex class CV. Gives you a good idea of the colors of the era. Here's the link: https://members.boardhost.com/Warship/msg/1608359633.html 

Early SB2Cs (Helldiver) on the deck, too. Rick E Davis is an excellent archives student, digging out many nuggets of information.

[Egilman]

6 hours ago, Canute said:

Rick E Davis is an excellent archives student

I wouldn't call him a student, he's one of the preeminent researchers and naval archivists, especially about the US Navy, he's forgotten more than I know about the US navy........

 

You have a historical question about the US Navy, he's one of the men to ask.... He usually hangs around the Ship Model forum.... but he does post in a lot of forums.... He's a good friend...

 

And that is a VERY good shot of what fresh 5-N Navy blue & 5-O Ocean grey looks like up close.... Notice how close the color on the aircraft matches the paint on the ship?

Edited December 19, 2020 by Egilman

[Canute]

That he is, EG. His word is gospel for US subjects. No disrespect meant. The coffee hadn't taken full effect when I wrote that.😁

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

That he is, EG. His word is gospel for US subjects. No disrespect meant. The coffee hadn't taken full effect when I wrote that.😁

Amen Brother... I knew you weren't dishing any disrespect, he is one of several that use their own time to actually physically search the Nara records and collect info, there are others like him as well who without the info their research offers and they freely give us the accurate history would be lost.... and us modelers would have to work twice as hard.....

 

We all owe them a great deal of thanks....

 

[Javlin]

You got some Nice work going on here Mike I use to play like that some now just save for the occasional 1/32 subject just to many kits and not enough time. Kevin

 

Oh by the way I started black basing doing NM finishes just morphed from there and EG is right unless it was an Island hopper it would be pretty clean but those colors you mentioned would bring out panels if you just BB the panel lines?

Edited December 22, 2020 by Javlin

[Danstream]

On 12/11/2020 at 8:56 PM, Landlubber Mike said:

I've been thinking about how to paint the plane.  It's a fairly simple two-color scheme with insignia white on the bottom and gull gray (I think) on the top.  I was going to try out black-basing where I would start with a black primer, then pre-shade with a dark gray, then add the white and the gull gray.  Then I thought about how people add an early coat of aluminum for chipping.  Can that all work with black basing?  Maybe I'll just add the "chips" by hand.  Just curious as I've never used these techniques.

For a naval plane, the black basing can give very appropriate and interesting paint effects. Especially if you apply light mottles before the final paint. It might result in a non uniform top color that is seen often in period pictures. I did that on my Arado build and I was satisfied with the results. About chipping, I would not be too obsessed about that. Even if you can see some chipping in pictures, there must have been a time when the plane did not have that. If you want to depict a worn and beaten plane, you can always add some later. I have the impression that if you apply the black, followed by whatever else treatments then you deny its effects if you cover it with metallic paint. Of course, the model is yours and yours is the choice.

Greetings,

Dan.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks guys, really appreciate it.  I think the black basing with the light mottles gives that non-uniform look as in reality where light is hitting the plane from different angles.  Otherwise, to me it seems a little more "plastic" (for lack of a better word) if you just paint the model a single color and then try to add panel lines and weathering effects.  

 

Another technique I've seen some do is to add tiny dots of oil paints in different colors to the model, and then with thinner, brush them across the model.  That also seems to break up the color and make it more uniform.  

 

I have to say that it's been a big learning experience on the artistry side on painting models.  I was somewhat familiar with shading and highlighting but all this other stuff has been really eye opening.  Not sure I fully get all the techniques, but they are something I want to experiment with and bring over to wooden ship models when I get the hang of them.

[popeye the sailor]

there might be another learning curve,  bringing over to wooden ships,  since the paint does tend to sink into the wood.    you may find the need to seal the wood before paint.  might be fun to try though  

[Landlubber Mike]

21 hours ago, Javlin said:

Oh by the way I started black basing doing NM finishes just morphed from there and EG is right unless it was an Island hopper it would be pretty clean but those colors you mentioned would bring out panels if you just BB the panel lines?

 

What got me thinking about doing the black basing and mottling is the colors, and in particular the white, as well as the fact that there are only two colors. Seems that it would be better to try the overlay of various colors from black up to white to break up two solid masses of color beyond highlighting the panel lines.

[Danstream]

Hi Mike, surely you can try different colors. Just as an example, for the white part of my Spitfire this is what I started with:

 

 

... and this is what I ended up with, before weathering:

 

 

There is no limit to creativity and experimentation.  🙂

Greetings,

Dan.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by Danstream

[Javlin]

55 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

What got me thinking about doing the black basing and mottling is the colors, and in particular the white, as well as the fact that there are only two colors.

Yea Mike it was totally unexpected but on the Kate going light on the coats presents the variations to whatever the base is.The Kate I used Black primer from SNJ while not rough it's grainy so the silver was grainy/ugly not an issue but I laid the grey so lightly the panel lines just naturally popped without me having to do a thing.The Oscar got a coat of Semi-Gloss and being an older kit no recessed panel lines the same effect did not occur not to the extent of the Kate.I think a Flat black base,thin coat of SNJ AL then your colors it might work?Better yet maybe try it on and old wing with recessed panel lines and see if it's to your liking. Kevin

Edited December 23, 2020 by Javlin

[Javlin]

32 minutes ago, Danstream said:

... and this is what I ended up with, before weathering:

Looks good Dan and really it's unlimited and what you want. Kevin

 

It seems with silver a shallower coat of paint makes it come forward.The term BB I think really came about more for interiors than exterior letting the black hang recessed in the crevasses adding a shadow effect I did it on the B-25 in the bombardier section and the copit.   

Edited December 23, 2020 by Javlin

[Egilman]

5 minutes ago, Javlin said:

Better yet maybe try it on and old wing with recessed panel lines and see if it's to your liking.

I agree, always test new techniques first before committing them to a display piece....

[Javlin]

36 minutes ago, Danstream said:

There is no limit to creativity and experimentation.  🙂

Dan new one on the table? Kevin

[Danstream]

@Javlin, indeed. The only limit that I keep, as far as possible, is the observation of period pictures. For example, I saw on a picture showing the underwing of a Spitfire, that the panels below the guns had a slightly different shade than the rest. 

😉 Dan.

[Landlubber Mike]

1 hour ago, Danstream said:

Hi Mike, surely you can try different colors. Just as an example, for the white part of my Spitfire this is what I started with:

 

 

... and this is what I ended up with, before weathering:

 

 

There is no limit to creativity and experimentation.  🙂

Greetings,

Dan.

 

 

 

Thanks Dan, that came out so well!  That's exactly the kind of look that I think looks very realistic.  Nice job!

 

Very similar effect to when people use the oil paint dot technique, where they will add all sorts of colors - reds, blues, greens, browns, oranges, etc.  When thinned and spread and mixed with the other oil colors, you get very subtle variations just like you have in your Spitfire.

[Landlubber Mike]

Happy new year everyone!  Hope everyone is doing well and having a good start to the year.

 

I had all these grand plans to get a lot of modeling done over the past few weeks, but with the holidays, family stuff, honey-dos, etc., I didn't get as much done as I was hoping.  I did get some time in on various modeling projects like this one though.  After more time than I would have originally estimated, I finished the elevators.  I wanted to drop them, but it was a bit harder to cut them out because there is a tab that extends to the front so you can't make a straight cut across with a razor saw.  I was hoping to either cut through enough to be able to bend them down (like I did on my earlier builds) or cut them out completely, but the plastic was fairly thick and hard, and the scalpel would get bogged down.  Since I was too lazy to continuously change out the blade, I decided to mill it out using a tiny bit in my micromotor.  That ended up making things easier, but then I needed to build back a bit of the lost material.  That was probably for the best as I was then able to shape the leading edges instead of having two square edges.

 

While I was at it, I "dropped" the flaps (I think that's what they are called) on the wings.  Apparently when the wings were folded, the flaps "dropped" toward the top side of the wings.  I also added the framing spine over the top of the life raft compartment.  A bit of some sanding and filling here and there, but now I think I can finally get to the painting stage.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in!

[Old Collingwood]

Really nice progress Mike   and Happy New Year to you also.

 

OC.

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I was hoping to either cut through enough to be able to bend them down (like I did on my earlier builds) or cut them out completely, but the plastic was fairly thick and hard, and the scalpel would get bogged down.

Two words Brother, Panel Scriber.....

 

Use it just like you would to scribe panels but continue on through the part for seperation..... with the scriber you can cut the oblong shapes out in one piece as well....

 

One other thing brother, they wouldn't droop on a carrier deck..... The control surfaces would be mechanically locked to prevent flutter damage from the wind when sitting on the deck....

Edited January 5, 2021 by Egilman

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I "dropped" the flaps (I think that's what they are called) on the wings

Those on the outboard ends of the wings are known as Ailerons my friend, and even when folded they are still mechanically linked, one would be the opposite of the other as they are control surfaces and move in synch with each other.... Generally they are in neutral (centered) position when the wings are folded.... Flaps are inboard on the wing and would be split between the center section and the inboard part of the folded wing and would be mechanically locked closed when the wing is folded....

[Canute]

Coming along nicely there, Mike. Keep them coming.

 

If they were using mechanical locks on the flight controls, the ailerons would line up with the wing tips and I'd expect the elevators to remain level with the horizontal tail planes. The lock was put in place in the cockpit around/through the stick. Not sure on the flaps; they were probably mechanical linkages, too. Mine were hydraulic, so they drooped when the pressure dropped.

[lmagna]

50 minutes ago, Canute said:

Not sure on the flaps; they were probably mechanical linkages

I would think they were almost certainly mechanical Ken. Almost everything on the Wildcat including the landing gear that was hand cranked up and down was mechanical.

Edited January 6, 2021 by lmagna