Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat by ccoyle - FINISHED - GPM - 1/33 - CARD

[Old Collingwood]

That is looking mighty impressive  Chris.

 

OC.

[ccoyle]

Remember the not-very-realistic propeller hub in this kit? Here's what the one in the Card Army F4F kit looks like:

 

 

Of course, the Wildcat in the photo is being built by a real modeler, not me. The Card Army kit is like a six on a difficulty scale of one to five.

[ccoyle]

Canopy added.

 

[CDW]

What did you do to solve the riddle of the canopy and frame? Whatever you did, it came out great. If you had not wrote about it, I would have never known there was an issue. Well done.

[Captain Slog]

Nice!

[ccoyle]

10 hours ago, CDW said:

What did you do to solve the riddle of the canopy and frame?

 

It turns out I overreacted a bit to the molded canopy issue -- it is apparently formed slightly over-sized on purpose. By gluing the framing to the portion of the canopy that it actually fit instead of presuming it should have followed the molded "edge" areas, everything works out. Of course, by not being able to follow the "edge" areas of the molded canopy, some guesswork is involved on where exactly to glue the frames in relation to the canopy's curvature, but that worked out, too.

[Dave_E]

Canopy… did you put the windscreen and the canopy together? 

[ccoyle]

3 minutes ago, Dave_E said:

did you put the windscreen and the canopy together?

 

"canopy" = the clear, vacuformed after-market product

"frames" the printed canopy + windscreen framing from the kit

[Egilman]

21 minutes ago, Dave_E said:

Canopy… did you put the windscreen and the canopy together? 

 

15 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

 

"canopy" = the clear, vacuformed after-market product

"frames" the printed canopy + windscreen framing from the kit

Something I used to do to make windscreens for the ole guillow's balsa airplanes... Clear printers vellum heat bent around a form then using thin strips of balsa to create the frames...

 

It's a great technique just be careful with the heat...

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

Something I used to do to make windscreens for the ole guillow's balsa airplanes... Clear printers vellum heat bent around a form

 

Some cardists do this to good effect, but I'm far too lazy, especially when an after-market canopy only costs a few dollars.

[Dave_E]

I guess knowing what kits are supported by aftermarket upgrades and parts is key.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Dave_E

[ccoyle]

46 minutes ago, Dave_E said:

I guess knowing what kits are supported by aftermarket upgrades and parts is key

 

Part of my addiction involves countless hours monitoring various vendor websites. 😁

[Dave_E]

3 hours ago, ccoyle said:

 

Part of my addiction involves countless hours monitoring various vendor websites. 😁

Ah… I may pick your brains in the future. 😁

[ccoyle]

So, I am now ready to start on the main landing gear, and this I can tell is going to be really, really fun. 😧 First, there is a ton of parts, including many tiny ones. Second, these parts are scattered across the parts sheets instead of being in one place together. Third, the bay doors have a curved surface in them, and just the main doors alone -- sans all of the strut attachment points, consist of five parts each; the curved parts are supposed to go in an area cryptically marked "cut out after forming" -- and I'm, like, "Dudes -- I can't see how the curved parts are supposed to fit unless I cut that portion out first." The instructions do not help on this point at all. I translated them into English, and this is what I got:

 

"Refer to the assembly drawings to make the chassis shave. Particular attention should be paid to the precise and solid construction of the G12-G15 chassis leg suspension."

 

That is the sole instruction on how to put the main gear struts together. Beats me what a "chassis shave" is. 🤔

 

The diagrams shed very little additional light on the assembly process.

 

Pray for strength!!

[Dave_E]

Shape of the chassis (fuselage) perhaps?

[lmagna]

 I think I would go with "shape" as well. Seems to fit better, (Pun intended).

[amateur]

Make a copy, and try before you cut the real thing?

 

Jan

Edited July 1, 2022 by amateur

[amateur]

Surely there are some polish speaking people around here?

 

Jan

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, amateur said:

Surely there are some polish speaking people around here?

Shave, shape -- makes no difference. Correcting that one word won't hide the fact that the instructions are practically worthless.

 

Last night I distracted myself by doing a little painting of the resin wheels -- pictures later. How much later has not yet been determined!

[Danstream]

On 6/30/2022 at 3:22 AM, ccoyle said:

Canopy added.

... and sharp result, if I may say it.

Dan

[ccoyle]

I got around to starting the landing gear. First, a photo of the gear doors. The left one is finished; the right one is still in its "frame."

 

 

So, the main difficulty in building these stems from the fact that the doors are not flat -- each has a pronounced curve that goes around its strut. The way the kit tackles this is to start with a two-sided "frame" from which the central portion is removed. Then six curved panels are added, three interior and three exterior. Finally, the finished doors are cut loose from their frames. I'm satisfied with the results.

 

Cheers!

[Captain Slog]

I like that. An elegant solution that someone has thought through…and well executed. 

[AJohnson]

Really tidy Chris 👏

[ccoyle]

Struts are next. First we have the basic struts -- each is a single paper piece wrapped around a length of 1 mm styrene rod.

 

 

And then we begin adding bits.

 

 

Like some other parts of this build, the struts suffer from the seemingly unnecessary duplication of parts. For example, some of the strut bits exist as printed parts AND as laser-cut parts on two different sheets, each having a different thickness. So, does one use part G15, the laser-cut G15, or the other laser-cut G15? Unlike HMV kit instructions, which indicate when laser-cut parts are an option, the GPM instructions don't provide that information, nor do they warn about the multitude of repeated parts. You can easily imagine the potential for confusion this causes.

[AJohnson]

Sorry that does not compute for me Chris, now I have tried it, how the heck to you get the edges to line up!  🤔, you lured me into the ‘Dark Arts’ and then you show us card parts that look like moulded ones!  
Witchcraft I say! 🧙

[ccoyle]

Andrew, the trick is to glue the rod perfectly perpendicular to the direction of the roll at precisely the edge of the rolled part, then let the glue set completely. Afterwards, the paper can be rolled quite tightly. Also, I do not apply glue to the entire length of the roll, only at intervals to keep the thing from unraveling and at the final edge. Also, I've had lots of practice! 😉

[popeye the sailor]

you've made some very good progress on the Hellcat Chris!   looks fantastic!  

[ccoyle]

More strut bits . . .

 

 

. . . and suddenly wham! Just like that -- shoes!

 

 

I can smell the finish line!

[Egilman]

40 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

More strut bits . . .

What's that song title?

 

She's Got Legs... and she knows how to use them.... {chuckle}

 

Very nice legs... well done...

[Canute]

ZZ Top, a little ol' Texas band.