Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat by ccoyle - FINISHED - WAK - 1/33 - CARD

[GrandpaPhil]

Looking good!

[ccoyle]

Have now added the second bank of cylinders and distribution ring.

 

[Matt D]

Beautiful work, Chris!  The level of detail is outstanding.

[ccoyle]

Now we're getting down to details that are difficult for a cellphone camera to capture. Cylinders #3 and #13 have hoses that connect to the distribution ring. In addition to these, I did a test run of the spark plug 'wires', which are simply black thread. The hoses and wires have couplings that I believe were probably brass on the original or some other brown-toned metal; these I have simulated with dark tan paint. Overall, I like the effect and think we're good to go for the remaining thirteen sets of wires.

 

 

BTW, the kit provided a template for making the distribution ring from wire, but since the original is rectangular in cross-section, not round, I chose to  make one from scratch from scrap 'beer mat'. This was a good move, because it is infinitely easier to glue the thread ends to card rather than to metal.

[Old Collingwood]

Pure genius  Chris  -  Superb Work.

 

OC.

[ccoyle]

All done! I'd tell you what all the extra added doohickeys are, but I don't know what they are myself -- I just followed the reference photo. As a matter of curiosity, there are, of course, multiple variants of the Twin Wasp. I didn't find any sources that could tell me which variant(s) was(were) used in the dash-four, so if you know, don't tell me now, cuz it's too late! 😅

 

[Dave_E]

There simply are no words that do justice for this level of perfection. 👍😀

[mtaylor]

That is so hard to believe it's card... it's that real looking.

[ccoyle]

Last night I finished the cowling and mounted both it and the engine to the fuselage. When it comes to cowlings, card model designers have two options. By far the more common option is to make the cowling from a series of rings, like those seen here for my earlier F6F build:

 

 

The other and thankfully less common option is to design the cowling as what's called a "petal structure" in the hobby, i.e., the cowling is a single strip (or two strips in this case -- an inner one plus an outer one) from which a series of tapered darts is removed, creating a row of 'petals'. The petals are then rolled to bring their tips together, creating the rounded cowling.

 

 

I absolutely, positively despise petal structures. In the first place, they are an absolute nightmare to shape properly. I don't know how the Poles do it, but I'm far from mastering the technique. In addition, and for obvious reasons, a petal structure has a large number of seams -- sixteen in this instance. Lastly, it is very difficult, for me at least, to judge whether I have achieved the correct amount of 'roll'. The roll is largely determined by the petal shape -- you simply roll them until the edges come together -- but there's still a certain amount of leeway between getting it just right and almost right. Happily, the whole thing does not look as bad in real life as this unflattering close-up makes it appear.

 

Still to be added is the air scoop that sits atop the cowling. The dash-four had two additional scoops inside the cowling at roughly the four and eight o'clock positions, as you can see in this photo:

 

 

 The kit makes no provision for the inside scoops, so I'll have to give some thought to whether to add them. Anyways, that's where we're at for now.

[realworkingsailor]

I tried to find images to compare, all I found were some ones from an Australian hobby shop:

 

https://au.super-hobby.com/products/F4F-4-Wildcat-53784814.html

 

Although it’s a different paint scheme, it doesn’t look too far different from your own. I’d say you’re doing very well (amazingly well) with what you’ve got. 
 

Andy
 

 

[ccoyle]

17 minutes ago, realworkingsailor said:

I tried to find images to compare, all I found were some ones from an Australian hobby shop:

 

Super-Hobby is actually an internet store with its home base in Poland.

 

18 minutes ago, realworkingsailor said:

Although it’s a different paint scheme

 

It's the same kit (see post #1 in this topic).

 

18 minutes ago, realworkingsailor said:

I’d say you’re doing very well (amazingly well) with what you’ve got. 

 

Well, thank you, I'm flattered! But I'm also realistic -- I'm no match for the kit's beta builder. I'd like to get there someday, but I don't know that I ever will. It's difficult to learn the secrets of the masters when all of them live in Poland and are mainly active on the various Polish-language forums.

 

Cheers!

[Dave_E]

I agree with you on the petal cowls… it absolutely distracts from your amazing engine build! 🫤

[ccoyle]

34 minutes ago, Dave_E said:

it absolutely distracts from your amazing engine build! 🫤

 

I'll build another one and put it on an engine stand next to the finished bird. Ha ha -- not! 😂

[ccoyle]

So, if you remember your F4Fs well, then you'll recall that the Wildcat had a shockingly complicated (and manually retractable!) landing gear. Here's where we get to see that a 'card' model typically includes media other than card -- wire and styrene rod in this case. First we have the bits that go inside the gear bay, twelve pieces in all.

 

 

And then we have to start building the complex struts themselves. Like most all card kits, this one includes templates for making the various wire or styrene pieces -- they're just not usually this labor-intensive. So far I'm pleased with how these are turning out.

 

 

BTW, I'm not showing you the finished cowling scoop. The poor Wildcat's nose really is a weakness in this kit. 😑

[Egilman]

Yep the petal cowling and scoops are always a problem, but there are ways to deal with them...

 

Years back I remember paper modelers on some of the fora arguing about them not being true paper modeling though...

 

Like any medium, it has it's absolutists....

[AJohnson]

Chris,  I thought dealing with a plastic version of the Wildcat’s undercarriage was a challenge. I was wondering how the “card-side” would deal with that !   You have my admiration / sympathy! 

[Edwardkenway]

, crikey Chris, you are a glutton for punishment 😁.

Oh fantastic job by the way!

[ccoyle]

A small amount of progress today. Further work on the gear:

 

 

While waiting for these to dry, I decided to work on the numerous fairings and other bits on the lower wing surfaces, starting with two large intakes. IMO, these are over-engineered and result in no significant gain in either sturdiness or ease of construction. The Halinski Wildcat uses a mere three parts to make each of these structures; the WAK kit uses SEVEN -- three separate outer skins plus four internal frames. Despite their apparent simplicity, these were no cakewalk to make, and I'm not completely happy with how they turned out.

 

 

Cheers!

[Landlubber Mike]

Fantastic work Chris!  I'm getting PTSD from seeing pictures of your landing gear - it was a pain, to say the least, on my Tamiya build!

[ccoyle]

Fairings, fairings, fairings . . .

 

First we have a couple of the flat parts, a bunch of partially shaped ones, and the scribing tool I used to help shape them.

 

 

Did you know that a Wildcat has eighteen underwing fairings in five different sizes? 😑

 

[ccoyle]

More work on the gear . . .

 

 

 

If I counted correctly, each gear mechanism will have 33 parts when completed.

[ccoyle]

Dry run -- will wait until I have more time to do the real gluing.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Truly Amazing work.

 

OC.

[ccoyle]

All glued up! Putting all the parts together reminded me of my fisheries work days when we used to regularly visit a hatchery that had crisscrossing lines suspended at different heights over the raceways full of fingerling tout and salmon -- the crossing lines supposedly played havoc with the depth perception of the local kingfishers. Well, these crisscrossing rods and struts definitely messed with my depth perception as well!

 

 

I won't place any weight on the struts until the glue has cured for 24 hours.

[rlwhitt]

Outstanding!  

[hof00]

45 minutes ago, rlwhitt said:

Outstanding!  

Ditto!!

[CDW]

33 minutes ago, hof00 said:

Ditto!!

Indeed!

[VitusBering]

Beautiful! One of my flying buddies built a 1/4 scale Wildcat and the gear retraction was a pure joy to behold. Unfortunately the plane survived two flights. That gear, combined with a heavier than recommended radial motor, made for a craft with a CG way too far forward so it was a beast to fly and impossible to land gently. The second flight landing didn't seem all that rough but it wiped the undercarriage clean. It is a gorgeous craft though and your model is fantastic.

[ccoyle]

Main gear are done.

 

[rlwhitt]

That looks awesome Chris!  Tell me you weren't tempted to slip some dowels into that  😉   Wood is just "paper ore" after all, amirite?