WymanV Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 Well, I hope this makes 'em look better. I did imply that paint would be pretty soon :) Paints are WEM, as they always are on my early war builds. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martin_sam_2000 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 looks good! its always a bummer when you find out late in the buil about a canopy issue. Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 The cats look great! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Here's the part of this build where it differs from the norm. It's not easy to find decals for USN markings for the first 6 months of the war. There were no less than 4 directives issued between December and May and as a result, markings varied. Widely. And wildly. Two of three of these builds will represent aircraft with the big insignia. Lucky me, I also run the Graphics Department where I work and I have access to all kinds of neat stuff for modeling. We'll pick on 2 of these builds today-the Wake 'cat and the Yorktown 'cat. I got the measurements for the insignia on the Yorktown plane from Lundstrom's The First Team-he has an appendix covering the directives and that's where I got my sizes from. I "drew" them up in our software (Flexisign 8, if you happen to know) and made vinyl stencils. I started by fitting my wing insignia where it goes: With those in place, I centered the material that was around the insignia mask: Here we are ready for Insignia Blue: And we're off to the paint shop. I started with the easy one-the VMF-211 bird. Locating the masks for the codes was quick and easy: A dash of flat black: And we have a Wake Island defender: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Meanwhile, we have the blue on the Yorktown plane and now we mask it for the star: Painted: At this point I cheat a little bit. Instead of fitting the star itself within the mask for the red "meatball", I cut more vinyl-deleting the star in the stencils I made earlier so I have a circle with a hole in the center. Lay it down over the top and paint my red: And unmasked: There's a bit of cleanup to do around the edges-one of the disadvantages of vinyl is it'll stretch and the mask for the blue got a bit bigger than the insignia. However, I don't have to find and buy a decal sheet, I know it's correct because the measurements are from NavAir and no silvering The third build will be an Enterprise Wildcat with the 'peek-a-boo' insignia. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 REALLY nice job there... im really impressed it actually comes out better than decals!!.. one question to ask tough: what happed to your cockpits .. is that just mask or did you close them up?? second question is how do you mask those canopy's so neatly?? cheer Neo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Thanks Neo. The shame of this is it's normally something I do before the "main paint" goes on. Cleaner, neater and easier to fix a mistake. Other than the Marine Corp 'cat however, I wasn't sure what direction I was going with these. I knew I wanted to do one with the outrageously big insignia but as it turned out, I found a story for the -3A that also had the large insignia so now they both get them. That's tape over the cockpit. Down the back of the windscreen, across the 'pit opening and up the headrest bulkhead. Normally I paint canopies assembled but Grumman (and the Corsair too) has a bit of the fuselage under the back of the canopy. It looks kinda crappy if it's not painted with the rest of the plane so the sliding portions on these had to be painted off the model. It was the same with my "renegade" Hellcat build. And FYI-if you've seen the pic of them in this thread, everything that's on those two are also painted on. And as far as masking canopies is concerned-reading glasses. Never thought I'd need them to read at 45 but once I tried a pair for modeling my ability to do finess work has jumped considerably. These could've been neater but at that point the build was getting pretty frustrating. Now that it's paint and decals it's a lot more interesting but I'm sure that'll change once I start fitting the landing gear Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
achook-achook Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 As this build goes by, I am getting more impressed. Awesome job on the roundels and markings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doupnik Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Been enjoying your builds. My LHS has had a couple Hobbyboss sales and I've looked at their Wildcats, so thanks for the heads up on what to expect. Looking forward to some updates. mason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Thanks gents. A quick update so everyone knows there's been some progress-the Yorktown 'cat: Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 And the Wake Defender moves along. Assembling the landing gear wasn't nearly the nightmare it looked to be. However, it doesn't seem to want to "sit" down all the way on the center-the legs stand off of their receiving sockets and I have to glue one leg down at a time. You can see the Yorktown 'cat already has it's legs: And in keeping with the norm with this project, this one went STRAIGHT to hell on me. The mask peeled off the clearcoat and decal on the lower wings. Since I was at the shop anyway, I marched right over to the mechanic's shop, grabbed the gallon of brake fluid and stripped it right there in the paint booth: So instead of doing the Enterprise "peek-a-boos" scheme with this one, it'll be a Lexington bird. Which is kinda what I wanted to do in the beginning anyway. Coincidentally, this is the same one that had to have the wing shimmed to get the dihedral right. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 And the repaint. It seems to have recovered well-I like it better now than before: Insignia are decals this time, as is the rudder stripes and Felix emblems. Codes and wing walks are paint-the kit decals for the late F4F-3 doesn't have wing walk decals but the F4F-3 early kit does. Hopefully some dullcoat this weekend along with final assembly. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Patrick_Nevin Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 And the repaint. It seems to have recovered well-I like it better now than before: Ken, This is an awesome, impressive build. Great skill and spirit on display. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doupnik Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Really like the Wake Defender, looking good. Nice recovery on Felix. mason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 (edited) BuNo 3914 was originally assigned to VF-6 and served with them in 1941. December 7th found her assigned to VF-3 at NAS San Diego. After riding on the Saratoga in the aborted attempt to relieve Wake Island she was transfered back to VF-6 in Jan 1942. On 1 Feb. 1942 she would participate in the 1 Feb. raid on the Kwajalein Atoll. Assigned to attack Wotje and Taroa Islands and armed with 2 100lb. bombs, twelve F4Fs took off and headed for their targets at 0620. The six fighters attacking Wotje Island found little opposition other than the anti-aircraft fire. After 15 minutes of dropping bombs on and shooting up shore facilities, they left unscathed. The Wildcats attacking Taroa however would arrive to a hot welcome. Unknown to Naval Intelligence, Taroa was a well equipped airbase and unbeknownst to them, with air cover up in the form of 2 Type 96 carrier fighters. Three more would take off as the attack developed, unnoticed by the Wildcat pilots. Lt (jg) Wilmer Rawie would be at the controls of BuNo 3914 that day. Riding the wing of the attack leader, he followed his leader in, dropped his ordnance and strafed the airfield before pulling up low and scooting off. Ahead, he spotted two of the three "Claudes" that took off as the attack began. They were unaware of Rawie's presence. Rawie wasted no time. Gunning his engine, he came in low and fired upon the leader, Lt. Kurakane. After a short burst the Type 96 flamed and Kurakane rolled it on its side and bailed out. The Claude spun into the water aflame. Kurakane's wingman, PO3c Atake Tomita then engaged Lt. Rawie. At low altitude, Rawie and Atake, both flying low and slow found themselves flying head-on in a challenge neither was willing to break off. Inevitably, they collided. BuNo 3914 would lose it's Zed Baker homing antenna and take a dent in the fuselage but Atake's Claude would suffer a crumpled wingtip and nearly lost an aileron. Atake would break off to set down immediately. By this time, the skies over Taroa began to come to life with Japanese fighters. After a final strafing run at the airstrip during which his guns jammed, Rawie used his superior speed to beat feet out of there and back to the Enterprise. He would be the first to return. Wilmer E. Rawie, Lt.(jg) would be the first U.S. Navy aviator to score a victory in air-to-air combat in WW II. This was F4F-3A BuNo 3914's first and only combat. She would be transfered to VF-2 on 14 Feb. and finally to VMF-212 on 29 April. Build review here: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....howtopic=181706 Ken Edited June 17, 2009 by WymanV Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 (edited) Thanks guys. First one's done-new thread. Ken Mod edit - threads merged as per GB rules. Edited June 17, 2009 by jrallman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 VMF-211 F4F-3, Wake Island, Dec. 1941: Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
S.C.Williams Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 AWESOME!!!!!! Nice diorama base as well! Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Thanks Steve. Last one. F4F-3 BuNo unknown, VF-3, Feb. 1942: Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Patrick_Nevin Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Gorgeous. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Azgaron Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 Excellent work Ken! It's looking great! Very nice base too! Cheers, Azgaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 (edited) Thanks gents. It's nice to have them done :) Ken Edited June 29, 2009 by WymanV Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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