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1/48 Kittyhawk F9F-8T Cougar


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Here goes my attempt at the Kittyhawk 1/48 F9F-8T Cougar. I'll be building it OOB, though I don't know which set of markings I'm going to use yet. I may wind up using resin ejection seats if I do the Vietnam version.

I can see why some people have gotten frustrated with this build. It's not the engineering, it's the plastic! Here's a shot of the intake two hours after gluing. I took the tape off and the seam popped right open.

8444173_orig.jpg

The fit of the forward fuselage to the wing section isn't too bad. I needed a bit of filler, but nothing horrible. The best approach to building this is to view it like it's a limited run kit. It's still as good or easier of a build than the Collect Aire resin kit.

The fit of the forward fuselage halves is excellent. There is no filler used at all.

6409194_orig.jpg

The stock cockpit isn't bad. I would venture that Eduard will come out with a color PE set which will make it look better.

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Overall the kit is sweet and sour. The surface detail is outstanding and the fit seems to be decent so far. However, the plastic is extremely hard to work with. It's brittle and soft all at the same time. I tried to bend the intake slightly and snapped a big chunk off. Also, thin parts, such as control sticks and such, tend to break when cutting them off the sprue. While on the topic of the intakes, there is no intake trunking and one intake opening seems to be larger than the other. I was going to make intake plugs, but I want to make sure my taking a chunk out of the intake didn't screw something up.

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Good old Testor's Liquid Cement in the black plastic bottle. It's never failed me...until now!

Agreed! I am also not ashamed to say that I still regularly use Testors tube cement :o !

Well done Darren...please keep us posted :thumbsup: .

Don.

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Darren,

I will be following along with great interest, as I've been counting the days till all three Grumman jets are released. I saw your original posts in the other thread, and I was some what concerned that the intakes popped when you removed the tape. Was that the only glue issue you've had so far?

As for glue, I only use Tamiya Extra Thin and their liquid cement (Orange cap).

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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Darren,

I will be following along with great interest, as I've been counting the days till all three Grumman jets are released. I saw your original posts in the other thread, and I was some what concerned that the intakes popped when you removed the tape. Was that the only glue issue you've had so far?

As for glue, I only use Tamiya Extra Thin and their liquid cement (Orange cap).

Joel

The trailing edge of the wings also popped open. I couldn't get the wing fold area to glue in either. You'll notice a piece of the wing fold missing. That's where it kept falling out. I tried to bend it to get a better shape and it snapped. I just went ahead and didn't put that piece in. Really and truly the only thing bad about this build so far is the plastic.

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Darren,

If the plastic is that bad, it will make for a very difficult build, as one will never know if the parts will be fused together, or pop apart.

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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I had something similar happen way back on my Italei F-22 build. The plastic wouldnt take the glue.

Stupid question, but did you wash the plastic before building? I've had some funky mold releases affect my builds like this.

Jeff

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I had something similar happen way back on my Italei F-22 build. The plastic wouldnt take the glue.

Stupid question, but did you wash the plastic before building? I've had some funky mold releases affect my builds like this.

Jeff

Not a stupid question at all. I did indeed. The plastic definitely has a "limited run" feel to it. If KH would use a different plastic, I think a lot of the negative feedback would disappear. The kit itself is very well done.

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Good old Testor's Liquid Cement in the black plastic bottle. It's never failed me...until now!

To save some of us some aggravation, please try some other brands like Tamiya and let us know....:rolleyes:

Gene K

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I will have to try something else in the way of glue. I decided to use Apoxy Sculpt to reinforce the top of the intake/wing fillet area and to also make intake plugs. In the process of doing that, everything that I had previously glued together fell apart. The only thing intact is the front fuselage. Kittyhawk has got to do something about the plastic they use. I don't say this very often, but it sucks! The shame is that the overall model is really nice. I'm letting the Apoxy Sculpt cure and then I'll take pictures and post where I'm at. The battle continues! I will persevere!

Edited by Darren Roberts
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Darren

This is getting worse and worse. Have you tried the Tamiya Extra Thin yet?

Joel

I need to go to the LHS and pick some up. I have successfully used CA glue to put the cockpit and front fuselage together. Also, my reinforcement parts came out quite nicely. I'll make molds tonight and cast them tomorrow. Once those are in, I can proceed with the rest of the fuselage.

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Egad ... what a revolting development! I've never seen or remember a plastic kit molded from traditional plastic have this problem. For resin kits, I use CCA and never a problem. Could it be, KH used a very inexpensive plastic and this is the result? To be honest, at this point, I would be leery to buy and build the kit, for fear of what might happen down the road.

Peter

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