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Two wild cats in 48th,Tamiya VS HB


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Hello everyone!

Before I started the building,my plan was simple,to take out the dusty kit boxes and get those unfinished models finished. One idea popped up in my mind when I was concerned increasingly about “fall into a rut ”.It would be much more fun of building an unfinished kit with one new kit beside.The new kit should be highly related to the old one while it keeps some differences to make the comparing building not to fall into dull.

So the main role is Tamiya F4F-4 which ,according to my writing on the reverse side of the box cover ,was started at 6/1/2008.The reason I quitted was that I screwed up the windshield when polishing.It’s unpainted,some parts cutted off and sanded when opened nearly 9 years later. I’ve replaced the cracked canopy with a vacuum one.

The supporter is HobbyBoss F4F-3 early version.It’s on shelf for years with plastic bags intact.

The two kits are all 1/48.

The comparing building started last month.My post will gradually catch up the pace of the real-time building.

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Edited by egg2012
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Some pics of Tamiya wild cat

I cut  the original seat off Its brackets and replaced a PE one.

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weathered  a little 

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Edited by egg2012
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I took few photos during the building last month.Below are pics of finished Tamiya wild cat pit.

 

 

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They were parts from HobbyBoss.The white putty is acrylic–based,ready for “sanding”by cotton buds wet in 75% alcohol.The testing result was so-so,needing more practices.

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Here are Pics involved parts form two kits.

The cockpits at first.The HB one was OOB.Then,I was told that the early F4F-3 was painted in another color.The color suggested in HB instruction is not correct,but It’s too late.OK,I can live with that.

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Some parts around engine and main landing gears.They were not all weathered.Actually I had no idea what weathered result I would like to go then.

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Two fuselages comparing.Look at wing roots,they are nearly same in length.

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Edited by egg2012
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20 hours ago, Silenoz said:

Looking good so far. This time the hulls look pretty similar (panellines, width, position of wings, etc...), with exclusion of the canopy area,

Thanks.And I got HB upper fuselage to dry-fit Tamiya belly. They can match.

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The part painted in white is Tamiya,the other one HB.As you can see ,there are a little wires added respectively.I just want it not to be too hollow when seeing through those small windows from outside.I haven’t known if it works as my plan.

ExyMbM.jpg

 

 

Edited by egg2012
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I thought wild cats were relatively small in size among other WWII war birds,so the kits building might be easy,or not very difficult at least .

But what I met has proven me wrong.The mechanical structure of wild cats ‘s main landing gears were a little complicated so do the kits.And I had to treated the two kits respectively after I dry fitted the landing gears to their matching joints.

 

Tamiya is Tamiya,dry-fit was good and I can glue the upper fuselage to the belly without the landing gear installed at first.

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The HB on the contrary.It was a problem for me to make sure the landing gear installed firmly and neatly after the whole fuselage glued.So I went for the safe side,installed the gear before glued the whole fuselage.therefore protection and painting around this area should pay much attention late on.

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I glued them together.

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Edited by egg2012
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On 2017/5/13 at 11:58 PM, tosouthern66 said:

I may have to get me the Tamiya kit. It looks like it's going to be a really nice model when completed.

The Tamiya kit is good overall,but it's also old.

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I tried to improve the two kits's  armaments,their .50 machine guns.Their original parts or the area are not very good.

First is HB.I replaced the original parts with QB resin product.They were adjusted to the places by my bare eyes.Accuracy can't be ensured.

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Then Tamiya.I had spent some time into it.The result is unknown.

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Edited by egg2012
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Personally,to get start a topic in a forum and keep it going on is like,in a sense ,building blocks.  Photos involved are special and important parts.  The whole structure will be screwed by pulling photos out ,especially over a night.  Yes there is a notification in advance,but with only one rigid solution actually.   

I’m talking about you PB.

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Update some pics of engines building.

Some reference told me that early F4F-3(around 100 the warbirds)equipped engines without magnetos when I finished the base color on the HB engine parts.I made compromise after several days hesitation.I’m suck at scratch building,haha,but luckily It’s not too bad.

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Comparing of two engines.Tamiya has magnetos,HB none.

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Now I’m close to the phase of starting airbrush job.I’ll update more pics when it’s ready.

Thanks for watching.  

Edited by egg2012
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  • 3 months later...
On 10/26/2017 at 2:24 AM, Joel_W said:

Just read through your double F4F Grumman Wildcat build. so far I'm really impressed with the builds to date. Any further updates? 

Joel

Thanks for watching,I'm still working on them. My family and job take up a lot of my time and energy ,and yes my procrastination  usually does the final blow .

 

Edited by egg2012
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11 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Same as my brothrr Joel - enjoyed reading through your dual Wildcat build. One terrific idea and some eceptional progress.

keep ‘em coming

Peter 

Thank you!and happy modelling

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2017/11/3 at 8:18 AM, dekon70 said:

Great looking builds.  I find it funny that I have both of these kits in the stash sitting on top of one another.   I might have to bust these out of the stash.

 

On 2017/11/3 at 6:58 PM, crackerjazz said:

Love the work you're doing here, egg2012!   And your weathering is fantastic!

Thank you.I'm still trying to understand model building methods and theories,see if I can use them in my own way someday.

 

On 2017/10/29 at 2:55 AM, Peterpools said:

Life and work do get in the way but that just makes up appreciate bench time  so much more

Peter

Thank you again.What you said is truth.

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Updating.

At first ,adding some pics taken before painting.

About HB canopy,IMO,it can not be built into fully open position by using the original parts.So my option was to close it.

9LEdNF.jpg

Fitting the canopy to the fuselage was unpleasant.I had used what I had to try to smooth the joining seam.

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One thing I have to metion about the HB fitting.As you can see the red circle marked in the pic below,I don’t know why the bottom wing part moulded separately from the fuselage bottom.The fitting was loose so the repercussion was about determination of the dihedral angle.I’m lucky to have two wild cats building together.

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About Tamiya canopy,I only replaced the cracked sliding part with the vacuum counterpart.The original wind screen was kept because I failed to get the vacuum one to the right place.The Tamiya canopy was set to be open position.The fitting around the area was not bad.

vQnwtJ.jpg

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Edited by egg2012
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Some pics of comparing two cats.I took photos with no specific point,just for fun.

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The second part is about painting and masking process.

I chose pre-war yellow wings pattern on HB wild cat.

I used Gaia Ex-07 sliver with its special dilution to try to approach the effect of polished aluminum panel.I had not used Ex-07 before and this time I didn’t do well because you can see metal particles .After checking I thought the quality of Ex-07 coat would be highly related with quality of gloss black coat beneath it,I mean the gloss black should be applied in very dedicated way,It should be very smooth and even after painting so as to keep Ex-07 coat shiny and no obvious metal particles effect .I’m gonna test it at my next metal painting.

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I added a little red into yellow to shade the wing base color.After finished it I remembered that a book of miniature painting I’ve read before suggested to try not to shade yellow with orangish color in case of ending into sort of garnish look.I think it’s the truth.Brown or something like it woud be a good choice.

zCsvWS.jpg

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Edited by egg2012
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