1/72 F9F-3 Panther

[john53]

I got on the Korean War kick so I decided to try an easy and cheap Panther.

I always wanted to do Lt Leonard Plog's F9F-3, an easy build seeing as though

it could carry no pylons and the early squadrons had no fancy paint jobs. His

Panther was the basic dark sea blue, no NAVY or VF-51 on the rear fuselage

and I think it might have had just a red tip on the tail. Hurry up and get in the action.

I saw one done nice on the web, cockpit done nice and a few other details corrected.

So far I am planning on fixing the seat, rear deck and possibly adding detail to the

wheel wells. I'll see as I go, no aftermarket, 100% scratch building, I'm frugal. Here's

the start of the seat. I am using my old 1/48 Monogram F9F-5 Panther seat as a

guide to go by.---John

 

[john53]

I finished the seat, made some tape belts. On to the cockpit and more scratch

building.---John

[Tailspin Turtle]

The cushions and parachute were generally left in the seat of carrier-based airplanes.

[john53]

Thanks Tommy, stick, instrument panel and decals on. Now I have to figure

out how to make corrugated hose. The defrost hose coming in the cockpit

from the rear deck was gray corrugated, thinking maybe I'll try coating some lead

wire with Future and then wind thread around it while it's wet to create the corrugated

look.---John

[Tailspin Turtle]

Some notes on the F9F-3: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/01/f9f-3-panther.html

 

Check the links as well and note the markings and corogard (it may have been natural metal at the time instead) difference.

[john53]

Thanks again, I have the Hobbycraft decals for this plane and they aren't 100 %

accurate from what I am seeing. I also have lots of Korean War Navy markings

for Panthers and Corsairs with various sized letters and numbers and a white

sheet of just letters. I would prefer the Hobbycraft kit although it has some quirks.

It has the stepped consoles, and better wheel well detailing. It's flaw is they put

the -5 gas gun vent on the nose, put the coil spring on the wrong side of the nose

gear leg, has incorrect vents in back of the blow in doors and the canopy is a bit

off on it's split where it joins the windscreen. These are EASY fixes as far as I am

concerned.I am doing the Hasegawa because I got it dirt cheap and am willing to

do a bit of scratch building. Thanks again for the info Tommy.---John

[john53]

I just did the ribs in the main wheel wells using micro stretched sprue.

Next I will attempt to use some salvaged old telephone wire for the

wheel well piping.---John

[crackerjazz]

Wow, how'd you paint those rivets on the seat?   At 1/72 those are super tiny!

[john53]

The cockpit is installed, forward fuselage weighted and fuselage

halves closed and wings on. I taped the wings to set up, then when

they were dried up I removed the tape and puttied the offending seams.

After I sand them all down I can start work on the rear deck detailing.---John

 

[john53]

CJ ---all my small work is done with the aid of a magnifying visor. I

bought this gem at Harbor Freight for the amount of $5 to $10 if

I remember right, the original one I bought when I was living in New

England in 2010 was around $5 or less!---John

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, John!  Oh,  and did you just use a zero brush?   I try to do this too but  they look messy zoomed in on.   Your painted rivetheads look really round and clean.   

Edited March 7, 2018 by crackerjazz

[john53]

Here's my smallest brush used on micro work, 0000 but not sure of

the brand. I buy my brushes at Michael's. I also use a sewing needle

and a toothpick for small details such as buttons and switches on

instrument panels.---John

[john53]

I have the wings sanded and the nose on. I needed to fill the top

and bottom of the nose. I still need to sand the right wing tank.

This is probably the last Hasegawa F9F-2 I build, for it's flaws the

Hobbyboss-Trumpeter isn't this much work as far as filling and

sanding plus the details are better and the few flaws it has are not

that hard to fix. Hasegawa either needs to fix and update these

molds or go with a new tooling, this putty queen is getting old.---John

[john53]

The nose is sanded and blended in nice. I made the rib detail for the

rear deck from 3 pieces of stretched sprue and painted it black. Now

to fabricate the hot air defrost tubes from some lead wire.---John

[john53]

Hot air defrost system all done. Next is the horizontal stabilizers, canopy

in the closed position then mask and paint.---John

[john53]

I have all the piping in the wheel wells done. The horizontal stabilizers and

tail hook are also done.---John

[john53]

Canopy on, ready to mask and paint.---John

[john53]

Ready for the paint booth first thing tomorrow.---John

[john53]

It's blue.---John

[john53]

I unmasked, like the finish, too bad I have to gloss to

decal it. Can Future be sprayed with flat coat lacquer

like Testors flat coat without harming the finish?---John

[Major Walt]

That is a beautiful finish. Very smooth!

[john53]

Thanks, I started the metallic areas on the wing tip tanks. I made a 4 mm template

from card stock, didn't work as I wanted so I transferred the hole to a piece of

Tamiya tape . That did the job. The dash 3s had a smaller diameter metallic area

around the tip tanks than the dash 2s and 5s, or at least so I have seen, I could be wrong.

Wing leading edges next, they were also not as pronounced as the dash 2s and 5s.---John

 

 

 

[john53]

The top of the wing leading edges are done. When they dry up I'll mask and paint

the bottom side.---John

[john53]

Bottom of leading edges done and the cannon barrels are painted.---John

[john53]

I have the wings and horizontal stabilizers done with the leading

edges. Now all that's left is the tail then wheels and decals.---John