jonwinn Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 (edited) BTW those arrows are meaningless if they are a location aid. I built a ton of these and never saw these arrows. I always went by the "seat" and the rounded areas of the nose well. just saying. jon Edited October 3, 2021 by jonwinn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 I have the fuselage all closed up and 22 grams of weight in the nose. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gwen Phoenix Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 22 hours ago, Chriss7607 said: Converting the Monogram -5 into a -2 is possible with a little effort and, in my opinion, ends up better than what Trumpeter/Hobbycraft offers. If you don't want to do the staggered cut, a straight vertical cut ahead of the intakes will still work. The only thing with that approach is that the canopy has to be displayed open since it will shorten the decking under it. That never bothered me, so being the simpler route that was what I went with. The vertical tail has more than enough meat to be reshaped without any problems. I used the old 1/48 scale Detail & Scale drawings to get the right shapes. The wing leading edges near the intakes are easy to cut down as well. They will need a little filling but it's nothing bad. The only other detail is the stepped side console on the left side of the cockpit, near the throttle. I don't remember what I did but it must not have been that hard. That's at least the very basics of the work involved. Wow, Chriss; thanks a lot for this piece of info! On 10/2/2021 at 7:12 PM, jonwinn said: No replacements on this build, and if you cut the fuselage in the right place you can shorten it by the necessary 8 inches, then comes the fun with the tail shape. See here. http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/10/grumman-panther.html Easily said than done, but I think I'm in for that staggered cut. Thank you both, guys. Cheers, Gwen Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Same here. After this build I am going to look for another cheap one on E Bay and try that "crooked cut" myself. I need a long term project to keep me motivated. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 (edited) I sanded the fuselage and found it needs a bit of putty. In some spots it's flush and other areas have a very small step, looks like 1/4 to 1/2 mm. Enough to be annoying and add a bit of putty. I also cut off the 2 front cannon barrels as they were about to break off anyways. jon Edited October 4, 2021 by jonwinn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Just a bit curious. I just looked at the large blow in door on my Monogram -5, it's rectangular. I was under the belief that it had one corner of that door notched at an angle to clear the larger -5 engine. I re checked some information and there was a member from here years ago that went to a "webinar" on the Panther about the time the Trumpeter kit came out, 2007 or 2008. He said that "some" of the -5s had the door notched, not all. Any ideas on that? My Detail and Scale book has a 3 view drawing showing the door on the -5 notched. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 7 hours ago, jonwinn said: Just a bit curious. I just looked at the large blow in door on my Monogram -5, it's rectangular. I was under the belief that it had one corner of that door notched at an angle to clear the larger -5 engine. I re checked some information and there was a member from here years ago that went to a "webinar" on the Panther about the time the Trumpeter kit came out, 2007 or 2008. He said that "some" of the -5s had the door notched, not all. Any ideas on that? My Detail and Scale book has a 3 view drawing showing the door on the -5 notched. jon More on the F9F-2 vs. F9F-5 here: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/10/grumman-panther.html and here: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2017/12/grumman.html As far as the cutoff of the lower aft corner of the bigger blow-in door is concerned, I can’t say unequivocally that no F9F-5s were delivered without it, but it seems unlikely. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Thanks, I will look for images of the plane I want to model. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 The plane I am modeling. Is that small light above the pilot's forearm the collision light that is behind the canopy and offset to the starboard side? If so I guess the pilot is facing the tail with his back to the nose. Looks like a seat harness in back of him in the shadows. Unfortunately this doesn't show the blow in doors. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 So, during the 50s they were wearing flight jackets with a lot of patches on. I thought that this was a "trend" that started in the late 70s but obviously I was wrong. Now, where do I have that leather flight jacket....hmmmmm🤔 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 (edited) They were wearing them in the 1940s during WWII when my father was in the USAAF. jon Edited October 4, 2021 by jonwinn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 7 hours ago, jonwinn said: The plane I am modeling. Is that small light above the pilot's forearm the collision light that is behind the canopy and offset to the starboard side? If so I guess the pilot is facing the tail with his back to the nose. Looks like a seat harness in back of him in the shadows. Unfortunately this doesn't show the blow in doors. jon The big suck-in door (the centrifugal compressor required more air at low speed than could be provided by the engine inlet so this inlet opened to the plenum chamber surrounding the compressor) is marked with “no step” in the picture. The light is not an anti collision light - that came later after a midair of two airliners over the Grand Canyon; it may be a formation light but I’ll have to do a little research on that. Note that the pilot is facing aft on the fillet between the fuselage and the wing; I’m pretty sure that’s the underside of the open canopy just to the left of his right shoulder. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 (edited) That was the upper fuselage formation or section light. It probably had a transparent blue cover. It was almost certainly white. There was another on the belly. For more see, https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/03/exterior-lights.html Edited October 5, 2021 by Tailspin Turtle Change color of light... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 OK, so that no step is actually close to the angled corner of the large blow in door. That being said I have to make the rear lower corner of my Monogram Panthers blow in door angled and NOT rectangular like Monogram did. So I guess Trumpeter is not the only one who screwed up the Panther. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 3 hours ago, Tailspin Turtle said: That was the upper fuselage formation or section light. It probably had a transparent blue cover. There was another on the belly. For more see, https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/03/exterior-lights.html Further research revealed that these lights, one on top of the fuselage and the other on the bottom, were white. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 Thanks Tommy, so I need to add one to the top then paint top and bottom white, I goofed and painted my -2s red. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 6, 2021 Author Share Posted October 6, 2021 I scribed the doors angled side. Hopefully it's the right size. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Not sure if this is the correct angle. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 A bit too much. See https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/F9F-5_Panther_of_VF-63_in_flight_1953.jpg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Yup, slighter angle looks better. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Since you’re going to that much trouble, note that the smaller door aft of that one is not rectangular. The upper side is angled “parallel” to the upward curve of the fuselage in the photo of F9F-5 differences here (also, I just noticed that the small NACA inlet is not apparent in the picture): https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/10/grumman-panther.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Also see the relationship of the suck-in doors and the NACA inlet here: http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason/f9f-5_125295/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 (edited) According to those walk around pictures Monogram got nothing correct except there are doors somewhere near the tail. Actually the large blow in doors begin in the curve of the spine where it starts up to the tail not in the flat area before the tail. The small blow in door looks to be further back and more up into the curve of the leading edge of the tail. I might just add an angled side to the small blow in door. All said we need a new tool F9F-5 AND F9F-2. No one did justice to the Panther except maybe Paul Fisher, I've never seen that one up close and personal but have heard that it is very well detailed. Why did the museum put a red anti collision light on the spine? Is it not suppose to be white? jon Edited October 7, 2021 by jonwinn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 (edited) Just out of curiosity where does the spine start curving up on the fuselage? It almost looks like it's right after the canopy ends almost. jon Edited October 7, 2021 by jonwinn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 There is an EXCELLENT build of a Fisher 1/32 F9F-5, Blue Tail Fly, at LSP. It has the details dead on! Go to Large Scale Planes and see how it should be! jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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