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Hobby Boss 1/48 F4F-3 "Simulbuild" (3 ea.)


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Just for the sake of getting something started, I'll get this started. I have 3 of the Hobby Boss F4F-3 kits; 2 late and one early, a raffle prize from the Eastern Front Group Build thanks to Mike Grant:

F4F001.jpg

I'll be building all three of these simultaneously (hence "simulbuild") since they will all be Blue Gray over Light Gray. Hopefully, one will be an early -3, one a late one and the third a -3a. They all have different cowlings that I want to reflect here.

Took the pile to work this morning and painted the usual interior green bits as well as the gray in the landing gear bay. I just used MM FS36492. I'm not going to fuss over the 'correct' color as it'll be pretty dirty in there anyway.

First observation-the sprue gates go into the mating surface on the wing parts:

F4F003edit.jpg

I'll start picking out the details in the cockpit after supper.

Ken

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i can't wait to see these gummen cats when they are done i have seen one at reno air race in the atlanic paint job he is allways in last place but i will rember that sound they make till the day i die i cant wait to see these weather are u going to make a island diearma to put them on??

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No dioramas-there's no room here for them :monkeydance: Any diorama space will be taken up with armor anyway. Besides, at least 2 of them will have operated off carriers pretty much full time-I'm still considering doing a Wake Island 'cat.

The fourth F4F I do for this group build will be a FM-2 in Atlantic. Of that I'm sure.

Ken

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"Interior green" is just a generic term I use when I paint a cockpit green :thumbsup: I use something that's a bit more blackish-yellow than Green Zinc Chromate.

Ken

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"Interior green" is just a generic term I use when I paint a cockpit green :jaw-dropping: I use something that's a bit more blackish-yellow than Green Zinc Chromate.

Ken

I see, nevermind then. But for those of you still a little confused over interior colors, there is a great pinned thread in the props forum on this topic. Interior Green is zinc chromate tinted with lamp black in a certain ratio specified by the military. It replaced Dull Dark Green which was a darker flat color with a significant bluish tint to it, Model Master Euro Dark Green I is a good match for this color. DDG replaced Bronze Green which was a very dark oily black green color with a semi gloss finish that did not work well in cockpits due to the glare from the semi gloss nature of the paint. There is no good FS equivalent, but WEM makes a decent color match.

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An update-not much to show for all the work but cockpit painting usually goes that way:

F4F007.jpg

The wing halves are assembled and cleaned up too. And here I hold up. The instruments on the panel are represented by blank openings so I (appropriately) ordered some of Mike Grant's decals.

So while I wait I'll be cleaning up the little bits and getting them painted. There seem to be more interior parts to the HB kit than the Tamiya -4 kit, and the sprue gates are thicker too making it a little trickier to get the small parts off the sprues.

Off to work on some armor.

Ken

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  • 3 weeks later...

Aaaaand we're back.

Got the decals a week ago but things have been busy here until this afternoon so I got some time to get the instrument panels squared away. I know-crappy pic but at least there's some progress:

F4F011.jpg

I went with Metallizer Gunmetal on the landing gear chains 'cause it looked the most like greasy bicycle chain to me. A little touchup around the corners and I'll have it. As you can see, everything inside the fuselage from firewall aft is one assembly so this would be the most time consuming part of the build. I'm hoping to have the time to get the assemblies done and the fuselages buttoned up by next weekend.

Ken

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"Tubs" are done:

F4F014.jpg

F4F013.jpg

For anyone else building this kit, a tip: Put the firewall into the tub before the cockpit. You can't get glue on the firewall join with the assembled cockpit in place.

I'm still on pace for having 3 assembled airframes by Sunday night.

Ken

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a bit of an update, even tho it doesn't look like a lot of progress. The "tubs" Hobby Boss engineered the kit for fit like crap. You have basically 4 loosely aligned bulkheads going up into assembled fuselage halves. It was a mess, and a lot of detail was lost sanding everything flush:

F4F020.jpg

F4F021.jpg

Maybe I should do a Wake Island diorama... If I had it to do again I would secure the cockpit section into the fuselage halves instead of to the lower section. That just leaves the landing gear bulkhead which was pretty easy to align and fit.

The other bogus-err-bonus to following the instructions is the headrest bulkhead doesn't sit high enough:

F4F023.jpg

It takes some real force and a bit of superglue to get them to sit up in place, and they still aren't quite right:

F4F025.jpg

A little filler and some careful sanding should clean it up. Oddly, it seems the left fuselage half is short shot where it aligns with the bulkhead.

Ken

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The gap issue on all three of these was where the wing root halves meet. I really had to jam it to get it to come together, and it's just close.

I dry fitted the wings and I can see how they're gonna be a riot :thumbsup: Tamiya's idea is better. Good thing I still have a few months-wonder if I can knock out the Sword kit in the meantime...

Ken

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Am amazed by your progress. I did an FM-1 before and can't imagine doing the same model afterwards after my experience with the fit of the fuselage tub. But in your case you are building THREE of them at the same time. Great work and looking forward for more progress pics.

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Well, the wings are on (he said through clenched teeth):

F4F.jpg

Viper was right. The dihedral didn't want to work out, I had to shim one of them up, sand the fairings on the fuselage to get the angles "right" (I don't know if they're "right", but they're the same) and there are still gaps to fill.

I'm gonna give this a rest and move on to the cowls and engines. Meantime, I'm having more fun wrapping up my old PACAIR2 builds:

F6F006.jpg

Paint's done. Now for some decals :)

Ken

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On with the cowls. I started with a -3 early and 2 -3 lates. Out of this I want an early, a late and a -3a. here are the cowls as supplied:

F4F015-1.jpg

F4F018-1.jpg

In order to do this, I have to alter 2 of them. The easy one was the 3a. I just cut out the air cooler intakes and cleaned it up:

F4F031.jpg

The -3 early was a little trickier. It's not the same as the -3 early kit part because it doesn't have the carb intake on top. A -3 late cowl had to be modified, which has way too many cooling vent flaps. I cut and sanded the material that was in between the flaps, cracked them on the hinge line where they would fold shut and glued them closed. The gaps are filled with Evergreen:

F4F033-1.jpg

F4F034-1.jpg

Note that the flaps are too long anyway. I'll take this to work tomorrow and clean it up on my breaks.

Ken

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Got the engines together. The adjectives I would use to describe the experience would likely get me banned for life here. There are no positive means of locating the gearcase to the front. Only a vague tab that the case itself cannot reach with the attempt at depicting plug wires. It stands too far off the cylinders to mate up. I actually flipped the last one over and shoved it into the workbench to try to get something to make contact. All three have liquid cement ran into it with the toothpicks holding the whole mess into place:

F4F035.jpg

I'm sure a couple of them will probably pop apart before this is over, but hey-the propeller shaft is just a press fit anyway. The whole mess can be glued together with no real loss of features. And I'm not going to try to duplicate plug wires on these builds.

For anyone who is reading this and thinking of starting the one in their stash, a summary: Don't let the mass of parts fool you. It builds like a limited run kit. I will be happy to put these builds to bed and start the Sword kit.

Ken

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As predicted right here folks, the canopies are a mess too. Check out the step between the windscreen and sliding bit:

F4F037.jpg

The windscreen is glued down, the rest is just sitting there. Raising the front of the sliding bit level makes an uneven vertical gap between the two. Taking off material from the bottom of the windscreen to bring it down wipes out the framing. And of course, they're too thick to just pose open.

:cheers:

The cowl is cleaned up and fitted. A coat of lacquer primer and some Mr. Surfacer here and there cleaned it up. I cheated and just scribed the cowl flaps. With all the trouble it is to just build one of these, I didn't want to take the time opening them:

F4F036.jpg

Still plenty to do...

Ken

(edit) It may be better to add some styrene to the bottoms of the sliding canopy parts. They seem a little lean down there anyway...

Edited by WymanV
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(edit) It may be better to add some styrene to the bottoms of the sliding canopy parts. They seem a little lean down there anyway...

Yeah, that's probably what I would do.

Kev

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And so I did. Here's the two of them with one sanded to fit:

F4F042.jpg

in the end, I think the windscreen was too tall. There's a gap between the fuselage spine and the canopy but considering the alternative, I can live with it.

But now get this. The issue with this build was the F4F-3 Early kit. It comes with a telescopic gunsight and corresponding hole in the windscreen (and FYI-both kits came with the telescope so if you want to do an early one, the late kit and a drill bit will get you there too) making it unusable for my build. However, I have Sword's FM-2 and as luck would have it, it had 2 sets of canopy sprues. I had to sand a bit of a different angle into the "seat" of the windscreen but other than that, it matches up just like the other two:

F4F041.jpg

And I didn't need to add an Evergreen strip to it. It's missing a frame but if I need to, I can put a bit of painted Bare Metal Foil on it later.

I like it when the canopies are on. It's a short path from here to the paint shop.

Ken

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