2 Cougars from Kitty Hawk

[Darren Roberts]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[Laurent]

So far the most frustrating thing is the actual plastic. It's soft, yet brittle. It's the weirdest thing.

It reminds me of the AA J-7 kit. Plastic barely reacted to Tamiya Green cement

[Neo]

remind me of the plastic used on the academy T-50 Rokaf i snapped so many part white cutting the off the spue with my xuron sprue cutter

[dnl42]

I've mostly given up on /cutting/ parts off the sprue; I now use a JLC saw almost exclusively. I wonder how it would do against this?

[dnl42]

BTW, I got the new digital D&S F9F Cougar book--very nice!

[Gene K]

I've mostly given up on /cutting/ parts off the sprue;

A heated Xacto blade can be used to judiciously slice through thick sprue away from the delicate parts to provide strain relief. The same heated blade can then easily free the small parts (less stress on the plastic than snippers or saw blades).

Heat the blade using a candle or get a woodburner with an Xacto head.

Gene K

[Darren Roberts]

A heated Xacto blade can be used to judiciously slice through thick sprue away from the delicate parts to provide strain relief. The same heated blade can then easily free the small parts (less stress on the plastic than snippers or saw blades).

Heat the blade using a candle or get a woodburner with an Xacto head.

Gene K

Gene, that's just brilliant!

[Ben Brown]

Yes, so now, not only can you cut the @$@%@%# out of your finger with the Xacto blade, you can cauterize the wound at the same time! :D

Ben

[DonSS3]

What kind of glue are you using, Darren? I had crumbling/brittleness like that on a Monogram Harrier that I used CA glue on. :doh:/> Using Tenax and/or Testors liquid, I had no issues.If CA, maybe it's too "hot."

Edited July 25, 2014 by DonSS3

[Darren Roberts]

What kind of glue are you using, Darren? I had crumbling/brittleness like that on a Monogram Harrier that I used CA glue on. :doh:/>/> Using Tenax and/or Testors liquid, I had no issues.If CA, maybe it's too "hot."

I'm using good old Testor's liquid glue in the black plastic container.

[Gene K]

... you can cauterize the wound at the same time! :D/>/>/>

Yes, that would work if you're out of CA.

Going back to "slicing" the plastic, vice fingers: the Xacto blade gets hotter at the base (wide part) than the tip, so going through large sprue is best done with the base, while delicate parts are easily set free with slower/more control using the tip. Especially great for clear parts that too often crack/craze/mar where they are removed from the sprues with saws, blades, or snippers.

Gene K

[DonSS3]

I'm using good old Testor's liquid glue in the black plastic container.

Well, there goes THAT theory...

[KAGNEW]

a footnote

i use Testors 3502 and a capillary needle to glue all kits together.

my partner uses Tamiya

[Darren Roberts]

a footnote

i use Testors 3502 and a capillary needle to glue all kits together.

my partner uses Tamiya

I'll be using Tamiya Extra Thin next time. A question. Why is KH using ABS plastic instead of the standard plastic that most kit manufacturers use? If the plastic were like Hasegawa, Tamiya, Revell, etc., this would have been a much more enjoyable experience. The kit itself is very, very nice. Here's where I'm at as of now:

[Joel_W]

I would guess that they saved a ton of money by switching types of plastic.

Joel

[jenshb]

According to this site

http://plasticker.de/preise/pms_en.php?show=ok&make=ok&aog=A&kat=Mahlgut

the average price of ABS and PS (Polystyrene) is comparable, so choosing a high performance plastic like ABS doesn't give any cost benefits. It still seems to be a poor choice of the raw material though, and I believe that is done is to reduce costs and increase profit margins.

Jens

[Joel_W]

I'm still waiting for some actual verification that Tamiya Extra Thin works with that plastic.

Joel

[Johnopfor]

Yes, so now, not only can you cut the @$@%@%# out of your finger with the Xacto blade, you can cauterize the wound at the same time! :D/>

Ben

Just don't drop it in your lap, or you'll cauterize something else.......

[sierrascale]

I'm still waiting for some actual verification that Tamiya Extra Thin works with that plastic.

Joel

Here's my WIP done with Tamiya Extra Thin, that's all I've used for years. Creates a tough bond, in fact I missaligned one part and later had to saw thru it. Also have pix of the F-101A and F-94C:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47751/message/1406488033/My+KH+Twogar+F9F-8T%2C+WIP+1

[Gene K]

Here's my WIP ...

So glad you posted here as I hardly ever get over to "that" site (threads are too hard to follow). I'll have to get over there more often to follow your builds.

Gene K

[Ben Brown]

Here's my WIP done with Tamiya Extra Thin, that's all I've used for years. Creates a tough bond, in fact I missaligned one part and later had to saw thru it. Also have pix of the F-101A and F-94C:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47751/message/1406488033/My+KH+Twogar+F9F-8T%2C+WIP+1

That is looking good! I'm getting (a little) excited about the single-seater, now.

Anyone having problems with cyano glue sticking to the plastic, or is it just the liquids that aren't made for ABS that are having problems?

Ben

[sierrascale]

That is looking good! I'm getting (a little) excited about the single-seater, now.

Anyone having problems with cyano glue sticking to the plastic, or is it just the liquids that aren't made for ABS that are having problems?

Ben

If you look at Darren Roberts' build in In Progress Pics, he initially used Testors cement and all the parts fell apart. He then switched to CA. I thought when I was sanding mine that it smelled kind of funny, not like like polystyrene. So I got out some sheets of ABS that I had saved from a project some 20 years ago and sanded them - sure enough - same smell. That said, Tamiya Extra Thin had no problem bonding the parts and mine is ready for painting tonight.

(Edited to remove redundant links - didn't realize Darren had posted his progress wips here in In Progress Pics.)

Edited July 29, 2014 by sierrascale

[MoFo]

According to this site

http://plasticker.de/preise/pms_en.php?show=ok&make=ok&aog=A&kat=Mahlgut

the average price of ABS and PS (Polystyrene) is comparable, so choosing a high performance plastic like ABS doesn't give any cost benefits. It still seems to be a poor choice of the raw material though, and I believe that is done is to reduce costs and increase profit margins.

Jens

Different operating temperatures/flow rates/cooling rates/duty cycles? I dunno. The raw material may be the same price, but production costs could be lower.

Alternatively, it could be that whatever factory is actually producing KH's kits run ABS, and they're either saving money by using them for production, or just by not having to clean out the production line in order to switch to styrene.

[Ben Brown]

If you look at Darren Roberts' build in In Progress Pics, he initially used Testors cement and all the parts fell apart. He then switched to CA. I thought when I was sanding mine that it smelled kind of funny, not like like polystyrene. So I got out some sheets of ABS that I had saved from a project some 20 years ago and sanded them - sure enough - same smell. That said, Tamiya Extra Thin had no problem bonding the parts and mine is ready for painting tonight.

(Edited to remove redundant links - didn't realize Darren had posted his progress wips here in In Progress Pics.)

Thanks! I don't get to that section of the forum very often. Darren's build is looking great!

Ben

[Joel_W]

Here's my WIP done with Tamiya Extra Thin, that's all I've used for years. Creates a tough bond, in fact I missaligned one part and later had to saw thru it. Also have pix of the F-101A and F-94C:

http://www.network54...F9F-8T%2C+WIP+1

Sierrascale,

Thank you for posting that Tamiya's Extra Thin had no issues in bonding the ABS plastic. Now I'm once again looking forward to KH's Cougars and Panther.

Joel