Tamiya F4F-4 WIldcat

[thug626]

Jcon Thank you my brother. It really is a nice base kit. One can go OOB with it. Or go hog wild on detail, and still be able to work with it. I picked up a Tamiya Ki-48 Hayate today. It's and older kit with some of the panel lines being raised. The kit itself will lend itself nicely to some home built detailing.

[BUCKY]

Nice progress on this one!

[JCON]

Look forward to seeing what you do with the ol' Frank down the road!!!

[JEFF]

Lookin' pretty sweet, Dave. Well played, Bro.

[thug626]

Good afternoon everyone. This build is rolling along faster than I had thought it would. I finished painting the engine, and gave it some weathering. The inner wing panels are now permanent. The cowl and prop are only dry fitted.




Ignition wires are from some copper stock I accumulated. It'll get painted before the cowl gets mounted.


The main landing gear assembly got painted last night. I'll hit it with an oil wash and highlights before final assembly.

[JCON]

Fast and furious right here!!!

[BUCKY]

This thing is flying!!!

(Okay....hat and coat....I know)

[JEFF]

Not very far though, I'd think.

Nice progress, Dave. Looking sharp, Dude.

[thug626]

Jcon Well, today wasn't as fast and furious as I would have liked. A lot of chores got done outside though.
Keith Now, now, now. There's not need to grad your hat and coat. You'd fit right in around this household.
Jeff Not as far as I had hoped today. However, I did get the decals in the mail today....along with a bunch more of Mission Models paints.

I think my plans were bigger than what I could deliver today. No base coats laid down, but I did get the gloss primer coat, and dark aluminum undercoat down. There are a few areas I would like to do a bit of chipping with. High traffic, maintenance areas.....


These are the color plates and decals that arrived today. I've never worked with these decals before....fingers crossed.

[JCON]

They look good!!!

[JEFF]

Cool Decs, Bub. Should dress things up really well.

[BUCKY]

Looking forward to seeing those laid down!

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Looking awesome!

[ARMORGUY]

Awesome details !

[thug626]

Jcon Yes they do.
Jeff They certainly have....read on.
Keith Wait no more. They are all on now. This will be a big pic update.
Bruce Thank you kindly.
Armorguy Thank you very much.

The base coats are all done and the paint chipped.  I used Vallejo Chipping medium.  Only a dusting of the stuff will help to render some rather nice effects. 


I painted the control surfaces a lighter shade as they were fabric covered.





The decals went on nicely. They are thin, and fairly durable. They had a bit of a time snuggling down over the rivets on the fuselage though.




This was todays progress. Exhaust stacks and staining.



The landing light is an MV lens



Weathering....

[JEFF]

Nice chipping and an awesome job with those decals, Dave.

[JCON]

The lighter shade on the control panels was an excellent move...

[rick]

Really liking that cat. Paintwork is superb. Like the idea of lightening the fabric. Looks great.

[thug626]

Jeff Thank you kindly for the compliment. The starboard fuselage insignia got so incredibly c***ed up. I usually use Walthers Solvaset, but these decals would not respond to it. Fortunately I have some alcohol based decal solutions. I manipulating the decal I tore a chunk off of it. With a lot of patience and a bit of creative language, I got it back and properly lined up.
Jcon Thank you my friend It took me a while to realize that those surfaces are not the same hue as the rest of the bird.
Rick Thank you very much my good man. Fifty one trips around the sun, and I feel like I am finally getting a grip on weathered finishes.

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

Pretty sweet work.