Trumpeter 1/32 F4F-4

[prem895]

Have not had a lot of time to do too much, but it looks like today I will get that cockpit most of the way done. I was wondering what type of seat belts and shoulder straps to use and found that F4F-4 only had lap belts. That is why the gunsight has such a large cushion on it.This was used on hard landings so they would not smash their mellons. Have you guys seen this AWESOME walkaround? Bar none the best ever!!!!! Absolutely no reason to get anything painted wrong now.



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrC3puZ8cwY



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT0MET8DIAY



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cauchJnkvuE

 

[fubar57]

was wondering what type of seat belts and shoulder straps to use and found that F4F-4 only had lap belts.

That's only the earliest versions......

​

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Shoulder harnesses started getting added to the Wildcat just before the Battle of Midway. Great article about the addition of the shoulder harness here

Tailhook Topics: Shoulder Harness Redux

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[prem895]

Got to here only. To many distractions

 

[SANCER]

I really liked that engine.
Thanks for those videos; Will be excellent reference to future.

Saludos

 

[prem895]

Took a little artist liberty here. This is taking longer than expected. As for seatbelts, I think these F8f buckles will work out fine in combination with this foil for the belts. I think the foil texture is going to look good if I can figure this all out. I guess we will find out one way or another. I know half the stuff I do now, I would have not been able to do just a couple of kits back.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Builder 2010]

Very nice, neat work. As for the wings: I found that the scheme Trumpeter uses to make working flight surfaces nerve wracking. On my Avenger, I'm scrapping the entire deal and gluing the flight surfaces in tight. I've been blogging the build of that model and did a lot of added detailing on the wing fold area since I'm going to pose it with the wings folded, just so it doesn't take up so much room. Spark plug wires look great and I liked how you attached them to the ignition ring BEFORE gluing it into the engine. I should have done that, but instead wrestled with those microscopic Eduard PE wires.

 

[prem895]

Not sure what to do with the wings yet. Will have to see if it is strong enough to open and close. If I don't like what I see i will glue the wings in flight position.

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[prem895]

Well I managed to get the pit done with shoulder belts. They looked a lot better until I decided to give them a bend here and there to try to give the pe brass a more relaxed look. That is when it started to happen. First broke the bond on one lap belt. Then too much bend and broke this part then that. You all know this feeling. Should of just left it the hell alone and this would not have happened. Kinda recovered though. This is the best my skill set will allow at this time.
This mess will be wing stuff when done. I just hope the folding thing works out. If not, glue in flight. Almost forgot, this engine mount is a bit tricky. To get everything to align property I let the glue get kinda set, but where it can still be manipulated. The trick is to get all the attachment points to all hold at the same time, Then seal the deal with a dab of crazy glue on all those areas. At this point I am pretty happy with the build.

Sometimes I just touch it too much and go one step back. Not to be repeated on the next victim.

 

[Wurger]

 

[F-104nut]

Sweet job on the cockpit. Those belts look really great

 

[prem895]

I have managed to get the wings done and get them to work. The problem is that unless you glue them in the in flight position they tend to droop kind of resembling a seagull wing. No pictures of this. So I glued the lot. Getting the cockpit to line up is a whole different story as this picture explains better than I can in words.

 

[prem895]

As you can see I had to cut off the gun sight so I can get it to fit in that hole in the fuse. Also cockpit location points are a mess. Yes I did build the seat bulkhead a bit forward, but not enough to make it impossible to get lined up correctly. Just some CA glue and a little persuasion will fix that. The best way to get this a neat and such is to align the cockpit to the port side first by getting the 2 bulkheads to fit flush and center. It all seems to fit when I gave it a dry fit test run. Now it all has to work as planned, this time with glue. I will only have a very short window to work with as CA sets up quick Wings need a bit of tidy up, but with a few coats of paint should cover up most of the small gaps and such

 

[Wurger]

Looking good though.

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far!

 

[Robert Porter]

Really nice work! I am enjoying every bit of this build!