F7F (P-65) Tigercat

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

But.....

I know that somebody here built one some time ago in Vietnam era camo - I have a clear memory of it sitting alongside a Wyvern, also in Vietnam colours. I'm thinking 'bout doing one later this year, and ALSO thinking of finishing it in the same scheme, but with black undersurfaces and Air Commando stripes - from the Tamiya A-1 Skyraider.

But as usual, I could be persuaded otherwise.

As depart from my normal 'paints kits differently' mantra, in my minds eye I can see it wearing wingtip tanks, toting LAU-3 pods and festooned with 60's era aerials. So given that I'm seeing it firmly set in the 1960's..... who else would be using the Tigercat (doesn't have to be a CoIn machine) ??. It may be wishful thinking but didn't our own Mr. Helsig  do a couple of profiles in times gone by.

Right enough waffle, over to you lot.... give me some more ideas....

Ian

[GTX]

who else would be using the Tigercat

How about some of the Bearcat operators - France, Thailand or South Vietnam?  Maybe also Indonesia or the Philippines - keeping in the same general area.

Regards,

Greg

[Archangel]

Canada -I know its been done sometime ago.

South America operators.
Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Venezuela
Colombia
Ecuador

Australia
South Vietnam
ROK
ROC
Thailand
Phillipines
Japan

England
FAA
RAF - F7F-2N
West Germany
France
Italy
Greece
Ireland
Norway

[Mossie]

I'm thinking RAF too & based on your original idea of Vietnam, an alternative history with Britain involved.  I've thought in the past about an RAF two colour version of SEA camo.  Dark Earth or Olive Green, with Dark Earth, Mid Stone or Light Stone maybe, over LAG?

[jcf]

Howzabout a COIN F7F that borrows the layout of the Lockheed CL760?

Jon

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Other than the contribution from Wes' W (aka Tigercat) the F7F topic has been minimal.  Jennings' did provide some nice Tigercat WHIF profiles a while back but the the links to the images are no longer supported so the topic that contained them was removed.  Perhaps he can upload them again.  There were several COIN types that he had done in SEA camouflage that were striking.  There was also some discussion within that particular thread about replacing the P&W R-2800 engines on the Tigercat with the Bristol Centarus and some five blade propellers from the Sea Fury.  Jennings' had also obliged with several WHIF Tigercat profiles in Commonwealth markings.  Thanks to those profiles I felt compelled to source a couple of the 1/48th scale Hobby Craft Sea Fury kits to see if I could follow through with a WHIF based on those profiles.

[GTX]

Another possibility would be for a Reno style racer.

Regards,

Greg

[jcf]

Another Brit engine choice would be a late civil-type Hercules 7XX series with rear-swept exhaust, similar in size (52 in diameter versus 52.8 in) and output to the R-2800-22 used in most F7F yet lighter. Add five-blade props and Bristol 170 'Freighter', H-P 'Hermes' or 'Hastings' or similar style cowlings, retaining the grouped ejector exhaust of the F7F, and you're set.

Jon

[kitnut617]

Another Brit engine choice would be a late civil-type Hercules 7XX series with rear-swept exhaust, similar in size (52 in diameter versus 52.8 in) and output to the R-2800-22 used in most F7F yet lighter. Add five-blade props and Bristol 170 'Freighter', H-P 'Hermes' or 'Hastings' or similar style cowlings, retaining the grouped ejector exhaust of the F7F, and you're set.

Jon

When I did my Mk.31 Freighter I used the Magna Models conversion.  Among the many bits in the conversion you get are a pair of cowlings and in the past I have been able to get selective parts from Magna, albeit it was through Aircraft in Miniature at the time as they were the distributor for Magna until they practically closed down.

Maybe an email to Magna might produce just the cowlings.

[philp]

Have pulled these off the site previously:

[philp]

Wow, looks like that might have actually worked.

Here are some civvy versions I also grabbed earlier:

















The tank has been done as a conversion kit in both 72nd and 48th scale.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

That's great, Phil, I knew I wasn't going crazy about those profiles. I'm still inclined to build a Vietnam CoIn machine. I mentioned in the lead-in post that I was thinking 'bout using the Tamiya A-1H decals.... well the aircraft in Jennings 'TC' coded profile is wearing those markings almost exactly..... great minds and all that 

Still set-on the wingtip tanks too, but also now thinking of substituting the props for those in the Tamiya F-51 kit. Four bladed with a spinner would change the appearence quite noticeably. This means I would have to build the F-51's as standard P-51's with cuffed Hamilton props but that's not any sort of hardship is it ?

Thanks for all the help and inspiration so far, chaps..... Keep 'em coming.

Ian

[Archangel]

I was thinking just lately that a COIN/FAC F7f Tigercat would be easy to do using the old Monogram kit or any of the newer releases. As a FAC plane it would already have advantages over the O-1/O-2s with the use of the 4X.50 cals and the 4X 20mm guns. The hardpoints on the wings would need little modification if any to use the rocket pods the O-2s used  and they could be supported by either F-8F Bearcats or A-1 Skyraiders.

[AeroplaneDriver]

These pics dont add much to the debate, but what the heck.  I took these last summer (a year ago this week in fact) at the airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  One of the themes last year was Unlimited class Air Racers, and they had a couple of Mustangs (which were unfortunately involved in a fatal accident the day after we left), a Corsair, a Sea Fury, and this Tigercat, the only one on the race circuit.  Now, there are few sounds I like better than a RR Merlin at full boost, but the noise this thing made going past at a pretty leisurely pace of about 300kts made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

[Mossie]

Nice pic Nick!

Don't know how far you're on with this Ian, but a Football War machine in either El Salvador or Honduras colours would look good.  It fits the sixties time frame, & the aerial fit would have been of the era.  There's some great jungle camo schemes that both sides wore (& all individual so you could have a bit of fun with your own scheme), have a look on the ACIG page:

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/printer_156.shtml