Grumman F4F-4

[strobez]

After stringing all those posts, I wished I could shrink down to 1/72 to get inside.... argh... thick fingers!

Anyway, I got the cockpit set up now, so it's time to start some painting.  Hopefully nothing goes terribly wrong now.

[Captain Canada]

We do it for the joy of doing it 

Great work on this one ! The engine looks awesome. What's the deal with the tanks ?

[zenrat]

I know the feeling.  Sometimes an obsession takes hold and before you know it you are making krispy kreme boxes, road atlases, parking permits, coffees & cup holders and overflowing ashtrays for 1/25 cars.

[Rick Lowe]

"Obsession"? Sounds more like a Regular Modeller to me... in fact, sounds a lot like me... 

[strobez]

I knew I wasn't alone!

Some homemade decals really bring the scratchbuilt cockpit to life.

[Old Wombat]

Woh! Cool!

[NARSES2]

Your'e doing a fantastic job with this 

[strobez]

Ok. So the engine is painted, and the cockpit and engine have beeen installed and the airframe glued together.

[Dizzyfugu]

Sweet! 

[TheChronicOne]

That engine came out great!! 

[strobez]

I decided to spare you guys (and me) from the pics of two days of basically sanding.  I'll have to put some primer on now to see if there's any touch ups required.  However, I did get the wing stubs drilled out (even though I put one in the wrong place on the opposite, non-photographed side). Next will be to tackle the edges of the wing tips I think.

[NARSES2]

This really is a fantastic build of what looks like a fairly "average" old kit. In all honesty I don't think I've built it so cant really compare ?

[strobez]

Thanks for the encouragement! The kit is indeed pretty basic.  I picked up 3 for $1.75 each with the original intention of using the cockpit/props for spares... only to find there was no cockpit at all and the props where less than ideal.  I figured I'd better do something with them though... so here we are.   

Anyway, was able to get some primer on and found no real touch ups were necessary.  So I painted the back wall of the cockpit green.  Now I just need to add a head rest and I can put the canopy on and get down to the exterior paint job.  I'm thinking I'm going try some "fancy" stuff by overpainting the decals to make the seem faded out.  For a $1.75, I'm not going to complain if I screw it up. Right?

[TimJ]

Great work so far.

[strobez]

Couldn't resist finishing up a bit more today... added the head rest, some tape seat belts (I have some photo etch, but I save them for open cockpits) and then sealed up the canopy.  Even though it's closed, you can still see a fair bit of the detail, so I'm happy.





Now on to masking and painting!