Hobby Boss 1/48 F4F-3S Wildcatfish

[pourquoi61]

Here is my entry for PTO. This plane was found to be too sluggish as the performance of the basic F4F-3 was already below that of the Zero, the F4F-3S was clearly of limited usefulness and as such only one was converted.The Americans wanted a counterpart for the A6M2-N Rufe so it could be used on the island hopping campaign in the pacific where landing strips were unavailable.

[Avgas]

Weird one. Bit like that Devestator on floats. Somebody does a Spit on floats as well, might be Hobbyboss.

[pourquoi61]

I think it is a 1/32 kit but by whom I do not know.

[pourquoi61]

I could not wait to start this one, I did notice that the detail on the parts is a little soft and so is the plastic.
No colour call out for the engine and front part what ever that is called, so I painted the engine black and then dry brushed silver. The front part I painted Tamiya XF-64 Dark Sea Grey. The fit was not a very good fit, no solid locating pins/ lugs.


The interior was painted with Mr Hobby H 422 RLM82 Light Green.

I glued the two halves of the fuselage together and glued on the bottom fin(?) Then I glued on the tail fins, both needed a small amount of filler.



I will be going quiet for a while after this, as I am heading off on holiday to Thomas Hardy's Wessex.

[OliveDrab]

I never knew this aircraft even existed, coming along well

[privatepete]

Hi a odd one you have found there, nice start, Dave it's Hasegawa 1/32 and 1/24 Trumpeter that make a Spit on float's also 1/72 convention kik though you would like to known

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

A float one! Sweet!
Looking forward to this one!

[pourquoi61]

I never knew this aircraft even existed, coming along well

Thank you for that, I do like a plane with floats.

[pourquoi61]

Hi a odd one you have found there, nice start, Dave it's Hasegawa 1/32 and 1/24 Trumpeter that make a Spit on float's also 1/72 convention kik though you would like to known

Thank you,I do lie odd. I had a feeling that there was one out in kit land, thanks for putting it right.

[pourquoi61]

A float one! Sweet!
Looking forward to this one!

Yes it is small but well formed.

[Lysus]

I'll just set down over here. Enjoy your trip, can't wait to see more on this.

[pourquoi61]

Back from Hardy country and on with the build. Going out of order I glued the two halves of the wing together, just a little sanding to get a nice fit.

I then painted the oil cooler grills on the wings( sorry if that is not what they are ) and exhausts Citadel Leadbelcher.


I then assembled the cockpit tub. It went together very well with no problems.




I glued in the cockpit and closed the two halves of the fuselage together. It left a large step to sand down and smooth.

[pourquoi61]

My word I am enjoying this build, so my next move was to remove the steps in the fuselage. This done I the set about joining the wings and the fit was very good with only a small amount of filler used on the wing root.



All good so far.


The engine was glued in place, only a small sanding job for a good fit.

This picture is out of step with the others as this shows the wing root filler. A tiny amount pushed in with a cocktail stick and the excess was removed with a damp cotton bud.

On with the build, I chose to start the floats next. The fit was okay but I had to sand down the top of the floats for a good fit once joined.

The float struts have been lightly glued in position as where they join the fuselage, no locating pins or holes are provided, so a little bit of manoeuvring will be required.

On to the trestle wheels, I have only done two here dumb model builder syndrome here me thinks, I have two more to do.


Next I gave the model a coat of matte black paint.( Halfords car paint, spray can)




Next move is to paint the floats and underside of the aircraft, but that will be another day.

[Willem]

Coming together really nicely mate. Going to look cool on floats.

[pourquoi61]

Thank you, I do hope so.

[pourquoi61]

After watching a YouTube video on paint effects I thought that I would try a "marble paint job" on my catfish. Basically you spray the model black and then do a random marble pattern on the kit.

I chose Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey.

I then lightened the original colour with Tamiya flat white, then blended the colours into one.
I do not think it worked for me this time.



When dry I gave the model a coat of flat clear. Once this had dried I started to spray the top coat of paint. Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue to the inside of the panels.



When dry I then mixed XF-18 with XF-2 Flat White at approximately 75%-25% and picked out the centre of the aircraft panels.

Please note my new cake decorating turntable from Wilko, under £10.


Once dry I then gave the model a coat of matte clear and added the floats.

When mixing colours always keep the rest of the mix for touch ups.

[Always48]

surper work! that Catfish looks the Biz. the paint job has come out a absolute treat!

[DC87]

Great skills displayed, your pre shading is superb.

[privatepete]

Coming together nicely

[pourquoi61]

surper work! that Catfish looks the Biz. the paint job has come out a absolute treat!

Thank you sir for your kind comments.

[pourquoi61]

Great skills displayed, your pre shading is superb.

Thank you, I was trying out something new on this one.

[pourquoi61]

Coming together nicely

So far so good,a wash next and then decals. Thank you for your comments.

[pourquoi61]

Where to go from here? Time to build the two wheels that I missed out in an earlier post and paint all the wheels.


I then gave the model a coat of Tamiya clear and Flory wash.

Flory wash(Black)


Wait until dry and remove excess.

[pourquoi61]

Decal time, and they went on with no bother at all. With a splash of Micro Sol, nice results, well, good enough for me.




Over the top of the decals went a light brushing of Johnsons Klear. Once dry a wash of black(The F word)was brushed on and wiped off when dry.
Sorry for poor picture, my eyes are old and my bladder is weak.






Canopy masked and sprayed.

I can see the end in sight, and the opening of a new box of plastic.

[pourquoi61]

Okay, so on to the end of this build. Canopy masks removed I wanted to do a bit of exhaust staining as the aircraft is well weathered, it naturally goes it should have exhaust staining as well.


For the staining I mixed Tamiya Flat Black XF-1, Nato Brown XF-68 and a wee bit of Smoke X-19 @ 45% 45% 10%.



The last few bits and bobs needed to be added along with a final coat of matte clear and then it's done.

[Always48]

That is looking absolutely awesome.

[pourquoi61]

That is looking absolutely awesome.

Thank you so much.