Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat (Monogram)
The raw materials...
Seat belts glued to the seat.
Engine block and crankcase - yes there is a spline on the propeller shaft.
Re-scribed fuselage on the right - plus a few boo-boos filled in with putty.
Black wash brings out the detail on the cylinder head cooling fins.
Just to give you an idea of how small these little buggers are!
Cockpit raw materials - Gunze H58 Interior Green with some shadowing and highlighting.
Port console.
Seat and belts.
Starboard sidewall. Have no idea what all that stuff is, but I painted it anyway.
Major nacelle surgery.
I had to shorten the PE wheel well ceiling by a lot for it to fit. Not too keen on this part of the Aires set.
Added the rest of the cylinder heads, and the rear engine case.
Decided to switch to the Starfighter wheel well set.
Fits nicely, but the tank interferes with the attachment for the landing gear.
Glue only one side of the landing gear in nacelle, and tape together until cured. This sets the angle of the gear.
Separate and cut off the inaccurate sway brace. This will be replaced with Aires photoetch.
Modify the tanks to remove interference with gear leg.
A little Gunze H58 for good luck.
Final assembly with black wash and additional glycol tank from Aires set. Additional landing gear components to come.
Completed the rescribing of the fuselage.
Aires nose well (left), Starfighter (right). Will use Aires so I can slip some weight along side.
Rudder pedals (and a Hong Kong dollar!)
Cockpit and nose well fit without major sanding. In my experience that is unusual for Aires.
Believe it or not, this amount of weight (26 g) is barely enough. It may not work.
Added some card stock to fill the slot for the base. Slice off when glue is dry and sand.
Some more weight in the forward portion of the drop tank. This will have little effect, but I figured why not.
Fuselage and wings together - and it looks nose heavy. But the main gear are at the balance point.
After a coat of Alclad Grey, she can just as easy set on her tail!
Part of a clear plastic knife...
...becomes a lens with green bulb. Magic!
Quickboost blades are too long (lower blade is correct length), and hole in jig is too small for the hub. Come on guys, test your products!
She's blue! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I made a new nose gear door from a piece of beverage can and some styrene rod.
Adding the ignition harnesses...
This adds a lot to the engines.
Engine mounts added to the front of the nacelles.
Exhausts cleaned up and ready for painting. Very delicate!
Stickers! All the markings came from the spares box.
The Starfighter wheel wells really do look nice.
10 AZ (Bu No 80528) was an F7F-3, so I didn't have to scribe in any camera doors.
I added some sway braces from the spares box to the drop tank - compare with kit as molded.
These are the Brengun USN wheel chocks - I'm going to use these if she's ends up a tail sitter.
Squadron (Falcon) vacuform canopies and the kit part.
Kit canopy is a perfect fit inside the vacuform - hmmm....
I made some mods to the engine mounts and reattached. Also, the fuselage has a coat of semi-gloss varnish.
Alclad stainless steel and Gunze Clear Orange and Clear Blue for heat effects.
I painted the ends of the exhausts - I didn't drill them out!
Everything looks good except the port exhausts - the parts are wrong and I'll need to scratch-build.
This will have to do for the scratchbuilt port exhausts. The styrene rod is just a wee bit too small but the next size up is too big!
The framework holding the cowl ring is a photoetch piece that you fold up and attach to the engine mounts.
The cowling rings are made of resin and provide a little more weight up front to help the balance.
Forgot to show this earlier, but the exit ducts for the oil coolers in the top of the wings were opened up.
Finished!!
Skinny bugger!
Not many years apart!
The F7F was supposed to be the Tomcat, but US Navy rejected the name saying it promoted "female promiscuity."
Comments
2 9 January 2013, 03:19
Bill GilmanHi mates!
The Tigercat is underway, with progress on the engines, the re-scribing of the fuselage, and the cockpit. Have a look at the new pictures and captions. Plus, there's fresh popcorn! Made with peanut oil, so it tastes the best and is most likely bad for your health!
Raise your hands if you have a question, I will answer one at a time so behave and wait your turn. 🙂
15 January 2013, 03:48
Bill GilmanAll good pilots bring a "range extender." Where is your empty bottle? 🙂
15 January 2013, 04:04
Kelly WellingtonHot diggity! One that I've got in the works...but I don't have all that fancy stuff.
Stuff I see here...is it safe to try it at home?
15 January 2013, 06:26
Burkhard DThe saw looks menacing somehow, are you trying to impress the plastic to submit it into fitting? 😄
15 January 2013, 08:40
Bill GilmanBurkhard - The saw is to threaten the resin, so it behaves. The plastic fits together perfectly!
Kelly - Well, I'm trying it at home, so I hope it's safe! 🙂
15 January 2013, 13:47
Bill GilmanThe Texas Razor Saw Massacre - doesn't sound as good as chainsaw, does it? 🙂
15 January 2013, 13:56
Bill GilmanAs I've said before, I'm a lousy scriber. To be fair to myself, this is the first time I've attempted an entire fuselage. I was looking at my re-scribing efforts closely last night, and some panel lines are deeper than others. Some are too deep entirely. Time for some Mr. Surfacer to partially fill them back in, methinks! 🙂 I love this hobby...
15 January 2013, 15:05
Aghis BarberopoulosThat's a nice work bench, big enough to lay it all out...
Ready ? Set, go!
19 January 2013, 16:26
Duncan CookWhat happens when you have to sneeze Bill?
Aren't you affraid taht some parts could fly away?😉
19 January 2013, 16:35
Bill GilmanThere's more progress on the Tigercat. The cockpit is basically done, just need to finish the instrument panel. I've added the rest of the cylinder heads to the engines, plus added the rear engine case. If you look close at the engine picture, you'll see two push-rod tubes. I have to add 72 of those total for both engines! They're 3.75mm long! Arghhh! I've also started the major nacelle surgery, to make way for a PE wheel well, plus all the framework for the engine mounts. As you can see, the PE ceiling was way to long - either Aires screwed up or I've made a really big mistake. But my measurements indicate that the engine should end up in the right place. Hmmm...stay tuned. Same bat-time, same bat-channel! Cheers!
21 January 2013, 01:49
Bill GilmanI finished putting the PE in the port nacelle, after I figured out how I had to modify it. I then gave it a quick layer of Testors Zinc Chromate Green just to see if I was on the right path to making it work. I think it will be OK, I'll try to post some pictures tonight.
By the way, my references say Interior Green in the cockpit (black instrument panel and console), Zinc Chromate Green in the wheel wells, and Glossy Sea Blue for the landing gear legs and wheel hubs. That seems to match the colour photos that I've found from the period, but of course it does not necessarily match the restorations and air racers around today. I hate Zinc Chromate Green, it's too "lime" for my taste. I guess a nice dirty wash in the gear bays will tone it down a bit... 🙂
21 January 2013, 18:06
Aghis BarberopoulosYep, because of the scale, artificial shading becomes all the more important. Then you may want to give anything that stands out a dry brush highlight. Then comes the dirt: you will never find a clean LG bay, unless it has just received a pressure wash, and besides...real warhorses are downright dirty, while racers are usually spotless...😢
21 January 2013, 19:01
Kelly WellingtonUh...I think the zinc chromate thing is a bit overplayed, too. I keep expecting to find it in all sorts of cockpits, cargo bays, and landing gear bays, but what I tend to find is metallic finishes, blacks and whites...usually mixed blacks and whites, with grays, too. The zinc chromatic is there, but it is, as noted, often muted with age, scratching and the patina of regular use.
21 January 2013, 21:04
Bill GilmanAll depends on who built it, when they built it, etc. The only colour uglier than Zinc Chromate Green is Zinc Chromate Yellow. 🙂
21 January 2013, 21:46
Kelly WellingtonI'm noticing that 'Interior Green' isn't far from 'Zinc Chromate Green'....is that supposed to be the case? I was under the impression that the Interior was a distinctly darker and more muted green.
Anyway....How's the Tiger, anyway?
2 February 2013, 03:39
Bill GilmanThe Tigercat is on hold while I tend to a few other things. Here is everything you need to know about US interior colors:
ipmsstockholm.org/ma..erior_colours_us.htm
2 February 2013, 15:38
Kelly WellingtonGreat link! It confirms so many of my suspicions regarding colors and applications. Thanks, Bill.
2 February 2013, 18:47
Bill GilmanI haven't worked on this project lately. I will have to get it down from the Shelf of Doom now that some folks have taken a seat! 🙂
31 August 2015, 14:23
Bernhard SchrockDo you think that the saw is big enough?🙂 by the way Bill: more than 10 years ago I went the same way and rebuild the -3 to the prototype.
modellversium.de/gal..gercat-monogram.html
31 August 2015, 16:11
Bill GilmanExcellent work on the Tigercat prototype, Bernhard. That is really well done! 👍 👍 👍
1 September 2015, 00:04
Greg BakerBill, did you ever finish this one? I was reading through your wheel well challenges on Brit Modeller, but the thread just sorta stops. I'm scratch-building some wheel wells for my project, so the thread was very informative.
9 November 2016, 00:01
Bill GilmanAlas, it is on the shelf of doom awaiting a KUTA. (Actually it's on top of a pile of kits right below my workbench.) It seems other projects keep getting in the way. Maybe when I finish this resin Buccaneer...
9 November 2016, 03:21
Bill GilmanOK, you guys talked me into it. I've started this build up again. It is officially off of the shelf of doom! Some new pictures added, too. She's getting a coat or two of Glossy Dark Sea Blue right now.
22 November 2016, 01:27
Bill GilmanSeveral photos have been added to the Tigercat album. She's coming along well, but I'm really disappointed in the Aires detail set. So many errors and mistakes - I've had to modify almost every part to make it work, and some parts (like the photoetch wheel wells) just didn't work at all. Now I have to scratch-build some exhausts because they didn't realize that the exhausts on the port and starboard side are not the same! They are mirror images of each other. Very frustrating. But on the bright side, she is now sitting up properly - still dangerously close to being a tail sitter, but I still have to add the front cowling and props. I think when all is said and done a good wind will still set her back on her tail, just like the real plane! 🙂
7 December 2016, 03:02
gorbyRemarkable how much detail you have crammed into such a small scale Bill. Excellent result so far.
7 December 2016, 07:21
Wilfried BogaertsShe's a beauty Uncle ! But why, of all the choices, did you pick the gloss blue scheme ? 😉
7 December 2016, 07:45
StilichoThanx for the heads up re the Aires detail set. Have been thinking of doing much the same but never had the courage
7 December 2016, 10:24
Hanno KleineckeIt`s always stunning to see how you manage to get this incredible amont of detail into these rather
tiny scaled planes, simply excellent !
7 December 2016, 11:00
Bart Goesaertand then you don't see a few updates, and the plane is almost completed... nice build so far, very nice...
What did you use for the dark sea blue?
7 December 2016, 12:38
Bill GilmanThanks mates! 🙂
Bart - the Dark Sea Blue is Model Master FS15042 #1717. It's one of the few Testors paints that I like.
Wilfried - I don't think there are many choices other than Dark Sea Blue for an F7F-3. The night fighters, F7F-3N, had a black scheme with red letters in Korea but they also had a different nose to accommodate the radar. If I can get my hands on the Pavla/Octopus 1:72 kit of the F7F-3N I'd love to do that. The other possibility for the F7F-3 would be a fire bomber, and those schemes were colorful. I would need a conversion set for the belly tank though. Anyway, I like the Dark Sea Blue scheme - I wish the USN planes were still painted that way. I'm going to a USN Anniversary F-18 in the WWII tri-color scheme as it appeared for the celebration. That will be cool!
Getting the decals together from the spares box was a lot of fun. All individual letters, and the "Z" on top of the wing is actually made from pieces of several other letters as I didn't have a Z that big. Remind me not to do that again! Now I'm off to play with lead wire and see if I can make some exhausts - if anyone asks, I do not recommend the Aires detail set...
7 December 2016, 14:32
Thomas Bischoffit's a beauty! I remember the kit from ages ago - you're a magician!
7 December 2016, 17:57
Bill GilmanI made a sample of the port exhaust using styrene rod. It's not perfect, but it will have to do. I posted a photo showing it with the kit part - you can see what I mean by mirror-image, plus the pattern of long/short pipes is reversed (since each bank of cylinders has an odd number). Now I have to go make another one just like this - darn twin engine fighters! 🙂
Wilfried - I just noticed you had a smiley face next to your comment about "all the choices" I had to paint the model. You knew there was only one all along! You funny guy! I need to read these comments more thoroughly... 🙂
8 December 2016, 04:09
Kelly WellingtonI'm with you, Bill. I like the Deep Sea Blue scheme. Much better than the seagull colors that followed.
8 December 2016, 18:22
Bill GilmanKelly - 26 grams went into the nose, and below, alongside, and behind the cockpit. Photo 25 shows the weight in place. If someone were building the kit with the nacelles as is, I would put some additional weight in there. I couldn't do that on this build due to the exposed engines. As it is now, the main gear legs are essentially right at the balance point.
8 December 2016, 18:58
John ThomasHey Bill, I am also building the F7F-3. I have added a lot of scratch built parts, trying to get it ready for painting. I dont think I have 26 g of weight in the nose. You can find photos in my albums. I have not done much work on it in the pass few days. Hope to get back at it soon.
8 December 2016, 19:10
Bill GilmanThanks guys! I added a couple more pictures that show the cowl rings attached. Once I add the props, that will be it for the engines/nacelles! Then I can finish the windscreen/canopy and the antennae. I kinda like how it's turning out, maybe I won't bin it after all. 🙂 🙂 🙂
John - looks like you've bitten off quite a big project too! The F7F was such a cool plane - I think you'll need more weight up front than what I saw in your photos. Since you have her all buttoned up, you can always glue the wheels to a base.
10 December 2016, 02:49
Lon MoerSee Cobra Company for the F7F-3N nose and backseat conversion kit; cobracompany.com/72007.htm
See Lone Star Models for the F7F fire bomber tank conversion kit; lonestarmodels.com/Conversions1-72.html
And decals; lonestarmodels.com/Decals.html
Also see DRAW Decals for F7F fire bomber decals; shopdrawdecal.com/Pr..uctCode=72%2DF7F%2D1
And; shopdrawdecal.com/Pr..uctCode=72%2DF7F%2D2
10 December 2016, 04:44
John ThomasThanks Bill, That is what I will end up doing. I do have one more kit I am saving to do the Night fighter, so now I know about the weight. I also have the Cobra Conversion set and will give it a go soon.
10 December 2016, 14:26
Bill GilmanI've finished the Tigercat - have a look at the new photos. Time to build something else! Cheers, Bill
17 December 2016, 02:22
Bart GoesaertOfficially jealous... That's a nice one... Maybe a light wash in the panellines of the white decals, but otherwise... Excellent
17 December 2016, 07:43
Hanno KleineckeFantastic Tigercat Bill ! It`s simply amazing to see your ablity to squeeze such a high level of detailing out of an rather old and basic kit like this one. 👍 👍
17 December 2016, 09:08
Greg BakerI was clamouring for you to finish this one so I could follow along to use it for my own build... but it's like trying to follow a bird that's taken flight. All I can do is stand and stare... wow.
17 December 2016, 10:34
Marcel KlemmerVery briliant result with a very nice arrangement with the other Grumman cats
17 December 2016, 15:05
Bill GilmanThank you everyone for the nice comments. I really appreciate reading them. I think my next build will be the Gloster Meteor F.3 and then in April I start an F-111 group build on Britmodeller. I'm going to try and convert the Hasegawa F-111C/G into the USN F-111B prototype. That should be interesting, as it's more than just a nose-job. Cheers, Bill
18 December 2016, 15:38
Album info
My latest bout of insanity has rendered me powerless to avoid starting this project. This is the ageless Monogram Tigercat kit, dolled up with the Aires Super Detail Set.
