1/48 Tamiya F4F Wildcat
Built straight out of the box after being rescued at a yard sale. The model had been painted with a dark blue rattle can and most of the detail had been badly obscured. Luckily the paint stripped off easily with oven cleaner. I only added a set of Eduard seat-belts and a set of Aeromaster decals since the yard sale versions don’t come with them. I used “dot” technique with oil paint to weather the kit along with a post shading technique on the individual panels.
6 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Tim Zeh said on December 20, 2012
That is really impressive weathering.
Jack Mugan said on December 20, 2012
Keith…… Nice save, great work on the weathering.
Maxim Bylkin said on December 21, 2012
Gorgeous coloring and shading! Great cat!
Tom Cleaver said on December 21, 2012
Please do not ever use oven cleaner on a kit like this again. You were lucky you didn’t kill it. Easy Lift Off needs a bit more effort, and you certainly can’t put it on clear parts, but if you do it right it will clean the model (do it wrong and it will eat it, so beware).
That said, beautiful save on the model, and it looks really right for a bird in the Cactus Air Force.
Keith said on December 21, 2012
Hello Tom,
While I believe what you’ve said regarding the oven cleaner I have used this techniques many times without any difficulty. It may be just dumb luck that I didn’t screw something up. The oven cleaner I use is Easy Off, that comes in the pump bottle which is supposed to be gentler than the aerosol version, it might make a difference.
Anders Isaksson said on December 21, 2012
Agreed, great save on a kit that was just about doomed.
Very convincing paint weathering!
Bryan W. Bernart said on December 21, 2012
You have given me hope for a few “early” builds. Who ever thought of old kits as a renewable resource? Great skills.
Korolev Vlad said on December 21, 2012
Wonderful technique of coloring and weathering!
Beautiful kitty.
David Hansen said on December 21, 2012
Keith, You did a beautiful job bringing that kit back from the dead. Have never used oven cleaner myself. Gutsiest move i ever saw, Mav.
-d-
Erik Wade Whipple said on December 22, 2012
Very nice Wildcat, Keith. The colors look spot on and the weathering is just beautiful.
Billy Smith said on March 13, 2013
I’m looking to get this kit sometime! I actually found a video on YouTube that features this plane. Quite interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwDZU50OUDQ