Willy Lovers Panther
This is the Hobby Boss 1/72 F9F Panther I built a while ago for a group build. I have actually used Hobby Boss F9F-2P kit that I converted to a F9F-2 using Quickboost corrected nose and exhaust resin parts. There is also a Eduard PE zoom-kit. The compartment behind the cockpit have been scratchbuilt, since the kit parts where very inaccurate.
Decals from Printscale, where I decided to use the "Panther"-face livery of BuNo 129217 from WMF-311, stationed at Pohang (K3) during the Korean War.
Despite the resin nose the kit was a massive tailsitter, so I had to perform some surgery after the paintjob was completed. But it all ended up reasonably well π
This is a lovely Panther, well done Tommy
Thank you, Marc π
Tommy, thatΒ΄s a very well done Panther! I admire the smooth surface, especially the clean alignment of the resin nose. How would you describe the fit of that part?
Thanks Wolfgang, the fit was OK, but it was difficult to get the diameter and the arc to fit properly. My approach was to cut the nose a little bit forward of the marking and then sand the "hole" larger until the resin part fitted. After that I had to correct the profile to get a reasonably consistent arc. If you look carefully at the photos it's not perfect π
Thank you, Tommy.
I have that QB nose and kit somewhere in my closet, too, but have not yet found any time to take a closer look at them. Still have to decide btween VMF-115 and -311 markings.
A real jewel of a build. Nothing short of professional. The paint job is perfect. Tommy, did you thin the paint or add a leveler or do something special to get that satin finish? Like put it in a paint booth and spray down the booth with water to get the dust down? Or prime and then do the after mentioned?
Two thumbs up. Good things come in small packages.
Thanks Stephen, I'm delighted that you like it π
I used Stynylrez/UMP primer and painted bare metal with Alclad and the gloss sea blue with XF-17. After that I applied the decals and coated the aircraft with 4-5 layers of X-22 mixed with MLT (mr color levelling thinner). I then sanded down the carrier film edges of the decals and after that I polished the surfaces with Tamiya Polishing compound until I basically had an auto-grade gloss finish. After that I applied Microscale Satin varnish.
gorgeous 1/72 build! I still have my stack of 1/72 Blue Angels planes to build- have a -2 and-05 panther in there, but the old Hasegawa and Matchbox ones...
congrats on a beautiful kit!
Thank you, Dan! π
Good luck with your builds - the Panther looks great in the Blue Angles livery.
Tommy, I like this a lot, its hard to believe its only 1/72 scale, with the nice detail and excellent finish it looks larger. Very nice !
Thank you very much, Terry π
A very nice, clean build. Well done!
Thanks Greg! π
Nice little "Willing Lover" (what they called themselves -relates to the tail ID letters)
Thanks Tom π
The VMF-311 was also named "Tomcats" during the Korean War or was that later ?
stunning
Thank you, Bob π