Grumman Tigercat F7F-2D (1/48 AMT Ertl F7 2N – conversion)
Drone control Tigercats served the fleet along and well, their excellent performance continuing to give them capability to work with with newer hight-performance target drones as they entered service in early 1950s. on December 1956, the Chief Officer Of Naval Operation authorized retirement of all F7F-2Ds, but directed that support for those still in service could be continued until September 1957 (squadron signal publication – F7F Tigercat).
When I read the story of Tigercat on Squadron Signal book I was fascinated by by the silouette of the F7F-2D and i dreamed to build one. No aftermarket was available but Falcon gives an excellent F8fF Bearcat canopy and that’s all you need to modify a F7F – 2N (if you have one) . So my dear friend Luca Monaci gave me one that was in his stash at the end of 2017 and the project started at the beginning of 2018.
During the modification of fuselage the canopy seemed to be too long looking at the pictures and I wasn’t able to find technical draws or explanations to solve the problem.
Once more squadron signal has the solution but I had to read it over and over until I found these few words in the caption of the photo of the plane that wanted to reproduce :”… In this view the details of the modified F8F canopy …” So the canopy too was modified.
And so i did this way…
I think that it is very amusing to build a very good model Out of the box, but I have a lot of fun when I can realize something that still not exist or at least not completely. I want to thank Luca for his continuous encouragement and appreciation.
14 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Michael Paquette said on January 3, 2020
Beautiful work. I love the tigercat as my favorite of the Grumman cats.
Franco Damiani said on January 3, 2020
Thank you Michael.
Chuck A. Villanueva said on January 3, 2020
That is one unique version of the Tigercat. One of my favorite Grumman cats as well in the WWII/Korean War era. Excellent conversion. Well done and thanks for sharing.
Franco Damiani said on January 3, 2020
Thank you Chuck 🙂
Pedro L. Rocha said on January 3, 2020
Excellent work, not an easy conversion despite its apparent simplicity. The drone painting is very appealing also,
Franco Damiani said on January 3, 2020
Thank you Pedro actually it was not easy but gave me a lot of funny time
Rodney J. Williams said on January 3, 2020
The quality of your photography is excellent and so is the quality of the model, including the conversion to a “2 seater.” You have inspired me to send in my F7F model which I built many year’s ago. Again thanks for posting an unusual model.
Rodney
Giannis Asimakos said on January 3, 2020
Beautiful aircraft on which you made a very successful conversion. The result is very satisfactory.
Franco Damiani said on January 3, 2020
Thank you Rodney . I was not very satisfied about my photography now I feel better. 🙂 even I’ld like to improve my skill.
Bob Bailey said on January 3, 2020
Wonderful work. Special build.
Franco Damiani said on January 3, 2020
thank you Bob
Greg Kittinger said on January 3, 2020
Love it! That makes a totally cool conversion – I may have to do the same in 1/72 now that I’ve seen this. And the drone controller scheme really pops on the usually bland Tigercat. I presume after you built up the fuselage sides under the 2nd canopy, you used putty to fill in and shape? Also be interested to know if you actually modified the canopy (per the caption you mentioned)…
Franco Damiani said on January 3, 2020
I Greg yes but very little putty. I preferred to use sand paper on plastic to get the shape and then a little putty. Yes actually I modified the canopy shortening the one sliding where it connected to the fixed one (about 2 mm). If you do so the two sides still matches. sorry but my english is very poor and I have difficult to explain.
Stephen W Towle said on January 3, 2020
Great subject and conversion. It’s too bad that AMT/Ertl went under. They where on there way to making a good line of aircraft kits.
Like the paint job, sharp and tight with no run drips or errors. The cockpits are excellent and the build photos are of great help. The weathering is well done too.
Two thumbs up Franco
Robert Royes said on January 3, 2020
A terrific Tigercat! A great job on the conversion.
Tom Cleaver said on January 3, 2020
Great work on this and a superb result. I always thought the drone controllers were good looking with their paint scheme, and you show that’s true.
Having done this conversion myself a ways back, I know it looks easy but isn’t. You did a really nice job on that.
Franco Damiani said on January 4, 2020
thank you very much Tom!
Haslam Yeoman said on January 4, 2020
Excellent result. Colourful Tigercats are a pretty rare thing.
Joseph Fenech said on January 4, 2020
Wonderful work!!
Roberto Lúcio - Boblucio said on January 4, 2020
Really nice looking this cat. Wonderfull work. Thanks for posting an unusual model and its color scheme.
Glenn Virgo said on January 5, 2020
This is great Franco. Something you just don’t see a lot of. Nice work. Big thumbs up. Love the grass base to.