Fonderie Miniature F11F-1 Tiger
Knowing the reputation of Fonderie Miniature kits, I probably would never have gotten around to building this one had it not been for my club's annual build theme of "Blue." The kit epitomizes short-run multi-media: rough injected styrene with tons of flash, resin parts for cockpit, main wheels, wheel wells etc., photo-etch for cockpit details and wing fences, white metal landing gear and tail hook, and vacuform canopy. Flash on the wing parts was so extreme that it was almost impossible to tell the trailing edges from the flash. Nothing fit very well, but to be honest it ended up being not quite as odious a build as I was dreading. My goal was to end up with a presentable model, not a contest winner.
I built the model OOB with the exception of the pitot tube, which the kit doesn't supply. I used two telescoped pieces of Albion Alloys tubing — .5 and .7 mm. The canopy had to be posed open because it wouldn't fit over the seat.
It's worth noting that the Navy used Tigers for the Blue Angels team from 1957 to 1069, much longer than their carrier service lives. After making internet queries, I learned that the Blue Angels Tigers were painted in a different color from what is now known as Blue Angels Blue as seen on Hornets. I was told by someone who had examined a plane that the color was a dead match for pre-war True Blue, so I used Model Master Enamel True Blue. The yellow on the kit decals looked very orange, so I used Mr. Color Orange-Yellow for the wing- and fin tips. The decals looked less orange when they went down, but I decided not to tweak the tips color for fear of destroying the decals. I used Alclad Aluminum for the leading edges and Stainless Steel for the burner cone.
I had just finished another shiny blue model (Bigfoot Monster Truck) for the theme build, so I decided to use the same surfacing techniques on the Tiger: multiple wet coats of Mr. Color GX100 Gloss, wet sanding with 2500 grit paper, compounding with Meguiar Ultimate Compound applied with a Dspiae motor tool and polishing sponge, polishing with Meguiar Ultimate Polish applied the same way, and Meguiar Carnauba Paste Wax for the wings. The final result is perhaps a bit too shiny, but I still like the way it looks. All in all I think the model is presentable, and there is a certain satisfaction from pulling off this sort of build.
From the quality of the end result one can’t see the challenges you faced during the build.
Congrats on this beautiful model.
Thank you Alfred!
Congrats on getting this one to look real good.
@seawinder love this build. That finish is superb.
Very nice!
Congratulations, Pip!
A fantastic result out of a really challenging kit!
A triumph of skill, talent, persistence and just plain stubbornness over plastic. Great result.
A very nice and clean result, Pip @Pip @seawinder
No signs of any issue you ran into.
There are modellers who have finished FM kits and there are kit assemblers.
Congratulations on a very pretty result.
Very, very nice! I can count the number of FM Tigers I've seen finished on 2 fingers. I have this kit in my stash, but I just can't bring myself to start it. You did it justice.
Well done Pip (@seawinder). The cool thing about short run kits like this is they give you an opportunity to add something less common to your display and they give you a blank canvas to use your skills on. Masterful job here. Bravo!
Well done, Pip
Wonderful to see that old chestnut looking so good, Pip @seawinder! 👍 You really achieved something here! 👏
Don't see a Tiger in those pajamas very often - looks great! Nice work from a troubling kit.
Gorgeous Build- thanks for sharing- I have two of these kits in the stash, I may actually finally build them with this motivation! One will be in your featured markings, one will be a short nose with the lightning bolt style legends designed by one of the Blues Tiger pilots- Robert Rasmussen who served between 1957-59. I saw him in person a few years ago when they still allowed foreign nationals on to NAS Pensacola to go to the museum and practice show- completely sucks that is no longer the case.
I was a bit timid to walk up to him and ask him about his time with the Blues- I figured I would sound like a weird 50 year old fanboy, so backed out- regretted it ever since. I liked how as a pilot, he was still an accomplished artist- he did paintings of the Blues, and designed the short lived short nosed Tiger logo.
I also got to see a Blue Angels Tiger at the Grand Canyon Air Museum many moons ago...
Looks GRRRRRR-EAT (quote from Tony the Tiger).
Looks amazing, actually!
I'd like to reply with a thank you! to everyone who posted comments, but iModeler says I'm posting too fast, so thank you all! I really appreciate your comments.
Cheers, Pip