F8F-1B Bearcat in ”Viet Nam” service

Started by Martin Dytrych · 73 · 3 years ago · Bearcat, Grumman, Hobby Boss, navy, Viet Nam
  • Profile Photo
    Martin Dytrych said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    This is a kit I bought just for few bucks and I did not expect much.
    However, it turned out that it is overall quite accurate kit with only lack a lot of details.
    I decided to tune it as much as possible and test my skills.

    I first started with main wheel bay which is very complex and full of wires, vents and pipes. This was really challenging part but it was necessary to do it as there is not much occassions to show some detail on this airplane.
    Next challenge was making wing folded. This is not 100 % done yet, but I think it is 85 % complete at this moment. I only add some details and wires.
    Because it was needed to complete wings first, I glued them together, put aside and started with cockpit, which is not much accurate and it is very poor.
    I had to fix wrong shape of back of the seat first. Then I added some inner cockpit wall structure.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

  • Profile Photo
    Andrew H said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Looking great so far Martin! Is that the Hobbycraft/Academy kit, or the HobbyBoss kit?

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Wow, Martin @naviatik, what a wonderful choice amd what excellency in scratchbuilding!
    I am deeply amazed!
    Looking forward to your progress!

  • Profile Photo
    Martin Dytrych said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    This is old Hobbycraft in original package.

  • Profile Photo
    Martin Dytrych said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Thank you. I must say that I also learned a lot...
    I am looking forward to finish air intakes, this was hard to figure out how to replace them with something more accurate. I used Miliput to make inner curve - I hope it will work. I must cut off extra material first...

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Martin, @naviatik
    You have done some excellent scratch building work with your Bearcat. Very impressive, especially the firewall.

  • Profile Photo
    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Unbelievable results, Martin.
    Great looking wiring/pipework, what materials did you use for that.

  • Profile Photo
    Martin Dytrych said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    For most structures evergreen profiles and sheets, then Artol brass tubes and lead wires 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 mm.

  • Profile Photo
    Greg Kittinger said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Looking very nice - beautiful detail work.

  • Profile Photo
    Martin Dytrych said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    I finished detailing and started painting. I have done cockpit so far.
    My friend recommended me to try pictures with dark background, so this is first trial.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Cockpit looks very nice, Martin @naviatik !

  • Profile Photo
    Eric Berg said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Martin, you really turned that old Hobbycraft cockpit in to a real winner! Have you seen some of the add-ons that BarracudaCast makes for the Bearcat?

  • Profile Photo
    Martin Dytrych said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Hi Eric, I did not search for any addons for this kit. It is really poor right out of the box. I decided to improve my skills by making everything by myself.
    I have seen Trumpeter kit and it looked much better. So, if I had that one, it would have been worth to invest to some addons.
    This one is just good for training. I do not say I do not want to bring it to new level, however.

  • Profile Photo
    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Very fine looking instruments, Martin.

  • Profile Photo
    Martin Dytrych said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    I am finally done with painting inner surfaces and I am going to close fuselage. I was quite fun to get together all these wiring behind the firewall, in this case the preparation paid off.
    However, I had to add some profiles to cover really huuuuge gaps between top wing halfs and fuselage first.
    Cockpit looks really nice now, when I remeber how poor was the first impression when I unpacked it... it is significant improvement.

    6 attached images. Click to enlarge.