AREA 88 - F4F-4 "Boris"

John Thomas
Greg, nice start

Greg Baker
Thanks John. Despite the fact I have a perfectly good F4F-4 from Airfix with the collapsed wing option, I decided I'm a glutton for punishment and wanted to see if I could scratch build it. Wonder who got me started down this path...😉

John Thomas
Greg, Scratch building skills will all ways be your friend. I Just started some scratch building my self on a new project, an A-1H Skyraider. The Academy F4F is a good kit to scratch build details. I did one years ago but not the wing fold. I will be watching

Greg Baker
Oooh... a SkyRaider. I've been looking for a single seater in 1/72. Which kit are you using? My airbrush compressor is in terminal condition, so I decided to do some scratch building in the meantime since all my other projects are at a painting stage. Besides the wings, I'm also planning to build a firewall and some cockpit details (possibly pinched from an extra Academy F6F-1 set) as well.

John Thomas
Greg, that sound good. You well need a front fire wall as the kit has none. Dont forget the hand crank to pull up the landing gear. A coworker I know many years ago flew the F4F in WWII and told me stories of flying the F4F and using the hand crank and trying to land. There is also lots of detail up front that could be added. The Skyraider is the Hasegawa kit which is the best kit in 1/72 scale. The kit goes back to the late 90's and is hard to fine now days. I have several in my stash and will be doing some scratch building in the cockpit and wheel wells. I will be doing a Vietnam War A-1H from VA-152 around 1966 time frame. I will post some photos up today. That sucks about your compressor. It seam that it's the big money Items that let you down when you need them the most.

Greg Baker
Almost finished the wing fill-in. Just some fiddly bits to add, so I started on the cockpit firewall.i can add one front of the wheels as well. Where does the hand crank go? I'm not that familiar with this plane and I already ended up filling in (and then punching back out) the bottoms window wells. The instructions didn't list a part number, so I thought it was just missing. I always forget the clear sprue for anything other than a canopy. I'm already planning to spice up the engine (using some moves I learned from you) but what other "must have " details are there?

John Thomas
Greg, The hand crank goes on the right side consoul of the cockpit wall about in the middle it's a small crank handle. This kit has no cockpit so you will need something. Some F4F had the lower windows painted over so you could fill them in. Skyraider photos are up

Gordon Sørensen
Looks good, Greg. The kit even includes a stand! Haven't seen that for ages....

Greg Baker
Added some engine details... John, you may recognized the technique...

John Thomas
Greg, your engine and wing fold are looking very nice. The Academy's F4F is one of there older kits and needs lots of help.

Greg Baker
Thanks John! I added just a bit of sidewall detail to the roughed in cockpit. Also added some do-dads to the wheel well and the landing gear based on reality...kinda. I also added a headrest to the seat and removed the goofy little control stick nub. The stick will sit separately.

John Thomas
Greg, your Cockpit is shaping up nice. Now the real F4F's had no real cockpit floor. The pilot needed to see out the bottom thur those little windows. The cockpit had foot troughs and the seat was mounted to the rear bulkhead. Your front firewall also looks fine. there is a large oil tank at the top of the front firewall. The joy stick mounts to a central control rod which runs front to back in the cockpit between the legs of the pilot. The pilot feet rest on the foot troughs, that is why the windows were deleted in the FM-1 and 2 Wildcats, just too hard to see anything below the aircraft in combat.

Greg Baker
You just had to mention that, didn't you...😉 I added some more pics...

John Thomas
Greg, your engine compartment looks nice, your engine supports are correct. The compartment is just full of all kinds of stuff and your cockpit is looking fine too. The floor is up to you. I would not change it. It will be hard to see once the fuselage is together. Maybe Area 88 Wildcats have floor in the cockpit it all up to you. Greg I like you hobby knife what type is it?

Greg Baker
Thanks John. I checked out some pics of 1/32 F4F-4 kits and tried to mimic the layout. I'll post some better pics of the cockpit after it's complete. The knife in the pics is from Japan. it's an NT Cutter D-500GP - there's one on eBay here: Ebay.com Item - NT CUTTER DESIGN KNIFE D 500GP MADE IN JAPAN

John Thomas
Greg, the 1/32 scale F4F will be great for reference. I just order the NT Cutter, thanks for the info. does it come with extra blades or will my "X-acto" blades fit it?

Greg Baker
It has. I updated the pics of the cockpit. I've finished the main construction, so it's time for some primer and paint. John - I'll post a pic of the spare blades. I'm pretty sure they won't fit because the clasp is too small.

John Thomas
Greg, Thanks for the info. Your cockpit looks much better. I am working on the small bits of the Skyraider and will be starting painting also, Hope to have some new photos up shorty.

Alec K
Looking great, 👍. Have one off these in my stash as well.

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! Engines are painted and in place and so is the cockpit. Now for some bodywork.i open my leaky compressor is back in action before I get to the full painting stage.

John Thomas
Greg, your cockpit and engine look very nice. You done a lot of hard work. Where did you get the instruments decals? The knife is on order and is in route

Greg Baker
The decals are home made... although I capture the image for the instrument panel from the main part of a 1/32 F4F-4 panel decal. It's a little hard to see, but I also scratch built a little throttle on the left side.

John Thomas
Greg, thanks the decal look great. How did you make them?

Dave Flitton
watching.

Greg Baker
John, I just grabbed a pic online of a 1/32 F4F-4 panel decal (actually just the main front part, not the curved side ones) and then printed it off to size on some decal paper. Sprayed the coating, cut them out and applied like other water slides.

I spent the last couple of work sessions basically sanding, but I also added a pic of the details I added to the wing stubs.

John Thomas
Greg, nice start on the wing stubs. The F4F has lots of detail you can add. I tried to make my know decals with out any luck, I need to try again. What coating did you use on them?

Greg Baker
John - I use Incal decal paper (available here in Korea). I've posted up a pic of the set I use. Two choices for paper, transparent or white background and then spray with the calcoat. When dry, cut and soak like other decals. I'm pretty pleased with the results. I've never tried it, but I suspect that a coating of Future might also do the trick.

John Thomas
Greg, I have an old Testor decal making set with both types of paper. My first few tries I did not use any clear coat, what a mess. I will try again and use the Future. Will let you know how it works. Thanks for the info.

Christian Bruer
That looks promising. Very nice work so far with all the extra details 👍

Greg Baker
John - I haven't had any trouble using the Calcoat that is recommended (by the company that makes both) to use with the Incal paper. After a little investigating without a coating, it seems likely that a thin sheen of Future that's allowed to dry completely would do the trick. Only a theory though.

Thanks for the kind words Christian. John's been preaching the scratch building to me, and I've tried to steal all his good ideas, but I've still got a long way to go to start putting out models in your league. 🙂

John Thomas
Greg, I have a future project I need to make decals for. I can not fine any after market decals that I need. I am going to try it again in a few days, need to get my artwork together. I will post a few photos when I have them done. Thanks for the help.

Dave Flitton
Looking good!

Marcel Klemmer
Go on Greg with "stealing" ideas, you are on a very good trip.

Jay Dubya
Thanks for the step by step guide Greg - it's great for those of us that need to actually see the "how to" process

Choppa Nutta
Looking good!

Alec K
Nice progress - glad to see this project back on the bench 👍

Petr Lehnert
What scheme will the green one gonna be?

Greg Baker
@J W thanks for the kind words. I'm not sure anyone wants to follow my road map, but I like documenting my builds in a step-by-step way so that I review the progression and learn from my mistakes.

@Petr - my plan (well hope) is that I'll do a two-tone green/khaki camouflage and then beat the hell out of it using the hairspray technique to show the bare metal underneath. It's kind of a test build, so we'll see if it works. Of course after spending more time than I expected scratch building the cockpit and wheel wells, now I'm afraid to screw it up.😉

John Thomas
Greg, glad to see the F4F back on the work bench

Greg Baker
Thanks John. It never really left... it was just shoved to the side by other stuff for a while.😉

John Thomas
Greg, I know the feeling

Greg Baker
I'm pretty sure we ALL know that particular feeling. It seems to be a common affliction...

Gareth Windsor
Great build so far. Looking awesome

Greg Baker
Thanks Gareth. It's back near the top of my workbench rotation, so hopefully I'll be able to finish off this dual project soon.

Greg Baker
hmmm... I'm not at all sure that the paint job worked the way I was expecting (hoping?). Oh well, since I'm still planning on removing a bunch of it, we'll just call this a test project and see what happens. Lesson learned about mixing green and kahki though, I think.

Petr Lehnert
You could make it into Martlet, the colors are similar.

Greg Baker
Thanks Petr. It really is just a WHIF project to test the hairspray chipping technique, so accuracy is not my issue. I just wasn't too happy with my colour choices. Now that the chipping has begun, the bare metal making a comeback has changed the dynamic and made me more positive. I'm not done yet (I'm being very aggressive with the chipping on purpose) but I'll post up some pics when it's done.

Greg Baker
Not quite done... but decided to post up a small update pic anyway.

Choppa Nutta
nice effect 🙂

Marcel Klemmer
Yes, nice effect

John Thomas
Greg, your chipping work looks very nice

Greg Baker
Alright. She's done! This build survived a lengthy hiatus, but in the end I'm pleased with the result. Not bad considering I turned the slightly dumpy Academy kit into a folded wingpresentation... if I do say so myself.😉

Greg Baker
BTW, the final pics for the companion build are here - Tintin: Voir et Savoir 16 - Grumman F-4 "Wildcat" | Album by strobez (1:144)

John Thomas
Greg, nice build. I wish the one I built some years ago turned out as nice.

Martin Oostrom
To say you did a good job would be an understatement. 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! John, that's quite a compliment considering the high quality of your builds. I'm guessing "some years ago" would have to be over 30...😉

John Thomas
Greg, yes. I built several F4F's in the mid to late 1990's in a collection of Grumman Aircraft I did for a contest. I built F4Fs, F6Fs, F7Fs and F8Fs all at 1/72 scale. The contest was at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola Florida. A great place. I folded the wings one of each plane and posed some in flight. I even won a award or two. All I have now are some poor snap shots of the collection. I would have to scan them to post them. I also have some other collection I did for the same contest in pass years. Give me a few days and may be I will get them up on the site

Greg Baker
That sounds epic! I'd love to see them. Wow.

John Thomas
Greg, will post them soon

Spanjaard
very nice Greg

Cuajete
Good job. Congratulations!

Bas Tonn
great work !! lots of work...