Greetings.
It occured to me that we don't see a lot of between the wars subjects on the Early Aviation thread. So I thought maybe it was time we did.
I need a short break from WWI, rigging, wood panelling and PC10... so I opened the wardrobe of doom as picked out the kit at the top of the non-WWI pile.

It turned out to be this.


I picked this up second hand at an IPMS meeting a year or so ago. I'm not sure when this series was released; Sometime around the mid Eighties I'd say (other may know more). The others in the series were the Boeing F4B-4, the Curtis BF2C-1 and the P-26A Peashooter.

It is moulded in Dark Green and Grey Styrene... Fairly brittle. And the decals are a little yellowed after all this time. It remains to see whether they will be useable.

Anyway, I have started (Contrary to the instructions, such as they are) by assembling the wings.


The upper main plane is in two "halves" top and bottom. There is a really quite inconvenient join about 6mm in from the trailing edge on the underside.
I will have to fill this somehow.


Anyway, I'm looking forward to a nice easy and quick build here... I am going to try to resist the temptation to detail the cockpit at all... Yeah, Right!

Cheers,

Hugh

Interesting kit, I have a vague recollection of these kits coming out but very vague. But not being *conflict* craft I didnt buy though I love some of the gaudy US paint schemes of the day.

A daymare of a seam to fix if the surfaces are slightly mis aligned. Maybe careful use of milliput ot magisculpt but I suppose Hasegawa took the view it was in the most least likely to be seen place rather than mould the wings thinn edged.

It will be nice to see how the rest of this old codger looks as you progress

Keith

Nice to see something different in the early pages being built Hugh !

Mark has an excellent tec on using Tamiya Putty and ( acetone ) ? in the dual build . I use a diffent method but really the same . I used Valljeo putty and Tamiya thinner . Not sure if this is the way you want to go but I do hope in some way it helps you out on finding a soluiton for it .

Looking forward to your progress Hugh , it has been very lame around here of late . Just have to love those summer months !

Hey Hugh,

Long time no chat.............this ought to be a fun build. I have the F4B-4 in my stash and have been contemplating. Got the Engines and Things "Engine" (not the greatest) and the Yellowings Navy?Marine decals. It's been a long time since I built my last one of these. The cockpit looks like a new build to me.

I'll keep an eye on ya........have fun!!

Regards
Steve

Hi Hugh,

Very interesting model. I will be watching your progress with great interest...

Jean-Luc

Well, it turned out that the gap in the wing was easier to fill than anticipated. The gap was almost exactly 20 though wide, so I just gave a length of .020" square Evergreen strip a scrape with a number 11 blade to thin it a litte and pushed it into the gap with my thumb nail. Then I ran a bead of Styrene solvent over the strip and the plastic either side of it and left it to dry.
Then, simply scraped the excess away with a sharp knife and sanded smooth with Wet-n-dry.
I lost the re-enforcing section on the trailing edge there, so you can see the replacement cut from ten though sheet.



The wings are now ready for a coat or three of paint.


I couldn't resist a bit of a dry fit...


More soon.

Cheers,

Hugh

Excellent Hugh. Well begun is half done!