Recently I discovered, that I havn't built a single USAAF or USN aircraft last year! What a shame! To make it better, I started into 2013 with a really great aircraft and a nice kit. Today I want to show you my new Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat from Italeri, who reboxed that old AMT Ertl kit ....


.... the story of the Tigercat goes back to early 1941 when Grumman initiated the design for a new twin-engined carrier-based fighter to meet a request made by the US Navy. It was planned that these fighters should operate from the "Midway Class" carriers. The first of 2 prototypes made its first flight in December 1943 and Grumman had already received a contract for 500 F7F-1 for supply to the USMC. Due to a high landing speed, too heavy weight plus problems with the arresting hook and the tricycle landing gear the Tigercat failed carrier trials and it was decided to give them to land based units. In fact, the Tigercat came too late to see action during WW2. Of the F7F-1 single seater were only 34 machines produced, after that came the F7F-2, the first twin seater night fighter. Next version was the F7F-3, which had better engines. The F7F-3 was used as a day fighter, night fighter and for reconnaissance. Only 364 Tigercats of all versions were build between 1943 and 1946, 60 of them were F7F-3N night fighters. It only saw action during the Korea War and was retired in 1954. Today there are only very few of these fast aircrafts left in airworthy condition (3 or 4 I think). The Tigercat was powered by 2 x P&W R-2800 engines with 2100 hp each, which gave the aircraft a top speed of 700 km/h at 6700 meters. The armament of the night fighters were 4 x 20 mm canons in the wing roots ....


.... I heared so many bad things about this kit because of the fitting and I must say, that is all not true! I really enjoyed building it and there was no filler needed. Honestly! Everything fits perfect except for the main landing gear. That was really tricky to glue in the engine nacelle. It took me quite a while but somehow I succeeded I was amazed to see how the wings fit to the fuselage. There are little hooks at the wing parts to hold really tight to the fuselage. Not a crumb of filler was needed here. But the cockpit looks quite rudimentary so I kept it closed. Because I don't want to have a tailsitter, I put a lot of weight in the nose. Just the fuselage weights 80 grams ....


.... Italeri offers 4 decal versions for this kit, 3 of them from the Korea War and one early post war in blue. I decided for the most "colourful" bird from VMF(N) 413, Kangnung AB, Winter 1951/52 in Korea. There are no stencils coming with the decals. The paints I used are mostly again from Revell. Black is No. 302, White is No. 301 and Interior Green is No. 360. Final coating was made with a 50/50 mix of Satin and Matt varnish from Marabu. And again no weathering as usual ....


.... Italeri still offers this kit in their program. I say thanks for walking around this big black cat with me and enjoy the music!

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Very nice Torsten! Russell

Another beautiful build Torsten, it was great to follow your progress in the night fighters thread. This is one evil looking bird, um, cat !

Thanks for the link as well, twin P&W = one sweeeeeeeet symphony.

Cheers, D

Thanks for your comments, guys!

Yes Damian, this time I really rushed through the campaign building the F7F within only 19 days .... I was surprised myself how quick everything went. Okay, I had the first week holidays and have built only one kit for the campaign instead of a dual combo. But the next campaign soon comes. At least we will bump into eachother at the P-47 Group Build.
There are a few great Tigercat vids on youtube but this is one of my favourites. I also like the sound of these P&W. Oh, and that Navy pilot usually flies Tamiya Corsairs but he happily agreed to pose with the black cat ....

Torsten

HA! Two pair of R-2800s beats one pair any day

Super work!

Thanks for the links, Jessie! That's nice. I haven't heared a DC 6 flying but several times I've seen the Super Connie from Switzerland flying around. 4 Wright engines also make a great sound. In 2006 I drove down to Bern-Belp Airport to see and hear the most beautiful airliner for the first time. Here are some "silent" impressions of that day. Smokey start and a dirty return. Don't think airliners are clean aircrafts ....



Happy modelling
Torsten

If a Wright 3350 is not dripping oil, there's something seriously wrong with it, and that means you don't get to go flying.

I've been thinking on this. Torsten I will post five of my Canadian bucks to you if you lay out your airforce in your garden, climb on your roof and take a high-res photo of it.

I bet other members would be willing to part with five of their monies to see it as well.

AUD$5 put aside and ready for despatch

That's a nice idea, guys, but I have no garden! I live in an appartement right in the middle of town.
Just be patient and you'll see them all one after the other .... I haven't finished yet.

One of the most beautiful military aircrafts ever built - and one of my favourite warbirds - is Lockheed's P-38 Lightning. I finished this Academy kit last week ....


.... the P-38 was developed by famous designer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson in 1937 and became easily the most recognizable aircraft of any nation during WW 2 because of the twin booms. Maiden flight of the prototype was in early 1939 and the first production aircrafts were given to the USAAF in mid 1941. The first version in greater numbers was the "E" which had the first combat experience over North Africa, where the Lightning got her famous nick name "Gabelschwanzteufel" (Fork Tail Devil) by the pilots of the German Luftwaffe. But of course the P-38 is most well known for the fierce fighting in the Pacific against IJN and IJAAF pilots. America's top aces Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire scored all their kills in this beautiful aircraft. In Europe P-38s served mainly in the 9. AF, used extensivly on long range fighter escort duties to support the 8. AF bombing missions against Germany. And a P-38 was the first American fighter to be seen over Berlin in November 1943 (Col. Jack Jenkins of 38. FS, 55. FG in "Texas Ranger"). The Lightning was very versatile and used as fighter, bomber, fighter bomber, reconnaissance, night fighter, path finder etc. 10037 aircrafts of all versions were built, 601 of them were the H-version. It was powered by 2 Allison V-1710 engines with 1425 hp each. Top speed was over 660 km/h and the range was about 750 km, with external fuel tanks over 4000 km. The armament consisted of four "Point Fifties" and a single 20 mm cannon. With the end of the war and the contract cancellations after VJ-Day and the beginning of the jet age, most Lightnings rapidly disappeared from the scene but some J- and L-versions remained in service until 1949. Today there are still a few Lightnings in flyable conditions, mainly in the USA .....


.... I have built a P-38 H with this nice nose art "Hold Everything" from 431.FS, 475.FG, based at Dobodura, New Guinea in 1943. The aircraft was flown by 1Lt Paul V. Morriss, an ace with 5 kills, 2 of them he scored in this aircraft. Sorry, no photo of him this time ....
The kit from 1994 makes you enjoy many happy hours of fitting, filling and sanding especially where the booms meet the wings. Also getting the cockpit/fuselage together with its 6 parts is a bit tricky. The constrution paper also got the order of the guns wrong. Thanks to some close up photos in Osprey books of the gun area, I made it right Beside all this it's a very nice kit of this beautiful aircraft (did I say this before?) and I guess I'll build another one this year as I have some more of the Academy kits in my stash. I don't have the Hasegawa kit here, but I heared it is also not flawless - and costs twice as much as the Academy kit ....


.... the majority of the paints is again from Revell. Olive Drab is No. 46, Neutral Grey is No. 43, Interior Green is No. 360 and Red is No. 330. As always no weathering on the model. The decals come all from AeroMaster's set "Fork Tail Devils Pt. II". Note the short lived red outlined US insignia. I used EX 098 for masking the canopy. Though it says just "P-38 for Academy", the masks are only for a later J- or L-version. Because of the different windshield of the earlier E/F/G/H-version I had to cut some Kip Tape here. In the meantime I have collected P-38 decals for a whole squadron, I guess and still have not enough So there are more to come ....


Thanks for walking around with me, I hope you enjoed it.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Torsten, a magnificent piece of modeling there!! You do the fork tailed devil (not in German lol) real justice. I thank you for sharing it with us here. Russell

Its nice to see the Lightning in camo, nothing against natural metal finish, but this is nice for a change. Very good job Torsten.

Torsten, for comparison, here is the Academy 1/72 Lockheed P-38J/L I don't recall exactly which one, although I think they were about identical? I also painted it in olive drab/neutral grey, it is painted as a member of the 20th fight group in Kingscliff, England in spring of 1944. Enjoy. Russell

Thanks for your nice comments, guys!
Naseby, I think I'll build another Lightning later this year and that will be a J-model in NFM. I found a nice decal version on my Sky Models sheet. As I said, I have tons of P-38 decals ....
Russell, thanks for posting your "California Cutie". Do you know, that there is something very sad about this aircraft? For a long time it was the only Lightning flying over Europe and in 1996 it crashed during an airshow in England killing the pilot In Squadron's Walk Around P-38 there are many detail photos of this aircraft. In the meantime there is another Lightning flying over the Old Continent, based in Salzburg/Austria. I've seen it 2 years ago at an airshow here in Germany.

Happy modelling
Torsten

Hi Torsten, I knew about the crash in 1996, but didn't realize the aircraft carried the markings of California Cutie. Glad to know there is still a P-38 flying over Europe!! Russell

Russell, Torsten;

Your bases really set your models off. Both of you like clean models and both look good.

Thanks for your comment, Fred! You bet I do

Just finished last week I would like to show you my brandnew Grumman F8F-1B Bearcat from Hobbyboss in 1/48 ....


.... the Bearcat was Grumman's last piston engined carrier based fighter and was designed to be capable to operate from carriers of all sizes. Maiden flight of the prototype was in August 1944. The XF8F-1 was not only smaller than the Hellcat, it was also 20 % lighter than its predecessor and had a 30 % greater climb rate. Delivery of the first production aircrafts began in February 1945 and the first USN squadron to be equipped with the F8F-1 was VF-19 in May 1945. The Bearcat came too late to see action in WW 2. The end of the war also meant a drastic cut down of production contracts. But when production ended in May 1949, Grumman still had built 1266 Bearcats, which served in 24 squadrons of the US Navy, but all had been withdrawn by late 1952. Other users of the F8F were France and Thailand. The Bearcat was powered by a P&W R-2800-34W Double Wasp radial piston engine (the smallest airframe built around this motor) with some 2.100 hp. Maximum speed was nearly 680 km/h at 6.000 meters, service ceiling was 11.800 meters and the range was 1.800 kilometers. Armament consisted of four 20 mm canons plus underwing hardpoints for bombs and/or rockets ....


... Hobbyboss offers 2 decal versions for this kit. The first is from G/C 1/22 (Groupe de Chasse), French Air Force 1954. I went for the 2. version, No. 1 Fighter Bomber Wing from the Royal Thai Air Force, early 1960's. Thailand got 29 F8F-1B.
Though I first thought with all this engine stuff packed in the fuselage, I will get some nice gaps to fill, everything fits well together. No filler was needed, just some sanding here and there, that's all. Also no problems with our always famous wings/fuselage areas. But what was that? An ugly seam running all over the bubble canopy! Okay, I took some very old and used fine sanding sticks and slowly sanded the seam away with no pressure. Then I polished the canopy, put it in a Future bath and let it dry for 2 days. The seam had vanished. Yeah! The rest is easy ....


.... you may think, the model is painted in black but it isn't. This time I used Tamiya's Sea Blue XF-17 as the main colour. Though I would call it "Very Dark Sea Blue" I think it suits this little fighter. Interior Green is No. 362 from Revell. The red-white-red ribbon around the rear fuselage is on the decal sheet but I prefered to airbrush it. That looks better. The decals are very thin and easy to apply and work really fine with Decal Soft from Revell. No silvering at all this time ....


There are still a few Bearcats (I like to call it Beercat .... ) flying around these days. Here is a F8F at Duxford a few years ago. While searching for suitable videos I came across a great 4 minutes silent film probably from the late 1940s with carrier landings of Bearcats. You can see how some pilots really smashed their aircraft on the deck. Enjoy!
Thanks for walking around my new little Tie .... errr .... Thai fighter. Hope you've enjoyed it.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

PS: My next Bearcat will be yellow all around ....

About a week after the Bearcat the big hangar doors of my assembly line opened for this beauty but I had no time to take proper photos of it sooner. But now I can show you my Republic P-47 D Thunderbolt from Tamiya in 1/48 ....


.... the Thunderbolt was one of the most famous aircrafts during WW 2 and the heaviest and biggest single engined fighter to have served in the USAAF ever. In its family tree we find the Seversky P-35 and the P-43 Lancer. It was developed by famous aircraft designer Alexander Kartvelli. The maiden flight of the prototype was in May 1941 and the first production aircrafts (P-47 B) came off the line in March 1942. The first group to be equipped with it was the 56. FG in June. A total of 12602 P-47 D were built plus another 354 by Curtiss-Wright under the designation P-47 G. After the war P-47 D and N remained in service with Air National Guards until 1955. Beside the USAAF other operators of the Thunderbolt during the war were the air forces of Brazil, France, Great Britain, Mexico and the Soviet Union ....


.... I have built a Thunderbolt of the 62. FS, 56. FG, flown by Lt. Thaddeus Buszko at Boxted, England. I didn't find many informations about this man in my books and in the internet, sorry .... "Hawkeye" was received by the 56. FG in December 1943 and handed over to Buszko. On 8. May 1944 "Hawkeye" was heavily hit by German Flak but the pilot luckily made it home somehow. I guess the aircraft didn't fly anymore afterwards. Buszko flew another Thunderbolt, also coded LM*E but named "Flack Sack/Mal". He died in New Jersey in 2000 aged 83 years. I found only a very small photo of him on the webside of the 56. FG. If anyone has a better and bigger one, I would appreciate if you can post it here ....


.... this Tamiya kit is a dream, I can tell you! I have already built 2 other Thunderbolts out of the very good Academy kit, but this one beats it by miles. Everything fits so fantastic together that I didn't need glue sometimes - it just clicked together. It was really fun to build this Jug. In the meantime I bought another Tamiya Razorback as I still have some Thunderbolt decals waiting in my stash ....


.... the paints this time come all from Revell and Vallejo. The underside is painted with Revell 43 (as on my Lightning), Olive Drab comes from Vallejo No. 71043, the yellow cowling ring was painted with Revell 310 and Interior Green is 360 for the cockpit and the wheel wells were painted with No. 362. I don't know if that comes close to the original but it looks good to me. Most of the decals are taken from the box, only the special markings to build "Hawkeye" are from the great AeroMaster set "The Wolf Pack Pt. IV" with some more beautiful Jugs. So there are more to come. As usual this kit is build oob and not weathered ....


.... I thank you for walking around with me and hope you enjoyed it.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

And you didn't even need 50 men to help you build it!

Yes Jessie, I made it all with my 2 hands - but not in a couple of hours. I know that vid and sent it to the guys of my club and suggested one group build. Guess what answers I got ....
Meanwhile I found this video of a Curtiss built Razorback in Duxford a few years ago. Enjoy the sound!

Torsten

Finished earlier this week, I would like to show you my new Douglas A-20 G Havoc as a lend-lease aicraft. The kit is originally from AMT Ertl but was reboxed twice by Italeri and Revell ....


.... the A-20 was developed under the designation DB-7 by famous designers Ed Heinemann and Jack Northrop in 1936. After a few changes the USAAC became interested in the aircraft and so in 1938 the prototype took to the air. France ordered some 100 machines but got only 60 of them before the collapse in 1940. Great Britain got also many of these aircraft and named them "Boston". The major production variant was the A-20 G, of which almost 3000 were built by Douglas at Santa Monica. Many of the early G's were shipped to the USSR. But the Havoc served in all war theaters, no matter if it was in Europe, North Africa or the Pacific. When production ended in September 1944, Douglas had built 7385 A-20 (DB-7) of all versions. Beside the USAAC/USAAF major operators of the Havoc were the air forces of Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, South Africa and the USSR. The Hacoc was powered by 2 Wright-Cyclone R-2600 engines with 1600 hp each. Maximum speed was over 500 km/h at 3000 meters ....


.... this kit is quite old (from the 1980's) and really has some annoying issues. There's a lot of fitting, filling and sanding to enjoy the hobby The rudder was a bit warped so I could see through underneath when it was glued to the fuselage. Filler here on both sides. Also the area between the wings and the fuselage was not okay. Filler there. And in some other places I can't remember now I also put filler in. It was all happy sanding instead of happy modelling .... But the rest of the kit is quite okay to assemble ....


.... I knew I wanted to build a Russian Havoc but Italeri offered only one in OD/NG. As I didn't want to use these colours again just after finishing the P-38 and the P-47, I searched in my books for something different and I found this camouflage on a A-20 G. I have built an aircraft of an unidentified unit of the Black Sea Fleet in early 1944. The colours I used are Dark Earth 82 from Revell and Dark Green 71029 from Vallejo. The underside is painted with Light Blue 49 from Revell again. The camouflage is airbrushed free hand again, I used only masks for the canopy. As always there is no weathering on the model ....


I say "Spassiba" for walking around this oldie with me and hope you enjoyed it.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Lovely build Torsten, and nice to see lend-lease markings as well, they look great. I am building the AMT/ERTL boxing right as a P-70 for the Nightfighters campaign and it is going together really nicely.

Cheers, D

Hello Torten...

Lovely builts...!!! I likes particulary The P-38 and the Bearcat... They are nice...!

The Russian A-20 is a nice bird... whit rare cannons...! Good Job too...!!!

Thanks for Share, like always...!!!


Diego