Robbie,
That's what us Dads are for.

Joel

Moving forward slowly on this one. Might have something to do with trying to work on a Lysander and an Arado Float plane at the same time.



Here is the now properly extended and completed top wing for the F3F. (32 scale foot wing span or 12 full inches wide.) It needed a little bit more body work than origininally expected.

Michael,
You really nailed the Yellow color.
Joel

Thank you Joel. I first had started with a Tamiya color but that had too much white in it, too bright. What you see here is now ModelMaster #2917 Bright Yellow straight out of the can.

Michael, yes I agree-- you nailed the color, which is hard to do-- the "yellow chrome" color used on USN aircraft of the 30s is a hard color to match, because it has a slightly orangish tint. Gunze used to make an "Orange-Yellow " color in thier "Mr. Color" line, which was a perfect match, but I haven't been able to find it for a long time. Tamiya makes an Acrylic Lacquer Spray-TS 34 "Camel Yellow" which is a very close match to Yellow Chrome, but they don't make a similar color in thier bottled line. I'll have to check the Model Master Spray out-- I'm always looking for a match to Yellow Chrome. Interestingly enough-- the Army didn't use Yellow Chrome on its upper wings-- they used a color closer to a lemon yellow color. Supposedly, the Navy thought the Yellow Chrome would show up better when dithched at sea- at least that's one of the stories I've heard about thier choice of upper wing color. The Navy also insisted on flotation bags in the upper wings, that would inflate when ditched, keeping the aircraft afloat for recovery. Those panels were painted light gray in the F4B-4 and the F-11C. I don't think the F3F had those panels in the wings though. What did you use for the lower wing silver?
VR, Russ

Russ,
My go to paints are Mig Ammo acrylics, then Tamiya, but for interiors I have the full range of MRP paints. they also make a Dark Yellow Chrome that I'm planning to use for my 1st USN between the wars aircraft.

Joel

The silver is again a ModelMaster color; #2914 "German Silver Metalic".

As to the yellow I learned quickly that I needed a yellow that had a orange/red component.

I know computers and monitors will very but I think the photo reproduces the actual color fairly well.

Joel, I've never tried Mig Ammo paints. I have quite a few Tamiya (over 90 bottles) and I use a lot of MM paint as well, but I've never found that USN Yellow Chrome color anywhere but in the Tamiya Camel Yellow spray can, or in the Gunze Mr. Color Orange-Yellow bottle. You'd think somebody would come up with it in a paint line.

Michael-- I think your color is right on, and I'll try looking for it-- did you decant it into an AB, or did you use it right from the can?
VR, Russ

Right out of the can.

Maybe you have trouble finding it b/c it is a gloss auto color, not in the military section?

Michael,
Now that's one lucky find. I'd never have thought to look there.
Joel

When we were talking about how the pre-war planes were keep in perfect condition with a gloss coat I started looking in the automotive areas of the hobby shop paint dept.

the best model car paints are Gravity and Zero real lacquer paints. they're a Satin finish. the gloss is a clear 2 part Urethane that once polished out is beyond what you ever thought possible.

Joel

Michael, I think the thing is I've never thought to look for it before. The Tamiya spray lacquer is great, but also expensive, and frankly iI don't think it goes very far. So I'll pick some of this up next time and give it a try-- it looks great "right out of the can" as you said--- not lemony, but nicely orange yellow, just like it's supposed too. Thanks!
VR, Russ

Been focusing on the Arado of late but today I managed to give a little attention to the F3F.

Sorry Russ but I ended up sticking with the kit decals and they went on like a jewel! For their age they just looked so fresh and they went on wonderfully. One thing I did do to improve them is I trimed the decal film very close to the decal itself to reduce the chances of showing an edge.

One complaint though; the white in the stars was not opaque enough. I wish I had either #1. Painted a white disk on the wing before applying the top stars or #2. Since I had two complete sets of decals I could have stacked one on top of the other for better opacity. (I guess I still could???)

Also worked on the propeller. I am really impressed that such an old kit included something as cool as the Hamilton Standard blade labels - Love em!

Michael,
Gave up on the Yellow Wings decals?
VR, Russ

Well as I say above, I appreciate the recommendation and I really thought I was going to order the decal set but then the original decals were just looking so good. I felt I didn't need to go further. Also I wanted to stay with the red striping color scheme and the Yellow Wings decals did not support this.

I understand-- is that the original 1950s decal sheet, or the the later 90s reissue? I have an original 1962 kit with decals marked F3F kit PA70, it doesn't come with the prop markings, but it does have the red stripes-- but they look a lot different from yours, they don't have the black outline and are a bit wider.
VR, Russ

Both the decal sets I have are marked "Copyright 1992".

Part number: 4787-0240 B

Clearly I have the more recent issue of the kit. (Newer, as in only 26 years old!)

Seems like yesterday doesn't it? I think the kit has been issued at least five times-- once in the old '62 boxing. Then in the white box kit, then at least twice in the blue box kit. It may also have been done once in the "Flying Heritage" boxing. The Gulfhawk kit was done twice I think-- once in the Original boxing, and again in the "Flying Heritage" boxing. I'm not sure if it was ever done in the white or blue boxes. So there are a lot of decal sheets floating around. My original 1962 decals still look good, but I think their design might be a little inaccurate. Was your kit done in four colors or just gray? The original was cast in Yellow, Black, Red and Silver (so you didn't have to paint--ha ha! But the colors made the plastic brittle too).
VR, Russ

Mine was the silver gray only.

Yep-- that's one of the later re-issues. I did what you did, I have the original, then bought one of the re-issues to splice the wings. I also have a "Heritage" Gulfhawk, but it needs no splice as you've mentioned. I wish some mainstream Kitmaker would pick up some of the '30s golden age aircraft in large scale. So far we've got the resin manufacturers--HpH and Silver Wings, but we haven't seen any new '30s aircraft kits in large scale since Hasegawa's and Williams Brothers released thier lines in the 70s. Monogram keeps re-issuing this kit, but as you've pointed out, it's a little behind the times. Put that ugly German floatplane you're doing on the back burner (just kidding) and get back to this beautiful bird! Can't wait to see what you're going to do next!
VR, Russ

Been pushing myself to finish these three but I have real trouble staying focused. Also have a Storch and a Piper (in 1/35th) already started but on hold waiting for the finish of these big birds. Kind of itching to get back to armor but a TBM and a B-25 have been calling to me as well.

Life is too short and the models too many! You don't want to know how many "started" models I have.

And new kits are added daily it seems. Dad was an aviation metalsmith for Torpedo 9 '42-44. So I have a Trumpeter TBF1C in my stash. I work in smaller scales, but it's hard to see those models when they are finished. Go for the TBM. That Trumpeter kit is a jewel (too many flush rivets though). But finish the F3F first! The Armor stuff can wait a while. I was a tanker for my first five years in the Army, tanks are crude compared to aircraft! But I feel your pain-- I have four armor kits in various stages on the shelf of doom, and at least that many aircraft. I swap them out occasionally. Guess we should spend more time at the workbench and less on-line!
VR, Russ

Michael,
The decaling indeed looks quite good, but as soon as I saw the national insignias, it was quite apparent that the yellow was bleeding through.

Since you have a duplicate set, I would really urge you to double decal them. The effort would really be well worth it.

No need to worry about the added thickness. Just build up a nice layer of Gloss over those decals, and or the entire top of the wing. Then sand down the gloss and polish out. the gloss will blend in the lip perfectly.

Joel